Tanztheater Wuppertal identity and website

When, in 1973, dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch (1940–2009) took the lead at Wuppertal’s ballet, no one would have guessed that she would put the city’s name on the international map of modern dance theater – and in big letters. In 2023 Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch celebrates its 50th anniversary, and at that very moment, the house got a new artistic director and a new visual identity.

French-born Boris Charmatz was appointed Pina Bausch’s successor in 2022 and the repertoire of the 2023/24 season is a combination of pieces by both choreographers. It is the declared wish of Charmatz to develop more French-German cooperation in the field of contemporary dance, which explains two observations on the new website: the whole site is available in German, English, and French – and the header mentions Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater as much as Boris Charmatz’s Terrain project.

Instead of a rigid grid, the design of the website systematically works with overlaying elements that provide it with a certain ease. While the homepage is predominantly based on a black background, the Season section comes in a very different layout: here, each piece gets an opener entry that is split diagonally. While one half shows a big stage photograph, the other half displays the title and key information on a typographically animated petrol-colored base.

The diagonal is evidently the key idea in the brand visuality conceived by MOR Design from Berlin. It starts in the logo lettering at the head of the site and finds its way through all the display typography. Fundamental for this effect is the font in use, the Black weight Origin Super Condensed, designed by Jean-Baptiste Levée from Production Type. This typeface family comes with a left-leaning italic named Backslant – a feature seldomly found. The Wuppertal website is the first use for the variable font version of Origin Super Condensed that also includes a conventional right-leaning italic, Slant. In fact, this new cut was specifically made for this application.

This two-sidedness of the typeface is used in a clever way in order to make the letters dance. What already works in print can be further augmented in the digital medium: the designers of Hamburg-based Convoy Interactive found playful ways of animating the headlines while you scroll or hover. What could be more appropriate for a dance theater?

As a reading typeface you get to see Söhne, published by Klim. Origin Super Condensed Black Slant is available for licensing upon request.