Mary Wigman

Mary Wigman (left)

Mary Wigman studio, West Berlin

Mary Wigman (13 November 1886 – 18 September 1973) was a German dancer, choreographer, and dance instructor.

A pioneer of expressionist dance, her work was hailed for bringing the deepest of existential experiences to the stage. She became one of the most iconic figures of Weimar German culture and is considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of European dance.^[1]

Early days

Karoline Sophie Marie Wiegmann was born in Hannover, Germany. In 1910 she enrolled in School of Rhythmic Gymnastics at Hellerau (outside of Dresden), where she studied with Émile Jaques-Dalcroze for three years. In 1913, she began studying dance at Monte Verità under Rudolf von Laban, an important innovator dance history.

Career

Mary Wigman, dance studio, West Berlin 1959

Wigman started a school in Dresden in 1920, which became known as "Dresden Central School", a center for modern dance innovation. Her students and collaborators there included Yvonne Georgi, Hanya Holm, Harald Kreutzberg, Gret Palucca, Max Terpis, Irena Linn, Margarethe Wallmann, and Inge Weiss.

West Berlin 1959

Mary Wigman toured the United States in 1930 with her company of dancers; a school was founded by her disciples in New York City in 1931. Her schools in Germany continued to operate under Nazi rule in World War II where she obeyed the rule of government and fired all her Jewish dancers. She also taught again in Leipzig in 1948; from 1950 (until her death in 1973), Mary Wigman taught at a studio in West Berlin.

Portrait of Mary Wigman dancing by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Mary Wigman's choreography often employed non-Western instrumentation: fifes, bells, gongs, and drums from India, Thailand, Africa, and China. However, the primary musical accompaniment for her most well known dances was percussion, which contrasted greatly with her use of silence. Mary would often employ masks in her pieces, influenced again by non-western/tribal motifs, as well as ecstatic spinning. Her choreography was also inspirational to communist dance troupes in the 1930s in New York City^[2] Some of Wigman's works include Summer Dance, Dream Image, Witch Dance, Dance of Lorrow, Visions, Cycles, and the Bay, Festive Rhythm and Dance of Spring.

Mary Wigman taught at the renownd "Mary Wigman-Schule" in Dresden, which existed from 1920 until 1942. At this first college of further education for modern dance in Europe and the USA, she developed the modern stage dance (without pointe shoes), dance- and moving-pedagogy and dance therapy. A student of the Mary Wigman-Schule is the famous opera-dancer Ursula Cain (*1927), who at the age of more than 80 years still can be seen on stages and on TV (f. ex.: ARTE) - dancing in cross-genre projects like Dancing with Time by Heike Hennig. Her work in the United States is credited to her protegee Hanya Holm, and then to Hanya's students Alwin Nikolais and Joanne Woodbury. Another student and protege of Wigman's was Margret Dietz. Margret taught in America from 1953 until 1972.

Death

Mary Wigman died on 18 September 1973 in Berlin, aged 86.

See also

• Weimar culture
• Weimar Germany

References

1. ^ Berlin in the Twenties: Art and Culture 1918-33, Rainer Metzger, (London 2007), page 160.
2. ^ John Martain, Workers League In Group Dances, The New York Times, December 24, 1934.

Sources

• Newhall, Mary Anne Santos (2009) Mary Wigman. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-37527-4
• Manning, Susan (1993). Ecstasy and the Demon: Feminism and Nationalism in the Dances of Mary Wigman, University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-08193-5.
• Partsch-Bergsohn, Isa and Harold Bergsohn (2002). The Makers of Modern Dance in Germany: Rudolf Laban, Mary Wigman, Kurt Jooss, Princeton Book Company Publishers. ISBN 0-87127-250-4.
• Toepfer, Karl Eric (1997). Empire of Ecstasy: Nudity and Movement in Germany Body Culture, 1910-1935 (Weimer and Now: German Cultural Criticism, No 13), University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-20663-0.
• Wigman, Mary (1975). The Mary Wigman Book: Her Writings, Olympic Marketing Corp. ISBN 0-8195-4079-X.
• Gilbert, Laure (2000), Danser avec le Troisième Reich, Brussels, Editions Complex, ISBN 2-87027-697-4
• Karina, Lilian & Kant, Marion (2003), German Modern Dance and the Third Reich, Berghahn Books, New York & Oxford, ISBN 1-57181-688-7
• John Martin, Workers League In Group Dances, The New York Times, December 24, 1934

External links

• Traude Schrattenecker, a student of Wigman's.
• Photographs of Mary Wigman
• Mary Wigman-Schule in Dresden
• Dancing with Time by Heike Hennig

Persondata
Name	Wigman, Mary
Alternative names	Wiegmann, Karoline Sophie Marie (birth name)
Short description	German dancer, choreographer, and dance instructor
Date of birth	November 13, 1886
Place of birth	Hannover, Germany
Date of death	September 18, 1973
Place of death	Berlin, Germany