Mary Wigman
Mary Wigman (
1886-
1973), born
Karoline Sophie Marie Wiegmann, was a
German dancer,
choreographer, and instructor of dance.Credited for innovation of
expressionist dance, and pioneer of
modern dance in
Germany.
Karoline Sophie Marie Wiegmann was born on
November 13, 1886 in
Hannover, Germany. In
1910, she enrolled in School of Rhythmic Gymnastics at
Hellerau (outside of
Dresden).
At the age of 27 (in
1913), Mary began studying dance at
Monte Verita under
Rudolf Laban, an important innovator in contemporary dance at the time. Also studied with
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze.
Wigman started a school in Dresden in 1920, which became known as a center for modern dance innovation. Her students and collaborators there included
Yvonne Georgi,
Hanya Holm,
Harald Kreutzberg,
Gret Palucca,
Max Terpis, and
Margarethe Wallmann.
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 were closed during
World War II, but she began teaching again in
Leipzig in
1948; from
1950 (until her death in
1973), Mary Wigman taught at a studio in
West Berlin.
Mary Wigman's choreographies 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.
Mary Wigman died on
September 18, 1973 in
Berlin.
* Witch Dance (
1914)
* The Seven Dances of Life (
1918)
* Dance Macabre (
1923)
* Dance of Death (
1926)
* Festive Prelude (
1926)
* Celebration (
1928)
* Totenmal (1930)
* Sacrifice (1931)
* Maternal Dance (
1934)
* Lament for the Dead (
1936)
* Rejoice, My Heart (
1942)
* Orpheus and Eurydice (an
opera)(
1947).
* Hexentanz
*
Manning, Susan (1993).
Ecstasy and the Demon: Feminism and Nationalism in the Dances of Mary Wigman, University of California Press. ISBN 0520081935.
* 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 0871272504.
* 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 0520206630.
* Wigman, Mary (1975).
The Mary Wigman Book: Her Writings, Olympic Marketing Corp. ISBN 081954079X.
*
Traude Schrattenecker, a student of Wigman's.
Gilbert, Laure (2000), Danser avec le Troisième Reich, Brussels, Editions Complex, ISBN 2870276974
Karina, Lilian & Kant, Marion (2003), German Modern Dance and the Third Reich, Berghahn Books, New York & Oxford, ISBN 1571816887
