![Emmy Towsey (Taussig) and Evelyn Ippen, Bodenwieser Ballet in Centennial Park, Sydney, ca](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Emmy_Towsey_%28Taussig%29_and_Evelyn_Ippen%2C_Bodenwieser_Ballet_in_Centennial_Park%2C_Sydney%2C_ca._1939_Max_Dupain.jpg)
''Expressive dance'' from German ''Ausdruckstanz'',
is a form of artistic dance in which the individual and artistic presentation (and sometimes also processing) of feelings is an essential part. It emerged as a counter-movement to
classical ballet
Classical ballet is any of the traditional, formal styles of ballet that exclusively employ classical ballet technique. It is known for its aesthetics and rigorous technique (such as pointe work, turnout of the legs, and high extensions), its ...
at the beginning of the 20th century in Europe. Traditional ballet was perceived as austere, mechanical and tightly held in fixed and conventional forms. Other designations are ''modern dance'' and (especially in the historical context) ''free dance'', ''expressionist dance''
or ''new artistic dance'', in Anglo-American countries ''German dance''. In 2014, modern dance with the stylistic forms and mediation forms of rhythmic and expressive dance movements was included in the as defined by the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of
Intangible Cultural Heritage
An intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is a practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skill considered by UNESCO to be part of a place's cultural heritage. Buildings, historic places, monuments, and artifacts are cultural property. Int ...
. German Expressionist dance is related to ''
Tanztheater
The German Tanztheater ("dance theatre") grew out of German Expressionist dance in Weimar Germany and 1920s Vienna. The term first appears around 1927 to identify a particular style of dance emerging from within the new forms of 'expressionist d ...
''.
History
Expressionist dance was marked by the passage of
modernism
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
,
vitalism
Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...
,
expressionism
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
,
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
and a general protest against artistic stagnation and the old society.
Ballet was perceived to have been superficial entertainment. The new dance would be art, both individual and artistic creation. The dance was described as the art of movement.
It was a revolution. It would be more expressive, and show more spirit and emotion and less virtuosity. The dance would be improvisational, uninhibited and provocative. Future spiritual and bodily reform movements expressed themselves in a new "natural" naked dance. The women took centre stage. A key protagonist was Isadora Duncan, who around 1900 had taken from classical dance technique and costume. She had even taken off dancing shoes – "you do not play the piano with gloves on". She wanted to unite the body, mind and spirit in her art, and searched with
Olga Desmond
Olga Desmond (born Olga Antonie Sellin 2 November 1890, Allenstein, East Prussia ow Olsztyn, Poland– 2 August 1964, Berlin) was a German dancer, actress, art model and living statue.
Biography
Olga Antonie Sellin, born November 2, 1890, ...
for inspiration in ancient Greek and Egyptian art, during the time of
Orientalism
In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...
.
The revolutionary movements in Germany and the USA were most obvious, two countries that had no older rooted ballet tradition. The forerunners in Europe included
Clotilde von Derp,
Hertha Feist
Hertha Feist (1896–1990) was a German expressionist dancer and choreographer. She established her own school in Berlin, combining gymnastics with nudism and dance. In the 1930s, her ambitions were seriously curtailed by the Nazis.
Biography
Born ...
,
Hilde Holger
Hilde Boman-Behram (née Hilde Sofer, stage name Hilde Holger; 18 October 1905 – 22 September 2001) was an expressionist dancer, choreographer and dance teacher whose pioneering work in integrated dance transformed modern dance.
Family
H ...
,
Loie Fuller
Loie Fuller (born Marie Louise Fuller; January 15, 1862 – January 1, 1928), also known as Louie Fuller and Loïe Fuller, was an American actress and dancer who was a pioneer of both modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques.
Career
Born ...
,
Jo Mihaly
Elfriede Alice "Piete" Kuhr (1902 – 1989), known professionally as Jo Mihaly, was a German dancer and writer.
Early years and war diary
Kuhr grew up in Schneidemühl (now Piła), then about 80 miles from the German-Russian border, now in Pol ...
and especially
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 co ...
.
Schools for expressionist dance had special philosophies and emphases for dance, such as naturalness, breathing, tension / relaxation etc. It was often associated with floor contact, "weight" of dance movements, and experiments with music. Body and physicality were strongly emphasized.
