Claire (Cläre) Eckstein (8 July 1904 – 25 September 1994) was a German modern dancer and choreographer.

Life

Born in Allendorf (

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...

) the daughter of a Protestant pastor, Eckstein received her early training at Lucy Heyer's school of rhythmic gymnastics in Munich from 1921 to 1923 and then moved to

Mary Wigman Mary Wigman (born Karoline Sophie Marie Wiegmann; 13 November 1886 – 18 September 1973) was a German dancer and choreographer, notable as the pioneer of expressionist dance, dance therapy, and movement training without pointe shoes. She is con ...

's school in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

until 1924. This was followed by performances at the

Festspielhaus Hellerau Festspielhaus Hellerau (English: Hellerau Festival House or Hellerau Theatre) is a theatre/studio building/classroom building located in Hellerau, the famous garden city district of Dresden, Germany. Built in 1911, it was an important center for e ...

. In 1925, Eckstein was appointed to the Mainfranken Theater Würzburg as movement director, solo dancer and head of the rhythmic courses for the entire staff. This led to her first successful productions and choreographies of her own: ''The Demon'', ''The Lyrebox'' and ''Scheherazade''. At the same time as Eckstein, the director

Arthur Maria Rabenalt Arthur Maria Rabenalt (25 June 1905 – 26 February 1993) was an Austrian film director, writer, and author. He directed more than 90 films between 1934 and 1978. His 1958 film '' That Won't Keep a Sailor Down'' was entered into the 1st Moscow ...

and the set designer Wilhelm Reinking were appointed to the theatre. It was the beginning of a congenial collaboration and lifelong friendship. In 1927 she married Reinking. Curriculum vitae on the web pages on Claire Eckstein of the German Dance Archive Cologne, see Weblinks. In 1927, all three moved to the Hessian

Staatstheater Darmstadt The Staatstheater Darmstadt (Darmstadt State Theatre) is a theatre company and building in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany, presenting opera, ballet, plays and concerts. It is funded by the state of Hesse and the city of Darmstadt. Its history began in ...

, where Eckstein was dance director (later: dance mistress) and head of the physical training courses. Under the artistic director

Carl Ebert Carl Anton Charles Ebert (20 February 1887 – 14 May 1980), was an actor, stage director and arts administrator. Ebert's early career was as an actor, training under Max Reinhardt and becoming one of the leading actors in his native Germany duri ...

, this stage became one of the most progressive German theatres of its time through the Rabenalt-Reinking-Eckstein team (also jokingly dubbed "Rabenkingstein AG"). Eckstein's own productions and choreographies, in addition to his other collaborations, include ''Oben und Unten'' to the '' Rapsodie nègre'' by Francis Poulenc, ''Der Leierkasten'', ''Poor Guerino'' by ( premiere), '' Le bœuf sur le toit'', ''Parade'', ''The Wedding in Cremona'', ''Soirée'', ''A Higher Official'' and ''The Stranded''. With ''Soirée'', Eckstein played a major role in the German Dance Week for the 3rd German Dancers Congress in Munich. Her stage partner became Edwin Orr Denby. Eventually, the Reich capital also engaged the trio, namely the

Theater am Schiffbauerdamm The ''Theater am Schiffbauerdamm'' () is a theatre building at the ''Schiffbauerdamm'' riverside in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, opened on 19 November 1892. Since 1954, it has been home to the Berliner Ensemble theatre company, founde ...

and the Volksbühne Berlin. Here the tried and tested concept of theatre, operetta, opera was implemented with great success for the big city audience with dances in ''The Regimental Daughter'' and ''The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein''. In addition to choreographic work for film, Claire Eckstein received engagements in Werner Finck's '' Die Katakombe'' and in the Wintergarten. Autumn 1932 saw a two-month guest appearance with Edwin Denby for

Erik Charell Erik Charell (April 8, 1894 – July 15, 1974), born as Erich Karl Löwenberg, was a German theatre and film director, dancer and actor. He is best known as the creator of musical revues and operettas, such as '' The White Horse Inn'' (''Im wei� ...

in Paris with

The White Horse Inn ''The White Horse Inn'' (or ''White Horse Inn'') (German title: ''Im weißen Rößl'' ) is an operetta or musical comedy by Ralph Benatzky and Robert Stolz in collaboration with a number of other composers and writers, set in the picturesque Salz ...

and in January they were both in the opening programme of

Erika Mann Erika Julia Hedwig Mann (9 November 1905 – 27 August 1969) was a German actress and writer, daughter of the novelist Thomas Mann. Erika lived a bohemian lifestyle in Berlin and became a critic of National Socialism. After Hitler came to power ...

