Gertrud Bodenwieser (3 February 1890 – 10 November 1959), also known as "Gertrude", was a

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 ...

dance teacher Dance education is a practice whereby students are taught a broad understanding of dance as an art form or trained professionally in specific dance genres. Dance education also encompasses a research area in which scholars conduct original resear ...

and pioneer of expressive dance.

Early life

Emmy Towsey (Taussig) and Evelyn Ippen, Bodenwieser Ballet in Centennial Park, Sydney, ca

The daughter of Theodore and Maria Bondi, a wealthy Jewish couple, she turned to dance under the pseudonym Gertrud Bodenwieser of which she was celebrated 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 ...

as a sensation. Bodenwieser's style was based on

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 ...

of which she was originally taught by Carl Godlewski from 1905 to 1910; she had a new style of dance that was welcomed by the audience, critics and young students with much enthusiasm. She was inspired by the works of

Isadora Duncan Angela Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877 or May 27, 1878 – September 14, 1927) was an American dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance, who performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the US. Born and raised in ...

and

Ruth St. Denis Ruth St. Denis (born Ruth Denis; January 20, 1879 – July 21, 1968) was an American pioneer of modern dance, introducing eastern ideas into the art. She was the co-founder of the American Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts and the teac ...

. One of her greatest successes was "Demon Machine", a dance performance, in which a group of dancers turned into machines.

Career

Bodenwieser was appointed professor of dance at the

University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817. With a student body of over three thousa ...

. In the concert hall's basement she ran her own dance studio. Her pupils went out on tours throughout Europe as ''Tanzgruppe Bodenwieser'' ("Bodenwieser dance group"). Among her students who went on to pursue their own careers were names such as

Vilma Degischer Vilma Degischer (17 November 1911 - 3 May 1992) was an Austrian theatre and film actress. She appeared in more than thirty films from 1931 to 1991. From 1931 to 1991 she played at the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna. Early life After she atte ...

Trudl Dubsky Trudl Dubsky Zipper (31 January 1913 – 3 July 1976), born Gertruda Dubsky, was an Austrian-American innovative dancer, choreographer and teacher. Early life and education Gertruda Rosa Josefine Dubsky was born in Vienna, the daughter of Wilhe ...

Shona Dunlop MacTavish Shona Katrine MacTavish (née Dunlop; 12 April 1920 – 18 June 2019) was a New Zealand dancer, teacher, author, choreographer and pioneer in liturgical dance in the Asia-Pacific. She was known as "the mother of modern dance in New Zealand". ...

Gisa Geert Gisa Geert, stage name of Margarita Gross (Vienna, 7 June 1900 – Madrid, 2 April 1991), was an Austrian actress and choreographer, who was very active in Italy from the 1940s to the 1960s. Biography Geert had been a member of the 'Bodenwies ...

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 ...

, Susanne Hock,

Gertrud Kraus Gertrud Kraus ( he, גרטרוד קראוס; 5 May 1901 – 13 November 1977) was an Israeli pioneer of modern dance in Israel. Biography Gertrud Kraus was born in 1901 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. Her father, Leopold Kraus, and her mother, Olga ...

Maria Palmer Maria Palmer (born Maria Pichler, 5 September 1917 – 6 September 1981) was an Austrian-born American actress. Early life Palmer was born and raised in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Vienna, Austria) on 5 September 1917. She first appeared on st ...

Peggy van Praagh Dame Margaret van Praagh (1 September 1910 – 15 January 1990) was a British ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, repetiteur, producer, advocate and director, who spent much of her later career in Australia. Early life Peggy van Praagh ...

, and

Cilli Wang Zäzilie Wang (1 February 1909, Vienna — 10 July 2005, Vienna), stage name Cilli Wang, was an Austrian-born Dutch dancer, performer and theatre maker. Wang initially was known as a dancer and later as a comedienne in Austria and Germany. When Au ...

. Bodenwieser and many of her dancers were

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and in 1938, when the Nazis invaded Austria, the ballet was forced to leave Europe. Bodenwieser fled with a handful of students to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, where she gave a guest performance as part of the 400 year celebration of

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

. She was even able to fill a bullfight arena with enthusiastic spectators. Her 1944 dance, "The Masks of Lucifer", showed intrigue, terror and hatred as personifications of political totalitarianism and became famous as the embodiment during an ominous time. Emigration led Bodenwieser to Australia where she lived the rest of her life. In Sydney, she taught dance and founded the Bodenwieser Ballet (1939-1959), which was described as "the first truly influential modern dance company in Australia". Bodenwieser's teaching produced some of the most important dancers, choreographers, and artists of Australia, including Anita Ardell, Keith Bain, Margaret Chapple, Coralie Hinkley,

Ena Noël Phillipena Noël, (30 July 1910 to 7 December 2003) best known by the name Ena Noël, was an inspirational school teacher and advocate for children's literature and library services to children and young adults. Ena Noël's name is synonymous in ...

, Ann Butt, Hanny Exiner, Phillipa Cullen and

Eileen Kramer Eileen Kramer (born 8 November 1914) is an Australian dancer, artist, performer and choreographer. She began by studying singing and music in Sydney in the 1930s, but after attending a performance of the Bodenwieser Ballet in 1940, immediately de ...

. One student from the days of Vienna, Dunlop MacTavish, continued to dance with the company and also taught ballet in local Sydney schools, including Abottsleigh Girls' School. The company toured both urban and rural Australia, and also toured France, New Zealand (1950), South Africa (1950) and India (1952), before folding with the death of its founder.

Personal life

Bodenwieser was married in 1920 to the Viennese director and playwright Friedrich Rosenthal, who died in 1942 in

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. She died suddenly on 10 November 1959.

Literature

* Cuckson, Marie: ''Gertrud Bodenwieser. Her Contribution to the Art of the Dance.'' Vaucluse, NSW 1960. * Dunlop MacTavish, Shona: ''An Ecstasy of Purpose. The Life and Art of Gertrud Bodenwieser.'' Dunedin, N.Z. 1987. * Grayburn, Patricia (ed.): ''Gertrud Bodenwieser, 1890–1959. A celebratory monograph on the 100th anniversary of her birth, with a catalogue of the exhibition shown at the University of Surrey (...) and the Royal Festival Hall (...)''. Surrey 1990. * Dunlop MacTavish, Shona: ''Gertrud Bodenwieser. Tänzerin, Choreographin, Pädagogin. Wien – Sydney.'' (Gekürzte Ausgabe, aus dem Englischen übersetzt von Gabriele Haefs, hrsg.v. Denny Hirschbach). Zeichen und Spuren, Bremen 1992. . * Vernon-Warren, Bettina and Charles Warren (ed.): ''Gertrud Bodenwieser and Vienna's Contribution to Ausdruckstanz.'' Harwood Academic Publishers, Amsterdam u.a. 1999. . * Amort, Andrea: Free Dance in Interwar Vienna. In: Interwar Vienna. Culture between Tradition and Modernity. Eds. Deborah Holmes and Lisa Silverman. New York, Camden House, 2009, p. 117–142.

References

Sources