Rudolf von Laban
Rudolf von Laban, also known as Rudolf Laban (German; also ''Rudolph von Laban'', hu, Lábán Rezső János Attila, Lábán Rudolf; 15 December 1879 – 1 July 1958), was an Austro-Hungarian, German and British dance artist, choreographer a ...
was a theoretical prominent figure who was based on metaphysical ideas and one of the pioneers of ''Ausdruckstanz'' in Germany.
From 1913-1918, Laban operated a school for art on the colony
Monte Verità
Monte Verità (Italian; German 'Berg Wahrheit', meaning "Mount Truth" or "Mountain of Truth") is a 321 metres above sea level high hill and a cultural-historical ensemble in the Swiss canton of Ticino. The site is in the municipality of Ascona, a ...
in Ascona, Switzerland, which became a teaching centre for the new dance.
Among his students were
Kurt Jooss
Kurt Jooss (12 January 1901 – 22 May 1979)[Kurt Jooss]
Internationales Biographisches Archi ...
and Mary Wigman.
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 co ...
was an important trendsetter as a dancer, choreographer and teacher. In her school in Dresden (opened in 1920) she taught Europe's premier aspiring dancers
Gret Palucca
Gret Palucca (born Margarethe Paluka; 8 January 1902 – 22 March 1993) was a German dancer and dance teacher, notable for her dance school, the Palucca School of Dance, founded in Dresden in 1925.
Life and work
Margarethe Paluka was born in Mu ...
,
Harald Kreutzberg
Harald Kreutzberg (December 11, 1902 – April 25, 1968) was a German dancer and choreographer associated with the Ausdruckstanz movement, a form in which the individual, artistic expression of feelings or emotions is essential. Though largely fo ...
,
Jeanna Falk
Jeanna Bjuggren, known by her maiden name Jeanna Falk (15 August 1901 – 16 July 1980) was a Swedish dancer and dance teacher.
Falk was born in Stockholm, Sweden. She studied dance and music in Hellerau, Dresden, she studied under Jaques-Dalcroz ...
,
Dore Hoyer
Dore Hoyer (12 December 1911 – 31 December 1967) was a German expressionist dancer and choreographer. She is credited as "one of the most important solo dancers of the Ausdruckstanz tradition." Inspired by Mary Wigman, she developed her own s ...
and
Yvonne Georgi
Yvonne Georgi (29 October 1903 – 25 January 1975) was a German dancer, choreographer and ballet mistress. She was known for her comedic talents and her extraordinary jumping ability. In her roles as a dancer, choreographer, and ballet mistres ...
.
Hanya Holm
Hanya Holm (born Johanna Eckert; 3 March 1893 – 3 November 1992) is known as one of the "Big Four" founders of American modern dance. She was a dancer, choreographer, and above all, a dance educator.
Early life, connection with Mary Wigman
Bo ...
brought her theories to the United States, while
Birgit Åkesson
Anna Ida Birgit Åkesson, born March 24, 1908, in Malmö, died March 24, 2001, in Stockholm, was a choreographer, dancer and dance researcher.
Biography
Birgit Åkesson trained as a dancer at Mary Wigman's school in Dresden from 1929 to 1931. A ...
went her own way with her dance research.
The ''Denishawn School'' in the United States was founded by
Ruth St. Denis and
Ted Shawn
Ted Shawn (born Edwin Myers Shawn; October 21, 1891 – January 9, 1972) was a male pioneer of American modern dance. He created the Denishawn School together with his wife Ruth St. Denis. After their separation he created the all-male company Te ...
, with such students as
Martha Graham
Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide.
Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She wa ...
and
Doris Humphrey
Doris Batcheller Humphrey (October 17, 1895 – December 29, 1958) was an American dancer and choreographer of the early twentieth century. Along with her contemporaries Martha Graham and Katherine Dunham, Humphrey was one of the second gen ...
. Its independent and pioneering dance came to form the backbone of modern dance, whose many branches stretched forth up until today.
Butoh
is a form of Japanese dance theatre that encompasses a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement. Following World War II, butoh arose in 1959 through collaborations between its two key founders ...
is inspired by the German expressionist dance of the 1950s.
The British choreographer and live performer
Liz Aggiss
Liz Aggiss (born 28 May 1953) is a British live artist, dance performer, choreographer and film maker. Her work is inspired by early 20th century Ausdruckstanz (Expressionist dance), in particular the Grotesque dance of Valeska Gert, and by Brit ...
, who trained with
Hanya Holm
Hanya Holm (born Johanna Eckert; 3 March 1893 – 3 November 1992) is known as one of the "Big Four" founders of American modern dance. She was a dancer, choreographer, and above all, a dance educator.
