Lilian Harmel (May 5, 1908 – August 9, 1982) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

dancer Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

and

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

Life and career

Lilian Harmel was born in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on May 5, 1908. Her childhood was spent in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, where she first began to dance. She was trained in

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 ...

(in the Preobrajenska method) in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In Vienna, she subsequently became a pupil of

Gertrud Bodenwieser Gertrud Bodenwieser (3 February 1890 – 10 November 1959), also known as "Gertrude", was a dancer, choreographer, dance teacher and pioneer of expressive dance. Early life The daughter of Theodore and Maria Bondi, a wealthy Jewish couple, ...

at the State Academy. She later studied choreography from

Kurt Jooss Kurt Jooss (12 January 1901 – 22 May 1979)Kurt Jooss
Internationales Biographisches Archi ...

and, in the style of

German Expressionism German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...

, under

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 ...

. By the beginning of the 1930s, she had performed to critical acclaim in the major artistic centres of continental Europe. She wrote choreographic compositions for a soloist to works by

Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed ...

Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer ...

, Karl Orff,

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 ' ...

, Bartók, and Mompou. The

Wiener Zeitung ''Wiener Zeitung'' is an Austrian newspaper. It is one of the oldest, still published newspapers in the world. It is the official publication used by the Government of the Republic of Austria for legally-required announcements, such as company r ...

described her as an "artist of genius and soul"; the

Neues Wiener Tagblatt The Neues Wiener Tagblatt was a daily newspaper published in Vienna from 1867 to 1945. It was one of the highest-circulation newspapers in Austria before 1938. History The newspaper was founded by Eduard Mayer as a successor to the Wiener Journ ...

as "a very remarkable talent" with "perfect technical mastery"; and the Neues Wiener Journal stated that she possessed "perfect domination in the art of movement". In her twenties, she received critical acclaim on the continent, including Paris, Florence, Rome, Milan, Turin, Budapest, Nice, Warsaw, Bratislava, Amsterdam, Venice, Prague, Saltzburg, Geneva and Zurich. The Nuovo Gionale wrote of "this refined and elegant dancer", while

Il Giornale d'Italia ''Il Giornale d'Italia'' is an Italian online newspaper. It was founded in Rome in 1901 by the prestigious liberal politicians Sidney Sonnino and Antonio Salandra, both of which were part of the Liberal Constitutional Party. The original paper c ...

stated: "Lilian Harmel is a true artist, who expresses with her perfect technique the pictures of her fantasy, the sentiments of her soul and the spirit of ballet."

La Nazione ''La Nazione'' is one of the oldest regional newspapers in Italy, and was established on 8 July 1859. The paper is based in Florence. History and profile ''La Nazione'' was founded by Bettino Ricasoli, interim head of the Tuscan government. The ...

wrote: "the technique of this dancer is perfect, there is true precision of form, absolute ability of means, sureness in balance, the gifts of musicality and a complete power of expression." She moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1936, where she was filmed for an early French television broadcast. She subsequently moved to England with her fiancé in 1938. On her arrival in England, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' wrote "she has a very personable appearance and possesses imagination and intelligence... she is both interesting and striking", while the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' described her as "an original and gifted exponent of pure dancing both in technique and interpretation", and ''

The Sketch ''The Sketch'' was a British illustrated weekly journal. It ran for 2,989 issues between 1 February 1893 and 17 June 1959. It was published by the Illustrated London News Company and was primarily a society magazine with regular features on roy ...

'' welcomed her as "a brilliant young dancer". After the war, she opened a dance studio inside her house in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

. By 1957, her classes had over 25 young children and 25 teenage and adult students. She had originally intended to teach children temporarily, but was persuaded to continue after Hampstead parents had told her "they think it is most necessary in Hampstead." ''Many Moons'', her children's ballet, was performed on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

on Christmas Day 1967. Harmel was an early pioneer in the setting of electronic and contemporary music to dance, choreographing performances to

Edgard Varèse Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; he coined ...

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mont ...

, and

Cesar Bresgen Cesar Bresgen (16 October 1913 – 7 April 1988) was an Austrian composer. Biography He was born in Florence to Maria and August Bresgen, both artists. He spent his childhood in Zell am See, Munich, Prague, and Salzburg. From 1930 to 1936 ...

. In her teaching, she came to conceive of dance as a process of personal discovery, rather than mere performance. To this end, in the tradition of the

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 da ...

, her Hampstead classes accepted students of all abilities, both amateurs and professionals, so long as they shared her passion for individual development. To celebrate her forty years of teaching, in 1978, at the age of 70, she performed a final solo dance at the

Hampstead Theatre Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. Roxana Silbert has been the artistic director since ...

. On her death, ''The Times'' wrote: "she enriched generations of children and dance students through her concern for the artistic development of the individual... she and her work were a beacon". Friends and collaborators included

Rudolf 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 and ...

Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Marie-Louise von Motesiczky (October 24, 1906 – June 10, 1996) was an Austrian painter who lived in Britain from 1939 onwards, becoming a naturalised subject in 1948. Early life Marie-Louise von Motesiczky was born in Vienna in 1906 to ...

Charles Philips Trevelyan Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet (28 October 1870 – 24 January 1958) was a British Liberal Party, and later Labour Party, politician and landowner. He served as President of the Board of Education in 1924 and between 1929 and 1931 ...

Georges-Emmanuel Clancier Georges-Emmanuel Clancier (3 May 1914 – 4 July 2018) was a French poet, novelist, and journalist. He won the Prix Goncourt (poetry), the Grand Prize of the Académie française, and the grand prize of the Société des gens de lettres. Life ...

Felix Albrecht Harta Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, S ...

, Adrian Stokes,

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 ...

.
''Hilde Holger’s Artistic Circle in Vienna'', 1905–2001

Life and career

References

See also