Expressionist dance

Mary Wigman (centre), a pioneer of expressionist dance, with students at her Berlin dance studio, 1959.
Loie Fuller 1902.
Ruth St. Denis, the ancient Egyptian, 1910.
Isadora Duncan at the sea front 1915.
Hilde Holger 1926.
Dance students from Rudolf von Laban’s dance school 1930.
Emmy Towsey (Taussig) and Evelyn Ippen, Bodenwieser Ballet in Centennial Park [1] in Sydney, Australia ca. 1939.

Expressive dance from German Ausdruckstanz,[2] is a form of artistic dance in which the individual and artistic presentation (and sometimes also processing) of feelings is an essential part. It emerged as a counter-movement to classical ballet at the beginning of the 20th century in Europe. Traditional ballet was perceived as austere, mechanical and tightly held in fixed and conventional forms. Other designations are modern dance and (especially in the historical context) free dance, expressionist dance[2] or new artistic dance, in Anglo-American countries German dance. In 2014, modern dance with the stylistic forms and mediation forms of rhythmic and expressive dance movements was included in the German List of intangible Cultural Heritage [de] as defined by the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. German Expressionist dance is related to Tanztheater.[3]

  1. ^ "Trove". trove.nla.gov.au.
  2. ^ a b Preston-Dunlop, Valerie (1995). Dance Words. Amsterdam: Hardwood Aacademic Publishers. p. 18. ISBN 978-3-7186-5605-9.
  3. ^ Müller, Hedwig (21 August 2012) [First published in 1986]. "Expressionism? 'Ausdruckstanz' and the New Dance Theatre in Germany". In Climenhaga, Royd (ed.). The Pina Bausch Sourcebook: The Making of Tanztheater. Routledge. pp. 19–30. ISBN 978-1-136-44920-8.