Iris Barbura (November 4, 1912, in Arad,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

– June 13, 1969, in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

) was a Romanian-German-American dancer,

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

, and dance teacher.

Life and work

Barbura began her dance studies in 1931 at the

National University of Music Bucharest The National University of Music Bucharest (, UNMB) is a university-level school of music located in Bucharest, Romania. Established as a school of music in 1863 and reorganized as an academy in 1931, it has functioned as a public university since ...

. In 1935, she met pianist (and later conductor)

Sergiu Celibidache Sergiu Celibidache (; ; 13 August 1996) was a Romanian people, Romanian Conducting, conductor, composer, musical theorist, and teacher. Educated in his native Romania, and later in Paris and Berlin, Celibidache's career in music spanned over fi ...

. They had a multi-year romantic and artistic partnership.Kern et al. (2017), p. 89. Celebidache accompanied Barbura on the piano, and also composed music that she used in her performances. From 1936 to 1938, Barbura spent summers studying dance in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, at the

Mozarteum Mozarteum University Salzburg ( German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the "Mozarteum" name in Salzburg municipality; the International Mozarteu ...

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

with

Harald Kreutzberg Harald Kreutzberg (December 11, 1902 – April 25, 1968) was a German dancer and choreographer associated with the Ausdruckstanz movement, a form in which the individual, artistic expression of feelings or emotions is essential. Though largely fo ...

, and in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Between 1938 and 1942, Barbura worked in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

as a choreographer and performed solo programs. She practiced

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert dance, concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th ...

, more specifically:

Expressionist dance ''Expressive dance'' from German ''Ausdruckstanz'', 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 classic ...

, and was the first choreographer at the National Theatre. In 1942 she embarked on an international performance tour to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. From 1945 to 1951, she lived with Celibidache in Berlin and gave solo dance recitals. Vergiu Cornea was sometimes her dance partner. Barbura and Celibidache separated in 1951, and she emigrated to the US, where she lived in Ithaca, New York. There she opened her own dance studio at 420 Eddy St. In June 1969, she leapt to her death from a bridge over Triphammer Falls. She was 56 years old.

Legacy

In 2016, her most famous student, Beth Soll, performed a solo work in her honor. In 2017, she was the subject of the biography ''Iris Barbura: don't think — dance, dance, dance!'' by Alexandru Mușat.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Beth Soll, ''Tribute to Iris Barbura''
2016 Facebook page on Soll's Bucharest performance
Camaro Stiftung Berlin, ''Tribute to Iris Barbura''
2017 flyer for Soll's Berlin performance (in German, Romanian, English)
Beth Soll / Iris Barbura, ''Tribute to Iris Barbura''
2016 Centrul Național al Dansului booklet in Romanian and English - bios of Barbura and Soll, old letters & clippings, etc. At ISSUU.
Luana Pleșea, Ana Nedelea: ''Choreographin Iris Barbura: Die wahre und pure Kunst des Ausdruckstanzes.'') [Choreographer Iris Barbura: The True and Pure Art of Expressionist Dance
Radio Romania Internațional {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbura, Iris National University of Music Bucharest alumni 1912 births 1969 suicides People from Arad, Romania Romanian female dancers Romanian choreographers German female dancers German choreographers American female dancers 20th-century American dancers American choreographers Romanian women choreographers American women choreographers Suicides by jumping in New York (state) People from Ithaca, New York Romanian emigrants Immigrants to the United States 20th-century German dancers 1969 deaths 20th-century American women educators 20th-century American educators 20th-century German women educators 20th-century German educators