Elsa Lindenberg

Elsa Lindenberg (* 1906 ; † November 6, 1990 ) was a German dancer , dance teacher , choreographer and dance therapist .

Life

In 1919 Elsa Lindenberg began her training in Berlin. In 1925 she enrolled in Hertha Feist's school , where she studied dance and “body-oriented movement theory” according to Laban . In 1927 she successfully completed this ballet training.

Furthermore, before and after the Second World War, she was a student of Elsa Gindler , who at that time made lasting changes to the gymnastics school in Berlin as part of the life reform .

From 1927 to 1933 she danced in the ballet ensemble of the Städtische Oper Berlin (today Deutsche Oper Berlin ). In 1932 she met Wilhelm Reich and began a love affair with him. Reich was still married to Annie Reich at the time , but divorced her in 1933 because of Elsa Lindenberg.

On April 21, 1933, Elsa Lindenberg was formally excluded from the ballet group under the law to restore the professional civil service . She was accused of “behavior damaging to the state”. Elsa Lindenberg was politically left-wing and fought against the National Socialists together with Ruth Abramowitsch and Ilse Larede . Lindenberg and Reich escaped an arrest warrant already issued against them and the search of their apartment just in time because they escaped to Denmark together .

Together with Reich, she went on reading tours in Scandinavia in the following years. From 1935 to 1939 she worked at the "Arbeiderteatret" in Oslo . In 1939 Elsa Lindenberg separated from Wilhelm Reich, who emigrated to the USA, she stayed in Oslo. As a result of investigations by the Secret State Police , Elsa Lindenberg was forced to enter into a marriage of convenience with a Norwegian. In 1944 she was considered a wanted person (and public enemy) in Germany, which is why she went into hiding in Sweden until the end of the war. In 1945 she returned to Oslo, but was persecuted as a German. She was later rehabilitated by the Norwegian government and received a state pension.

Services

Elsa Lindenberg was one of the first German dancers in Scandinavia to practice and teach " Modern Expressive Dance ". Reich encouraged her to work therapeutically with the dancers, which made her a pioneer of dance therapy .

On the other hand, she was probably significantly involved in the development of Reichs Vegetotherapy , which was later seen as a cornerstone of body psychotherapy . Before meeting Elsa Lindenberg, Wilhelm Reich worked purely psychoanalytically.

literature

• Lilian Karina and Marion Kant: Tanz unterm Hakenkreuz - A Documentation , Verlag Henschel, 1999, ISBN 978-1571816887
• Gustl Marlock and Halko Weiss (eds.): Handbuch der Körperpsychotherapie , Verlag Schattauer, 2006, ISBN 978-3794524730

Web links

• Courtenay Young: On Elsa Lindenberg and Reich (English, PDF, 198 kB)
• When Elsa Lindenberg met Wilhelm Reich (Engl.) Here is a photo of her and the artistically portrayed connection between her and Wilhelm Reich.