The
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
Tanztheater ("dance theatre") grew out of German
Expressionist dance in
Weimar Germany
The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...
and 1920s
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. ...
, and experienced a resurgence in the 1970s.
History
The term first appears around 1927 to identify a particular style of dance emerging from within the new forms of 'expressionist dance' developing in Central Europe since 1917. Its main exponents include
Mary Wigman,
Kurt Jooss
Kurt Jooss (12 January 1901 – 22 May 1979)[Kurt Jooss]
Internationales Biographisches Arch ...
and
Rudolf Laban. The term reappears in critical reviews in the 1980s to identify the work of primarily German choreographers who were students of Jooss (such as
Pina Bausch
Philippine "Pina" Bausch (27 July 1940 – 30 June 2009) was a German dancer and choreographer who was a significant contributor to a neo-expressionist dance tradition now known as . Bausch's approach was noted for a stylised blend of dance move ...
and
Reinhild Hoffmann) and Wigman (
Susanne Linke), along with the Austrian
Johann Kresnik
Johann "Hans" Kresnik (12 December 1939 – 27 July 2019) was an Austrian dancer, and theater director working in the tradition of German Tanztheater (dance theater) who is known for his politically charged approach to dance.
Early life
Johann Kr ...
. The development of the form and its concepts was influenced by
Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...
and
Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his radically innovative and avant-gard ...
, and the cultural ferment of the Weimar Republic.
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch became internationally known. Bausch's dramaturge,
Raimund Hoghe, created independent productions from 1989.
Form
Tanztheater developed out of German expressionist dance, known as
Ausdruckstanz. As the Nazi regime diminished artistic vigor in Germany, Ausdruckstanz fell dormant. Both Birringer (1986) and Schlicher (1987) argue that the particular artistic and historical context of post-war Germany informed the genesis of Tanztheater. In the post war years, Tanztheater became more than a mere ‘blend’ of dance and dramatic elements. Tanztheater prioritized expression over form, viewing dance as a method of social engagement.
References
Further reading
*
*
*Klein, Gabriele 2020. ''Pina Bausch's Dance Theater: Company, Artistic Practices and Reception''. transcript: Bielefeld, .
* Markard, Anna 1985. Jooss. Cologne: Ballet Bühnen Verlag.
* Preston-Dunlop Valerie & Sánchez-Colberg, Ana 2002. ''Dance and the Performative''. London: Verve.
*
Ana Sanchez-Colberg (1992) ''Traditions and Contradictions: A Choreological Documentation of Tanztheater from its Roots in Ausdruckstanz to Present''. London: Laban Centre.
* Sánchez-Colberg, Ana 1992. ''You can see it like this or like that''. In Jordan, S and Allen, D.(eds) Parallel Lines. London: Arts Council.
* Sánchez-Colberg, Ana 1993. ''You put your left foot in…then you shake it all about… Excursions and Incursions into Feminism and Bausch’s Tanztheater.'' In Thomas, Helen (ed.). Dance, Culture and Gender London: Routledge, 151–163.
* Sánchez-Colberg, Ana 1996. ''Altered States And Subliminal Places: Charting The Road Towards A Physical Theatre.''
* Schlicher, Susanne 1987. ''Tanztheater Traditionen und Freiheiten''. Hamburg: Reinbeck Verlag.
Expressionist theatre
Musical theatre
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