Kurt Peters (dancer)

Kurt Peters (born August 10, 1915 in Hamburg , † February 2, 1996 in Cologne ) was a German dancer, dance teacher, dance critic, dance historian and publisher; In 1948 he founded the German Dance Archive in Cologne .

Short biography

Kurt Peters received his professional training in the school for classical dance from Mariska Rudolph, Hamburg (former Hungarian Court Opera Budapest and ballet master at the Schauspielhaus Hamburg ), in the opera ballet school from Alexandra Fedorowna-Fokine (Opera Nationale Riga; formerly: Imperial Theater of Petersburg), in the Hamburg Laban School (direction: Albrecht Knust) and in the school for acrobatics and tap dance of Donald Winclair (USA / Hamburg). He was a dancer at the Hamburg State Opera (then Stadttheater) and in Aachen; Solo dancer and deputy ballet master in Saarbrücken; Master of training and choreographer of traveling variety stages (for dance artistry and classical dance); Training master in step and acrobatics for members of the pantomime theater Copenhagen.

Military and military service from 1939 to 1945 (as a corporal) with shot in the stomach, foot injuries and imprisonment ended his career as a theater dancer. From 1946 pedagogue in Hamburg. 1965–1979 lecturer and co-leader, later head of the Cologne Institute for Stage Dance at the Musikhochschule and Rheinische Musikschule, where he a. a. also taught cinetography Laban and expanded the educational seminar. Founded the magazine “Das Tanzarchiv” in 1953 (combined in 1981 with “Ballett Journal”, since 2003 with “tanzdrama” in the “Tanz-Journal”). He also founded numerous clubs in the field of dance, such as the "Society of Friends of Dance Art" in 1953 (from whose section NRW the later International Summer Academy of Dance emerged under the direction of Heinz Laurenzen), most recently in 1987 the Deutsche Akademie des Tanzes eV the training of dance and the introduction of creative children's dance in general schools. Since 1967 he was married to Gisela Peters-Rohse.

Kurt Peters founded the private dance archive in 1948, which was taken over in 1986 as the German Dance Archive Cologne by the SK Stiftung Kultur .

He died in 1996 at the age of 80 and was buried in Stade-Haddorf .

Awards

• Prize for artistic folk creation 1st class of the GDR 1957 (as a federal citizen)
• German Dance Prize 1984
• Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon 1987
• Honorary member (honorary president) of the German Academy of Dance , Cologne, 1994

Publications

Most important publication:

• Kurt Peters: Lexicon of classical dance technique. A systematic terminology in the art of classical dance . Hamburg 1961. 2nd edition Wilhelmshaven 1991

Further monographic works:

• Abraxas . Hamburg 1964
• Lola Rogge - an island of musical dance culture . Hamburg 1964
• Dore Hoyer . Hamburg 1964
• Kinetographic lexicon of classical dance technique. Hamburg 1965
• Ballet - Royal Games in Herrenhausen . Cologne 1966
• 10 years of the International Summer Academy of Dance . Cologne 1966
• Ballet in the Hessian State Theater Wiesbaden . Cologne 1968
• Enchainements of classical dance in kinetograms . Cologne 1968
• Kurt Peters et al. a .: dance history. In four concise compendia . Wilhelmshaven 1991

Kurt Peters has written hundreds of articles in specialist magazines (including a correspondent for the Dancing Times ), daily newspapers and other specialist publications.

literature

• Horst Koegler, Helmut Günther: Reclams Ballett Lexikon. Reclam, Stuttgart 1984, p. 350. ISBN 3-15-010328-2
• Festschrift German Dance Prize. 1984. Kurt Peters. Edited by the German Professional Association for Dance Education. Essen 1984.
• Otto Schneider, Riki Raab (Mit.): Dance Lexicon . Schott, Mainz / London / New York / Tokyo 1985, p. 397. ISBN 3-7957-2800-2

Web links

• Frank-Manuel Peter : Obituary for Kurt Peters
• Horst Koegler : On the 10th anniversary of Kurt Peters' death

Individual evidence

1. ^ Obituary notice in: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, No. 35 of 10./11. February 1996, p. 32.