Erika Milee

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erika Milee , actually Erika Michelson (* December 24, 1907 in Hamburg ; † June 30, 1996 there ) was a German dancer , dance teacher and choreographer .

Live and act

Erika Milee was a daughter of Simon Michelsen and his wife Margarethe. After attending school, she completed commercial training. Michelson, who later appeared under the stage name Milee, had received dance lessons from the age of seven, including with Gertrud Zimmermann and Paul Theodor Etbauer. After completing vocational training, she decided to pursue dancing. From 1926 she received training in Rudolf von Labans ' dance school at Schwanenwik under the direction of Albrecht Knust . Two years later she offered lessons in choral and stage dance and gymnastics for the first time in her own Milee School in Hamburg on Rothenbaumchaussee. From 1930 she volunteered on the stage of the Essen Opera House under the direction of Kurt Jooss . She also attended the Folkwang School in the Ruhr area .

In 1932 Milee returned to Hamburg, where she performed at the Hamburger Künstlerfest Himmel auf Zeit in January / February 1933 . Milee opened the events in the Curiohaus with her performances every evening . After the seizure of power , the National Socialists forbade the dancer, who was of Jewish faith, to perform further. She could only appear at events organized by the Kulturbund Deutscher Juden in Hamburg. This included the pantomime revue A Day with the Mickey Mice in May 1937, where she presented herself with her children's dance group. In 1939 Milee moved to Berlin , where she worked as a dancer and choreographer for the local cultural association.

In October 1939 Milee got an engagement with an Italian dance group. Milee left Germany for Italy and moved on to Paraguay via Portugal . In the local capital, Asunción , she founded the dance department at the Academy for Theater, Music and Painting (“Ateneo Paraquayo”), which she took over. Milee went on tours to Brazil , Uruguay and Argentina and was celebrated there with numerous appearances. In 1953 she moved to Londrina , Brazil , where she taught in her own dance studio.

Fragment of the grave stele for
Erika Michelson ,
Ilandkoppel Jewish Cemetery

Despite the murder of her mother and sisters during the Nazi era , Erika Milee returned to her hometown in 1959. In Hamburg-Eimsbüttel she offered classical and modern dance, folklore, jazz dance and gymnastics in her own dance study. In 1976/77 she founded the Hamburg Ballet Friends together with others and held its honorary chairmanship until her death.

Erika Milee, who the Hamburger Abendblatt described as “an institution” and “the doyenne of German modern dance” on her 85th birthday, died at the end of June 1996. The Allgemeine Jüdische Wochenzeitung called her “Queen of Dance” after her death.

Erika Milee was buried in the Jewish cemetery Ilandkoppel in Hamburg-Ohlsdorf under the name Erika Anita Michelson (grid square N1).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Monika Fabry: “I'll just dance the scarecrow for you” Hamburger Abendblatt, December 23, 1992. Accessed November 4, 2015.
  2. ↑ grave register
  3. ^ Cemetery plan
personal data
SURNAME Milee, Erika
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Michelson, Erika (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German dancer, dance teacher and choreographer
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH June 30, 1996
Place of death Hamburg