Gertrud Leistikow

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Gertrud Leistikow (1921)

Gertrud Leistikow (born September 12, 1885 in Bückeburg , † November 23, 1948 in Amsterdam ) was a German dancer and choreographer . It is mainly associated with nude and grotesque dances.

Live and act

Leistikow attended girls' schools in Metz and Spa and studied at the Academy of Applied Arts in Dresden a . a. in Max Frey's graphic class . In 1904 she experienced a performance by Émile Jaques-Dalcroze in Dresden . She began to learn the Delsarte system from Hedwig Kallmeyer in Berlin. Leistikow first appeared as a dancer between 1906 and 1910. Drawings by Dora Brandenburg-Polster from 1911 show her as a nude dancer. In 1914, Leistikov's solo appearances were already drawing considerable audiences in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Lausanne, Utrecht and Sarajevo.

In the summer of 1914 she joined Rudolf von Laban's troupe on Monte Verità near Ascona , where she starred alongside Mary Wigman in Laban's dance drama "Victory of the Sacrifice" by Hans Brandenburg. In 1916 she toured Germany and the Netherlands. After marrying a Dutch rose dealer, she rarely traveled outside of Holland.

Leistikow ran three dance schools in Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam. A trip to the Dutch East Indies prompted her to open three more schools there in 1924. She gave farewell tours through the Netherlands in 1929, 1930 and 1937. Nevertheless, from 1938 to 1939 she toured again in the Dutch East Indies.

When the Second World War broke out, Leistikow came back to the Netherlands via detours and opened another dance school. She distanced herself from the Nazi-friendly Dutch dance culture of the time.

A dance photo of Leistikow, taken in 1912 by the photographer Hugo Erfurth on chlorosilver gelatine , has been in the Folkwang Museum since 1982 .

particularities

Gertrud Leistikow thought her face was expressionless and therefore often hid it behind scarves, veils and masks or tried to draw the viewer's gaze to the rest of her body. Drawings and photographs often show Leistikow naked, but with his face covered.

literature

  • Toepfer, Karl. Empire of Ecstasy: Nudity and Movement in German Body Culture, 1910-1935. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1997 1997. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft167nb0sp/
  • Ehrich, Karin. The expressive dancer Gertrud Leistikow , in: History of Schaumburger women. Edited by the Schaumburg landscape. Bielefeld 2000, pp. 198-206. ISBN 3-89534-440-0
  • Jacoba Adriana de Boer: Gertrud Leistikow en de modern, "Duitsche" dans. A biography (doctoral thesis) . FGw: Amsterdam School for Culture and History (ASCH), Amsterdam 2015, p. 44 + 318 ( digitized ).

Web links

Commons : Gertrud Leistikow  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jacoba Adriana de Boer: Gertrud Leistikow en de modern, "Duitsche" dans. A biography (doctoral thesis) . FGw: Amsterdam School for Culture and History (ASCH), Amsterdam 2015, p. 28 ( digitized version ).
  2. ^ Hugo Erfurth: Untitled: The dancer Gertrud Leistikow, Dresden. Photography on chlorosilver gelatine. 1912, Retrieved September 10, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Leistikow, Gertrud
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leistikow, Gertrud Louise
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German dancer
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Buckeburg
DATE OF DEATH November 23, 1948
Place of death Amsterdam