Modern Dance in Germany and the United States: Crosscurrents and Influences

by Partsch-Bergsohn,Isa

• ISBN13: 9783718655571
• ISBN10: 3718655578
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781134358212
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-04-01
• Publisher: Routledge
• More Book Details

Summary

In Modern Dance in Germany and the United States: Crosscurrents and Influences Isa Partsch-Bergsohn discusses the phenomenon of the modern dance movement between 1902 and 1986 in an international context, focussing on its beginnings in Europe and its philosophy as formulated by the pioneers Dalcroze, Laban, Wigman and Jooss. The author traces the effects the Third Reich had on these artists, and shows the influence these key choreographers had on the developing American modern dance movement through the postwar years, concentrating in particular on Kurt Jooss and his Tanztheater.
When America took the lead in modern dance innovation during the sixties, artists such as Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey and Alwin Nikolais overwhelmed European audiences. Subsequently, the artists of the New German Tanztheater revitalized German theatre traditions by blending new content with some of the American contemporary dance techniques. Although the history of modern dance in these two countries is closely linked, the author describes how each country has kept its own unique and distinctive style.

Author Biography

Isa Partsch-Bergsohn was Professor of Dance at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and is now on the board of the Faculty of Fine Arts.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Series
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Breaking through to Modernity	p. 1
The decade of fermentation
The Cultural situation in the arts in Germany of the twenties
Isadora Duncan in Europe (1899-1927)
Dalcroze in Switzerland, Dalcroze at Hellerau (1910-1914)
Radical experimentation
The Total Work of Art, Igor Stravinsky's 'Le Sacre du Printemps' and Nijinsky's choreography
Rudolf Laban
Youth and adolescence, Studies in Paris (1900-1907), The German-Swiss phase (1908-1919), Laban at Monte Verita
The Formative Years: The Twenties	p. 25
The General cultural situation in Germany in the twenties
Laban's new phase: the articulation of concepts in writing, choreographing, and movement research
Mary Wigman develops her unique art in Dresden
'Absolute Dance' (1920-1929)
Dance in German theatre in the twenties
Kurt Jooss, youth, adolescence, (1901-1920)
With Laban: Stuttgart, Hamburg, (1920-1923) Munster (1924-1926)
Director of the Dance Department at the Folkwang-Schule (1927-1933)
Laban's fiftieth birthday
First Encounters Across the Atlantic	p. 49
The Emergence of American Modern Dance
America's first exposure to German Modern Dance
Harald Kreutzberg, the Third Dancers' Congress
Wigman's Totenmal and Wallmann's Orpheus
Wigman tours America (December 1930, first tour)
Dance Repertory Theatre
Graham, Humphrey/Weidman, Tamiris
Mary Wigman's second and third tours (November 1931-April 1932, December 1932-March 5, 1933)
Her return to Germany
Dance in the Tide of Politics: The Thirties	p. 77
The Leaders of American Modern Dance: Graham, Humphrey-Weidman
Hanya Holm, Wigman's assistant in Dresden (1921-1931)
Director of the Wigman School of Dance in New York (1931-1936)
The Green Table, the New York debut (1933) America's Response
The Bennington School of The Dance
Goals, realization, performances
The dilemma of German dancers (1935-1939)
Dance in the Shadow of World War II	p. 99
The response of the American choreographers to the Civil War in Spain
American Modern Dance during World War II (1942-1944)
Holm's pupils (1941-1968)
Hanya Holm and the musical
Dance in Nazi Germany after 1936, provincial isolation
The German opera Balletts
Modern dance considered 'degenerate art'
Mary Wigman at Leipzig's Music Academy
Audition with Wigman
Wigman's teaching philosophy
Carmina Burana
Total War
Dance Following World War II	p. 119
The Cultural climate in Germany (1945-1948)
Art, Theatre, and Dance after 1945
Palucca, Kreutzberg, Wigman, Chladek, and Dore Hoyer
Ballets after 1948: Germany Opera Ballett Ensembles and international companies touring West Germany
Wigman's move to Berlin in 1949
The last School in Berlin: Wigman under tremendous pressure
'Le Sacre du Printemps' in 1957
Meeting with Martha Graham at the Berlin Festival 1957
Last visit to the United States in 1958
A summary of her impressions of American Modern Dance
Wigman's last years, Alceste (1958), Orpheus and Eurydice at the Berlin Festival
The Death of Kreutzberg and Dore Hoyer
The Death of Mary Wigman (1973)
The Question of her legacy
From The Green Table to Journey in the Fog, and Beyond	p. 137
Kurt Jooss's flight from Germany, artist in exile
Jooss in England (1934-1947), the Dartington years 1934-1942
Jooss/Leeder School
Lisa Ullman and Laban settle in Manchester
The last Publications of Laban
The Death of Rudolf Laban (1958)
Jooss as guest choreographer in Chile
An invitation to teach at Swiss summer course
Summer teaching at the Folkwang-Schule, Essen
Kurt Jooss in Essen (1949-1967)
Jooss returns to the Folkwang-Schule, the Folkwang Tanz-Theater
Dissolution of the Folkwang Tanz-Theater
Kurt Jooss and the City of Essen
Raising standards of stage dance in West Germany
A closing reflection on Jooss
Bibliography	p. 157
Index	p. 169
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