Kurt Jooss (12 January 1901 – 22 May 1979)Kurt Jooss
Internationales Biographisches Archiv (July 1979). munzinger.de was a famous German ballet dancer and choreographer mixing

classical ballet Classical ballet is any of the traditional, formal styles of ballet that exclusively employ classical ballet technique. It is known for its aesthetics and rigorous technique (such as en pointe, pointe work, turnout (ballet), turnout of the legs, ...

with theatre; he is also widely regarded as the founder of Tanztheater. Jooss is noted for establishing several dance companies, including most notably, the Folkwang Tanztheater, in

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

Life and career

Jooss was born in Wasseralfingen, Germany. From an early age he was interested in singing, drama and visual arts, he also played the piano and was a keen photographer. He began his career in the 1920s and from 1920 to 1924 studied under and danced lead roles in the choreography of Rudolf von Laban (who was a trained visual artist and developer of dance theory) and the movement named Ausdruckstanz. Jooss used narratives and modern theatre styles to make performable works of Dance Theatre, further developing the work of Laban and his system of notation. Within a year of leaving Laban, Jooss took the opportunity to establish his own dance company called, Die Neue Tanzbühne. It was here Jooss met Fritz Cohen, the Jewish composer who worked with Jooss on many of his famous pieces. Jooss and Cohen shared the belief that choreography and musical composition should evolve together to give expression of the dramatic idea in unified style and form. In 1925 Jooss and Sigurd Leeder joined a group of artists and opened a new dance school called "Westfälische Akademie für Bewegung, Sprache und Musik". Jooss and Leeder went to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1926 to study classical ballet with Russian ballerina Lubov Egorova. In 1927 Jooss and Leeder's work '' Dance of Death'' was criticised for being too

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

; this resulted in the theatre of

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

changing personnel and programs. Because of this, many of Jooss's colleagues left. The same year Jooss moved the "Westfälische Akademie" to Essen, and it became the Folkwang Schule. Jooss disliked plotless dances and preferred themes that addressed moral issues. Naturalistic movement, large-scale unison and characterisation were used by Jooss to address political concerns of the time. His most important choreographic work, ''

The Green Table ''The Green Table'' is a ballet by the German choreographer Kurt Jooss. His most popular work, it depicts the futility of peace negotiations of the 1930s. It was the first work to be fully notated using kinetography Laban (Labanotation). It is ...

'' (1932), had won first prize at an international competition for new choreography held by the Archives Internationales de la Danse in Paris in 1932. It was a strong anti-war statement, and was made a year before

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

became the chancellor of Germany. ''The Green Table'' is considered his most popular piece. In 1933 Jooss was forced to flee Germany when the Nazis asked him to dismiss the Jews from his company and he refused. Jooss and Leeder (and doubtless Fritz Cohen and other members of his original company) took refuge in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

before resettling in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. After touring in Europe and America, Jooss and Leeder opened a school at Dartington Hall in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. A piece he choreographed at this time was a light-hearted one (in comparison to ''The Green Table'') named "Ball in Old Vienna (1932)". In 1934, whilst in England Jooss added new works to his repertoire, including ''

Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground '' ky ...

'' (1944), contained disturbing images of human

disaster A disaster is an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone. '' Natural disasters'' like avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires are caused by na ...

and

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

, which was later interpreted by some as foretelling the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan a year later. With his company, the Jooss Ballet went on world tours until his company disintegrated in 1947. Jooss left England in 1949 to return to Essen, Germany. Jooss continued to teach and choreograph for 19 years. One of his students from this period was the choreographer Pina Bausch. He retired in 1968 and died in

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. From the late Middle Ages on, it developed into an important trading centre. At the begi ...

, West Germany, 11 years later, aged 78, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Kurt Jooss works are still performed today, especially ''The Green Table''. Anna Markard (Jooss' daughter) supervised companies that perform his works until her death, conserving authenticity of the author of Dance Theatre.

References

External links

Kurt Jooss’ Green Table Restaging and Dance Symposium in Taiwan, 2010

''The New York Times'',15 April 1992

– Exhibition at Gendell Gallery {{DEFAULTSORT:Joss, Kurt Ballet choreographers German choreographers German male ballet dancers Modern dancers 1901 births 1979 deaths Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Academic staff of the Folkwang University of the Arts Road incident deaths in West Germany 20th-century German ballet dancers

Life and career

References

Further reading

External links