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 Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

Biography

Born in Berlin, Feist first studied with

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 O ...

Hellerau Hellerau is a northern quarter ''(Stadtteil)'' in the city of Dresden, Germany, slightly south of Dresden Airport. It was the first garden city in Germany. The northern section of Hellerau absorbed the village of Klotzsche, where some 18th cent ...

, Dresden, in 1914 before moving back to Berlin in 1917 to study under Olga Desmond. Thereafter she 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 a ...

, following him to various locations in the north of Germany and participating in his majestic Tanzbühne productions. In 1923, she established her own school in Berlin and also taught at

Carl Diem Carl Diem (24 June 1882, Würzburg – 17 December 1962, Cologne) was a German sports administrator, and as Secretary General of the Organizing Committee of the Berlin Olympic Games, the chief organizer of the 1936 Olympic Summer Games. ...

's sports academy, successfully combining gymnastics with nudism and dance. She continued to dance in Laban's productions, starring as Donna Elvira in his ''Don Juan'' (1926). Her school's freestyle movements were pictured at the Berlin Stadium. In 1927 she appeared in the only film made by the American Stella Simon. The avant-garde film entitled ''Hands: The Life and Love of a Gentle Sex'' had its own score by Marc Blitzstein and it tells of an eternal triangle story using just the hands and forearms of the dancers. In 1928, Feist toured with the Novembergruppe, presenting her ''Der Berufung'' in Germany, Poland, Switzerland and England. Her last major production was

Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...

's ''

Iphigénie en Aulide ''Iphigénie en Aulide'' ('' Iphigeneia in Aulis'') is an opera in three acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck, the first work he wrote for the Paris stage. The libretto was written by François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet and was based on Jean ...

'' performed on the steps of the

Pergamon Museum The Pergamon Museum (; ) is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1910 to 1930 by order of German Emperor Wilhelm II according to plans by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann in Stripped Clas ...

in May 1933. Her ambitions were then curtailed by the

who closed her school and forced her to move into smaller quarters although she continued to attract many students. After the war, she taught at the Volkshochschule Hannover from 1952 to 1965. Her last dance was performed for the inauguration of the Golden Rosenkreuz Temple at Bad Münder in 1965 where she lived at the time. From 1983, she returned to live in Hannover where she died on 9 July 1990.

References

Literature

*Peter, Frank-Manuel:
Hertha Feist. Vornehme Eleganz und melancholische Wölkchen. Nachruf auf die Berliner Labanpädagogin
'' In: ''Tanzdrama.'' No. 13, 4th quarter 1990, pp. 34–37. *

External links

with several illustrations {{DEFAULTSORT:Feist, Hertha 1896 births German female dancers Expressionist choreographers Expressionist dancers Dancers from Berlin German choreographers 1990 deaths

Biography

See also

References

Literature

External links