Erick Hawkins (1909–1994) was a leading American modern-dance choreographer and dancer. Born in Trinidad, Colorado, he majored in Greek civilization at Harvard University, graduating in 1930. A performance by the German dancers Harald Kreutzberg and Yvonne Georgi so impressed him that he went to Austria to study dance with the former. Later, he studied at the School of American Ballet. Soon he was dancing with George Balanchine's American Ballet.
Gertrud Bodenwieser belonged to the first generation of modern dancers in Vienna. Initially influenced by Isadora Duncan and François Delsarte and later by Emile Jacques Dalcroze, Bess Mensendieck and Rudolf von Laban, she developed her own style of modern Ausdruckstanz (expressionist dance). This “Bodenwieser style,” often referred to as “specifically Viennese,” stresses the close connection between dance and music as well as a fluidity of movement reminiscent of the Sezessionismus movement.
Gertrud Bodenwieser (1890-1959), dancer, choreographer and teacher, was born on 3 February 1890 in Vienna, younger daughter of Johann Theodor Bondi, auction-broker, and his wife Maria, née Tandler
In 1939 Gertrud Bodenwieser brought ‘New Dance’ to Australia. This dance advocated freedom of body expression (Russells, 1983; Toepfer, 1997). She incorporated ballet training but forbade coded conventions to be imposed on choreography. She cited Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (eurhythmics), Francois Delsarte (mime), Bess Mesensdiek (physical culture), and Rudolph von Laban
José Limón (1908-1972) electrified the world with his dynamic masculine dancing and dramatic choreography. One of the 20th century’s most important and influential dance makers, he spent his entire career pioneering a new art form and fighting for the recognition and establishment of the American Modern Dance. Boron in Culiacan, Mexico in 1908, he immigrated to California in 1915, and in 1928 Limón came to New York and saw his first dance program.
Choreographer Merce Cunningham took chances. Over a seven decade career, his explorations reshaped dance into a new kind of art form, deeply influencing visual art, film, and music along the way. Through experimental collaborations with John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, Marcel Duchamp, and others, he became the 20th century's most influential choreographer. In conjunction with the exhibition Merce Cunningham: Common Time, we look at the many sides of Cunningham: dance maker, collaborator, chance-taker, innovator, film producer, and teacher.
Bodenwieser dancer Eileen Kramer (born 1914) interviewed by Barbara Cuckson at Rozelle School of Visual Arts, Sydney, 2014.
Choreographed 1923 by Gertrud Bodenwieser (1890-1959) Reconstructed 1960 by Emmy Steinninger-Taussig/Barbara Cuckson Filmed 1969 Bodenwieser STudio St Marys Australia by Barbara Cuckson Dancers; Diane Cassidy, Margaret Cuckson, Nadia Konarew, Lisabeth Martin, Marilyn Redman Music composed by Lisa Maria Mayer Pianist Robert Cuckson Filmed to document the choreography by dancers trained in Bodenwieser style.
The Jewish Expressionist dancer, Viennese-born Gertrud Bodenwieser, fled the Nazi regime for the safe haven of Australia in 1939. So it's seems an unlikely twist of fate that 74 years later her choreographies would be reintroduced to Europe by the grandson of a Nazi SS Officer. Berlin-based choreographer and contemporary dancer Jochen Roller says Germany is still recovering from losing its avant-garde performers, who were at the forefront of their art during the early 20th Century. The 42-year-old Mr Roller won a grant from the German government's Federal Cultural Foundation to rediscover what Europe had lost but what had instead continued to develop in Australia. With the help of Bodenwieser specialists in Australia, he is researching and recreating aspects of Bodenwieser's choreographies, which will be included in an interactive website dedicated to her memory. "What she brought (to Australia) was a different aesthetic... and of course this caused controversy amongst the dance community and teachers", explains Curator of Dance at the National Library of Australia, Lee Christofis. Mr Christofis says Bodenwieser's dancers could liberate the body in ways that classical ballet could not and there is now a resurgence of interest in that technique around the world.
8 minute documentary on Jose Limon.
Open Limón Technique Class with Logan Kruger
Merce Cunningham, considered the most influential choreographer of the 20th century, was a many-sided artist. He was a dance-maker, a fierce collaborator, a chance taker, a boundless innovator, a film producer, and a teacher. During his 70 years of creative practice, Cunningham's exploration forever changed the landscape of dance, music, and contemporary art.
Merce Cunningham, born Mercier Philip Cunningham in Centralia, a small town in the state of Washington, was the son of a lawyer Clifford D. Cunningham and Mayme Joach Cunningham. While Merce was still a baby, C. D. Cunningham prosecuted members of the radical labor union, the Industrial Workers of the World, for their participation in the Centralia Massacre (an incident between two groups - veterans and industrial workers - that turned violent).
Modern Dance pioneer Jose Limon choreographed powerful dances with human themes. One of his classic pieces is There is a Time based on the historic poem from the Bible, "Ecclesiastes" -
The José Limón Dance Foundation exists to perpetuate the Limón legacy and its humanistic approach to movement and theater, and to extend the vitality of that vision into the future, through performance, creation, preservation and education.
