Mary Wigman

This book considers dancer, teacher, and choreographer Mary Wigman, a leading innovator in Expressionist dance whose radical explorations of movement and dance theory are credited with expanding the scope of dance as a theatrical art. Now reissued, this book combines: - a full account of Wigman's life and work - an analysis of her key ideas - detailed discussion of her aesthetic theories, including the use of space as an "invisible partner" and the transcendent nature of performance - a commentary on her key works, including Hexentanz and The Seven Dances of Life - an extensive collection of practical exercises designed to provide an understanding of Wigman's choreographic principles and her uniquely immersive approach to dance. As a -rst step towards critical understanding, and as an initial exploration before going on to further, primary research, Routledge Performance Practitioners are unbeatable value for today's student.

Mary Anne Santos Newhall is Professor Emerita of Dance at the University of New Mexico, where she also served as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Fine Arts. She is also Research Director for the American Dance Legacy Initiative at Brown University.

MARY WIGMAN: A LIFE IN DANCE Prologue: why Mary Wigman? Introduction Childhood The beginning of a life in dance Dalcroze and the garden city of Hellerau Return to ritual on the mountain of truth Dancing Dada The crisis year The gilded and tarnished twenties The First Dancers' Congress The Second Dancers' Congress The Third Dancers' Congress Coming to the United States Der Weg (The Path) Returning to the new Germany Dancing in Dresden, 1933-1942 Leaving Dresden To Berlin MARY WIGMAN'S WRITINGS ON THE DANCE: A PHILOSOPHY EMBODIED Introduction The Language of Dance Philosophical context Why a new dance? Primitively modern Spannung and Entspannung Space Time, music, rhythm The Mary Wigman Book What did Wigman mean by ecstasy and form? Apollonian and Dionysian Ideas on composition and the choreographic theme Who has inherited the emotive dance lineage of Mary Wigman? MARY WIGMAN AS CHOREOGRAPHER: CHOOSING THE FOCUS Solo as signature: Hexentanz The mask as doorway Hexentanz: a description Group dance The Seven Dances of Life (1921) Choric dance Totenmal (1930) Final solo concert PRACTICAL EXERCISES Class at the Mary Wigman School Discovering the eloquent body Wigman movement qualities in practice What makes the dance? Space Dance as language Speaking beyond the individual body Composition: improvisation and developing a theme One -nal theme