Gertrud Leistikow
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Gertrud Leistikow (12 September 1885 – 23 November 1948) was a German dancer and choreographer. She is primarily associated with nude and
Grotesque dance Grotesque dance (French: ''danse grotesque''; Italian: ''ballo grottesco'' or ''danza grottesca'') is a category of theatrical dance that became more clearly differentiated in the 18th century and was incorporated into ballet, although it had its r ...
.


Life and work

Gertrud Leistikow was born on 12 September 1885 in
Bückeburg Bückeburg (Northern Low Saxon: ''Bückeborg'') is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, on the border with North Rhine Westphalia. It is located in the district of Schaumburg close to the northern slopes of the Weserbergland ridge. Population: 21,0 ...
, Lower Saxony. She attended girls' schools in
Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...
and
Spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...
, and studied graphic design and painting in the class of
Max Frey Max Frey (April 16, 1874 – March 11, 1944) was a German painter and graphic artist associated with the Symbolism and New Objectivity movements. Some of his works contained elements of magical realism Life He was born to a family of merchants ...
at the Academy of Applied Arts 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 larg ...
,Jacoba Adriana de Boer, ''Gertrud Leistikow en de moderne, „Duitsche“ dans. Een biografie''. FGw: Amsterdam School for Culture and History (ASCH), Amsterdam, (2015) pp. 28
full text online
 where in 1904 she experienced a performance of
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (6 July 1865 – 1 July 1950) was a Swiss composer, musician, and music educator who developed Dalcroze eurhythmics, an approach to learning and experiencing music through movement. Dalcroze eurhythmics influenced Carl Or ...
. She learned the basics of the Delsarte system from Hedwig Kallmeyer in Berlin. Leistikow began to dance between 1906 and 1910. She was rarely photographed but drawings by Dora Brandenburg-Polster in 1911 show her as a nude dancer. In 1914 Leistikow's solo performances already drew considerable crowds in
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
,
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...
,
Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
and
Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...
. In the summer of 1914 Leistikow joined
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 an ...
's troupe in Ascona, where in addition 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 co ...
she had a major role in Laban's dance drama "triumph of the victim" by Hans Brandenburg. In 1916 she starred in a tour through Germany and the Netherlands. After her marriage to a Dutch flower dealer, she rarely left Holland. Leistikow directed three dance schools in Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam. A trip to the Dutch East India caused them to open three more schools in 1924. In 1931 she set up the Rotterdam School of Dance with the Dutch dancer and teacher
Corrie Hartong Hendrina Cornelia (Corrie) Hartong (23 February 1906 – 9 August 1991) was a dancer, dance teacher and choreographer in the Netherlands. Biography Hendrina Cornelia Hartong was born in Rotterdam on 23 February 1906. She studied modern dance ...
, who was 21 years younger. The two disagreed over objectives, and after three years Leistikow left. She gave farewell tours through the Netherlands in the years 1929, 1930 and 1937. Nevertheless, she again toured from 1938 to 1939 in the Dutch East Indies. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Leistikow returned to the Netherlands and opened another dance school. She distanced herself from the Nazi-friendly Dutch dance culture of the time. Gertrud Leistikow kept her face expressionless, and often hid it behind scarves, veils and masks to draw the attention of the viewer to the rest of her body. Drawings and rare photographs often show Leistikow naked, but with her face covered. A dance photo of Leistikow on gelatin silver chloride made in 1912 by the photographer
Hugo Erfurth Hugo Erfurth (14 October 1874 – 14 February 1948) was a German photographer known for his portraits of celebrities and cultural figures of the early twentieth century. Life Early years Erfurth was born in Halle (Saale), in what was then t ...
has been exhibited since 1982 at the Folkwang Museum. Leistikow died on 23 November 1948.


See also

*
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, ...
*
Trude Fleischmann Trude Fleischmann (22 December 1895 – 21 January 1990) was an Austrian-born American photographer. After becoming a notable society photographer in Vienna in the 1920s, she re-established her business in New York in 1940. Early life Born in Vi ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leistikow, Gertrud 1885 births 1948 deaths German female dancers