Irmgard Bartenieff

Irmgard Bartenieff

Irmgard Bartenieff (born February 24, 1900 in Berlin ; † August 27, 1981 in New York ) was a dancer, choreographer and dance therapist.

She was a student of Rudolf Laban and obtained her Laban diploma in Berlin in 1925. At first she worked in Germany with her own small dance company, with which she reconstructed and performed dances from the Baroque era. She also taught Kinetography Laban, later also called Labanotation . Shortly before the start of the Second World War, Bartenieff was able to emigrate to New York, USA. In the 1940s she learned Swedish massage and physiotherapy. In the 1950s she completed five further summer courses with Rudolf Laban, who emigrated to Great Britain in 1937. In the 1960s she worked as a research assistant for Dr. Israel Zwerling at Einstein Medical College and later at Bronx State University. This pioneering work in the systematic observation and documentation of patients is what distinguishes them as the great mother of dance therapy. In addition, Bartenieff developed a body work from Laban's movement-analytical theories and her own experience as a dancer, physiotherapist and dance therapist: the Bartenieff Fundamentals .

In 1965 she taught the first “Effort / Shape” program at the Dance Notation Bureau and in 1978 founded the Laban / Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies. Here she taught the Bartenieff Fundamentals body work and the Laban Movement Analysis ( Laban movement studies ). Shortly before her death, she wrote her only book with Doris Lewis: Body Movement: Coping with the Environment ISBN 0-677-05500-5 . In 1988 the European Association for Laban / Bartenieff Movement Studies - EUROLAB, was founded, which continues its work in Germany.

literature

• Folk Song Style and Culture . With contributions by Conrad Arensberg, Edwin E. Erickson, Victor Grauer, Norman Berkowitz, Irmgard Bartenieff, Forrestine Paulay, Joan Halifax, Barbara Ayres, Norman N. Markel, Roswell Rudd, Monika Vizedom, Fred Peng, Roger Wescott, David Brown. Washington, DC: Colonial Press Inc, American Association for the Advancement of Science , Publication no.88, 1968.
• Kabat, H. Studies on neuromuscular dysfunction: XV. The role of central facilitation in restoration of motor function in paralysis. (1952). Archives of Physical Medicine 33: 521-33, (September).
• Laban, R. Modern educational dance (1975). Third edition. L. Ullmann, ed. London: Macdonald and Evans.
• Valvano, J. and Long, T. Neurodevelopmental treatment: a review of the writings of the Bobaths. (1991). Pediatric Physical Therapy 3: 3 (case)
• Voss, DE, Ionta, MK and Myers, BJ Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation: patterns and techniques (1985). Third edition. New York: Harper and Row.
• Woodruff, DL Bartenieff Fundamentals ™: A somatic approach to movement rehabilitation (1992). The Union Institute.

Web links

• European Association for Laban / Bartenieff Movement Studies - EUROLAB