Gertrud Bodenwieser

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Gertrud Bodenwieser (1921). Photography by Franz Löwy
Bodenwieser's pupils dance the waltz, 1953

Gertrud Bodenwieser (born February 3, 1890 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary ; died November 10, 1959 in Sydney ) was a dancer , choreographer , dance teacher and pioneer of expressive dance .

Life

The daughter of Theodor and Maria Bondi, a wealthy Jewish couple, turned to dance and chose the stage name Gertrud Bodenwieser, under whom she celebrated sensational success as a dancer in Vienna. Bodenwieser was taught classical ballet by Carl Godlewski from 1905 to 1910 . Building on this, she developed a new dance style from 1910. She was inspired by the works of Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis . In 1917 she took the surname Bodenwieser and had her first appearance on May 5, 1919 in the Wiener Konzerthaus . Her dance style met with enthusiasm from the audience, critics and young students. One of her greatest successes was "Demon Machine", a dance performance in which a group of dancers turned into machines .

In Vienna she taught on a contract basis from 1920 to 1928 and as professor of dance at the Academy for Music and Performing Arts from 1928 to 1938 . She ran her own dance studio in the basement of the concert hall. She sent her students on tours all over Europe as the “Bodenwieser dance group” . Her dance "The Masks of Lucifer" shows intrigue , terror and hatred as personifications of political totalitarianism and became famous as the embodiment of the ominous zeitgeist .

May 1938 Gertrud Bodenwieser fled Austria and joined a handful of schoolgirls in Colombia , where they gave a guest performance as part of the 400th anniversary of Bogotá . The emigration led Gertrud Bodenwieser on to Australia . In Sydney she eventually taught dance. Her classes produced some of Australia's most important choreographers and dancers, including Anita Ardell , Keith Bain , Margaret Chapple and Eileen Kramer .

From 1920 Bodenwieser was married to the Viennese director and dramaturge Friedrich Rosenthal , who was murdered by the Nazi regime in 1942 in Auschwitz.

In 2016, Gertrud-Bodenwieser-Gasse in Vienna- Donaustadt ( Seestadt Aspern ) was named after her.

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, NZ 1987.
  • Grayburn, Patricia (ed.): Gertrud Bodenwieser, 1890–1959. A celebratory monograph on the 100th anniversary of her birth, with a catalog of the exhibition shown at the University of Surrey (…) and the Royal Festival Hall (…) . Surrey 1990.
  • Dunlop MacTavish, Shona: Gertrud Bodenwieser. Dancer, choreographer, educator. Vienna - Sydney. (Abridged edition, translated from English by Gabriele Haefs, edited by Denny Hirschbach). Signs and traces, Bremen 1992, ISBN 3-924588-21-X .
  • Vernon-Warren, Bettina and Charles Warren (Eds.): Gertrud Bodenwieser and Vienna's Contribution to Expression Dance. Harwood Academic Publishers, Amsterdam a. a. 1999, ISBN 90-5755-035-0 .
  • Andrea Amort : 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, ISBN 978-1-57113-420-2 .
  • H. Reitterer, Marie Cuckson: Gertrud Bodenwieser . In: Douglas Pike (Ed.): Australian Dictionary of Biography . Melbourne University Press, Carlton (Victoria) 1966–2012 (English).

Web links

Commons : Gertrud Bodenwieser  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Australian Dictionary of Biography - Gertrud Bodenwieser. Retrieved January 26, 2016 .
  2. ^ Aeiou (Austria Lexicon): Friedrich Rosenthal. Retrieved January 3, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Bodenwieser, Gertrud
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dancer, choreographer, dance teacher and pioneer of expressive dance
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH November 10, 1959
Place of death Sydney