Birgit Åkesson

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Birgit Åkesson, 1950.

Birgit Åkesson (born March 24, 1908 in Malmö ; † March 24, 2001 in Stockholm ) was a Swedish dancer , choreographer , dance teacher and dance researcher.

Life

Åkesson received her dance training from 1929 to 1931 at the school of Mary Wigman in Dresden. In 1932/33 she had her first stage experience in Berlin working with the dancer Helga Normann and with Max Reinhardt . Birgit Åkesson left Germany in 1933 and made her debut in Paris with her first dance program in 1934, and in Stockholm and Malmö that same year. In 1935 she was back in Paris, in 1936 she opened her own dance school in Stockholm. She toured until 1939, after which she concentrated mainly on educational activities; she also had a daughter. In 1946 Åkesson gave again solo evenings and guest performances. From 1950 she had teaching activities a. a. at Stockholm University . From 1951 she created group choreographies (Stockholm Opera, Drama Theater; Gothenburg State Theater) in collaboration with modern composers, writers and stage designers. From 1967 Åkesson undertook numerous and extensive research trips through Africa and Asia, guest lectureships, work on books and for Swedish television, choreographic works such as Höstlöv (with the dancer Chiang Ching) and Persefone (with Marie Lindquist).

Works

  • Most important solo works: Blå afton (1946), Movement (1949), Öga: sömn i dröm (1953).
  • Important group choreographies: Sisyfos (1957), Minotauros (1958), Aniara (1959), Riter (1960)

Her estate is in the German Dance Archive in Cologne .

Artistic importance

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Åkesson is considered an "exceptional artist [...], one of the most remarkable dance artists Sweden has produced and one who remains a strong influence in the development of modern dance there." (Cecilia Olsson 2003). Horace Engdahl coined the saying that Birgit Åkesson and Birgit Cullberg are the "mothers of modern dance in Sweden". Anna Greta Ståhle differentiates Åkesson von Cullberg and Ivo Cramér on the basis of individual works by the three choreographers for the Royal Swedish Ballet as follows: "Åkesson belonged to the avantgarde and collaborated with contemporary composers and painters, often using texts by the poet Erik Lindegren ." International Encyclopedia of Dance). Åkesson's solo work falls between European modern dance and American postmodern dance; From a European point of view and from a chronological point of view, her work could therefore be correctly described as “post modern”, but without being able to be assigned to the later American postmodern dance term ( Frank-Manuel Peter ). In 1953 - long before American postmodern dance - the English author Fernau Hall found Åkesson's solos to be classified as “post expressionist free dance”. Birgit Åkesson is unique in her personal dance style and in her importance for the artistic development of modern dance from the 1930s to the 1950s can only be compared with Dore Hoyer , but gained international fame earlier than this.

Awards and honors

  • Carina Ari Medal of Honor 1962
  • Vasa Order 1963
  • Order of St. Erik 1966
  • Läkerols Svenska Culture Prize 1980
  • Exhibition in the German Dance Archive Cologne 1998
  • Exhibition of her African dance mask collection at Etnografiska Museet Stockholm 2007
  • Exhibition (together with Birgit Cullberg) at Dansmuseet Stockholm 2008

Fonts

  • Källvattnets mask. Om dans i Afrika. Stockholm 1983.
  • The skapande files. In: Artes. Tidskrift for literature, const och music. Volume 3. Stockholm 1992, pp. 4, 10-36.
  • Le Masque des eaux vives. Danses et Chorégraphies traditional d'Afrique noire. Paris 1994.
  • Att ge spår i air - föreläsningar all want. Malmo, n.d. (1998).

literature

  • Horace Engdahl : Birgit Åkesson. A New Dimension in Dance - A new dimension in dance. In: Ballet international. Issue 10, 1989, pp. 10-15.
  • Lena Hammergren: Form och mening i dansen. A study of styles with a comparative style analysis of Mary Wigmans and Birgit Åkessons solodanser. Dissertation. Stockholm 1991.
  • Frank-Manuel Peter : The discovery of slowness. Birgit Åkesson on her 90th birthday. In: dance drama. Issue 40, 1998, pp. 14-23.
  • Frank-Manuel Peter (Ed.): Birgit Åkesson. Postmodern dance from Sweden. Cologne 1998 (with catalog raisonné).
  • Cecilia Olsson: The Life and Legacy of Birgit Åkesson. In: Dance Chronicle. Vol. 26, No. 1, 2003, pp. 125-129.
  • Wilhelm Östberg, Anne-Cathrine Lagercrantz (Red.): Dansmaskens advises Birgit Åkessons resor i Africa. Etnografiska Museet, Stockholm 2007.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Åkesson, Birgit
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish dancer and choreographer
DATE OF BIRTH March 24, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Malmo
DATE OF DEATH March 24, 2001
Place of death Stockholm