Early life, connection with Mary Wigman
Bo ...
and
Hilde Holger
Hilde Boman-Behram (née Hilde Sofer, stage name Hilde Holger; 18 October 1905 – 22 September 2001) was an expressionist dancer, choreographer and dance teacher whose pioneering work in integrated dance transformed modern dance.
Family
H ...
, has been making expressionist dance works since 1986. Her first solo show, ''Grotesque Dancer'', was inspired by
Valeska Gert Valeska or Valeška may refer to the following people:
Given name
* Valeska von Gallwitz (1833–1888), German writer
*Valeska Gert (1892–c. 1978), German dancer and cabaret artist
*Valeska Menezes (born 1976), Brazilian volleyball player
* Val ...
. In 1992, Holger revived four dances for Aggiss from her repertoire: ''Die Forelle (The Trout)'' (1923), ''Le Martyre de San Sebastien'' (1923), ''Mechaniches Ballett'' (1926) and ''Golem'' (1937). These were first performed, as Vier Tanze, at the Manchester Festival of Expressionism in 1992.
['List of Works', Aggiss and Cowie (eds) Anarchic Dance, Routledge, 2006, p.177] Sophie Constanti wrote that 'Together all four pieces danced with great sensitivity and aplomb by Aggiss...provided a fascinating insight into the lost Ausdruckstanz of central Europe.'
[Sophie Constanti, 'Dancing Diva: Hilde Holger's choreography reaches the British stage at last and triumphs', Arts Section, ''The Guardian'', 9 June 1993, p3-4]
Indian dancer
Patruni Sastry
Patruni Sastry, popularly known as Patruni Chidananda Sastry or Suffocated art Specimen is a Expressionist dancer, performance artist, visual artist, model and drag queen.
Biography
Sastry started dancing at the age of 5. He was inspired by R ...
has been working on choreographic style "Indian expressionism" where the major work is focused on queer rights and other social elements
Literature
* Bergsohn, H. and Partsch-Bergsohn, I. (2003) The Makers of Modern Dance in Germany: Rudolf Laban, Mary Wigman, Kurt Jooss. Independent Publishers Group.
* Robinson, J. (1998) Modern Dance in France, 1920-1970: An Adventure. Routledge.
* Vernon-Warren, B. and Warren, C. (Eds) (1999) Gertrud Bodenwieser and Vienna's Contribution to Ausdruckstanz. Routledge.
* Kolb, A. (2009). Performing Femininity. Dance and Literature in German Modernism. Oxford: Peter Lang.
* Amelie Soyka (Hrsg.): ''Tanzen und tanzen und nichts als tanzen. Tänzerinnen der Moderne von Josephine Baker bis Mary Wigman''. Aviva, Berlin 2004.
* Hermann und Marianne Aubel: ''Der Künstlerische Tanz unserer Zeit.'' Die Blauen Bücher. K. R. Langewiesche, Leipzig 1928, 1935; Neudruck der Erstausgabe nebst Materialien zur Editionsgeschichte. Einführender Essay von
Frank-Manuel Peter
Frank-Manuel Peter (born 1959) is a German dance researcher and historian.
Life and work
Born in Berlin, Peter studied theatre, history of art, German studies and library science at the Free University of Berlin and graduated as a master's ...
. Published by the Albertina Wien. Langewiesche, Königstein i. Ts. 2002.
* Alexandra Kolb: ''Performing Femininity. Dance and Literature in German Modernism.'' Oxford: Peter Lang 2009.
* Silke Garms: ''TanzBalance. Ausdruckstanz für Frauen.'' Rosenholz, Kiel/Berlin 1999.
* Silke Garms: ''Tanzfrauen in der Avantgarde. Lebenspolitik und choreographische Entwicklung in acht Porträts.'' Rosenholz, Kiel/Berlin 1998. /
* Hedwig Müller: ''Die Begründung des Ausdruckstanzes durch Mary Wigman.'' Köln, Phil.Diss. 1986
* Hedwig Müller: ''
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 co ...
. Leben und Werk der großen Tänzerin''. Hrsg. von der Akademie der Künste Berlin. Beltz/Quadriga, Weinheim/Berlin 1992.
* Hedwig Müller, Frank-Manuel Peter, Garnet Schuldt: ''Dore Hoyer. Tänzerin.'' Hentrich, Berlin 1992.
References
{{Authority control
20th-century dance
Expressionism
Modern dance
Dance in Germany