's Munich cabaret . After this work, Denby left Germany for political reasons and returned to his homeland, the United States. When public pressure forced the Arbeitsgemeinschaft to disband, Claire Eckstein moved to Munich in 1936. During this time, she fell ill with multiple sclerosis and only worked occasionally, for example in an advisory capacity on the film ''Anuschka''. She remained connected to this advisory activity after the war, including rehearsing the dances for the German premiere of ''

La Folle de Chaillot ''The Madwoman of Chaillot'' (french: La Folle de Chaillot) is a play, a poetic satire, by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux, written in 1943 and first performed in 1945, after his death. The play is in two acts. The story concerns an eccentric woma ...

'' (

Munich Kammerspiele The Munich Kammerspiele (German: Münchner Kammerspiele) is a state-funded German-language theater company based at the ''Schauspielhaus'' on Maximilianstrasse in the Bavarian capital. The company currently has three venues: the main stage of ...

), working on the films ''Zarewitsch'' and ''Zigeunerbaron'' and as dance director of the film junior department of

Bavaria Film Bavaria Film is a German film production and distribution company. It is one of Europe's largest film production companies, with some 30 subsidiaries. History The studios were founded in 1919, when Munich-raised film producer Peter Ostermayr ...

. Eckstein died in Munich at the age of 90.

Appreciation

Eckstein's work was very "innovative", and many of the theatrical devices she used have only been rediscovered for dance decades later (and certainly in ignorance of her works). "She does not dance 'Weltanschauung' like Mary Wigman, but serenity par excellence. If one could say of Mary Wigman that she dances

Stefan George Stefan Anton George (; 12 July 18684 December 1933) was a German symbolist poet and a translator of Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, Hesiod, and Charles Baudelaire. He is also known for his role as leader of the highly influential literary ...

, one could say of Eckstein that she dances Tucholsky and

Joachim Ringelnatz Joachim Ringelnatz is the pen name of the German author and painter Hans Bötticher (7 August 1883, Wurzen, Saxony – 17 November 1934, Berlin). His pen name ''Ringelnatz'' is usually explained as a dialect expression for an animal, possibly a ...

.., writes

Hans Sahl Hans Sahl (born Hans Salomon, 20 May 1902 in Dresden – 27 April 1993 in Tübingen) was a poet, critic, and novelist who began during the Weimar Republic. He came from an affluent Jewish background, but like many such German Jews he fled Germany ...

in his Memoirs of a Moralist. Memoirs I. Zurich 1983, . "Eckstein is enchanting because one never for a moment forgets that she enjoys making fun, which, as we know, is punishable by death in Germany." Eckstein did not want to affect, she wanted to entertain the audience, and she did so at a high level certified by all sides.

Performances

* 20 March 1926:

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...

''Der Dämon'', Stadttheater Würzburg * 5 March 1927: ''Der Leierkasten'', Stadttheater Würzburg * 20 Cktober 1927: Poulenc ''Oben und Unter'', Landestheater Darmstadt * 20 November 1928: Massarani ''Der arme Guerino'', Landestheater Darmstadt * 20 November 1928: Darius Milhaud '' Le bœuf sur le toit'', Landestheater Darmstadt * 30 November 1929: Michail Iwanowitsch Glinka ''Die Hochzeit in Cremona'', Landestheater Darmstadt * 11 February 1930: Eckstein ''Soirée'', Landestheater Darmstadt * 20 June 1930: F. Schmitt ''Ein höherer Beamter'', Landestheater Darmstadt * 20 Junie 1930: Eckstein ''Die Gestrandeten'', Landestheater Darmstadt Responsible for ballet in * 20 December 1930: Gaetano Donizetti's ''

La Fille du Régiment ' (''The Daughter of the Regiment'') is an opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti, set to a French libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard. It was first performed on 11 February 1840 by the Paris Opéra ...

'', Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, Berlin * 12 December 1931: Jacques Offenbach's ''

La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein ''La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein'' (''The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein'') is an opéra bouffe (a form of operetta), in three acts and four tableaux by Jacques Offenbach to an original French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The s ...

'', Volksbühne, Berlin

Life

Appreciation

Performances

References

Further reading