Background

(Mary Wigman)

Mary Wigman, the representative figure of modern dance in Germany, is the pioneer of expressionist dance. Furthermore, she developed dance without music, and improvisational music.

Wigman was born in Hanover, Germany. In the beginning of her dance life, she was a student of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze. In 1913, she was introduced to Rudolf von Laban, and she became Laban's right-hand. Laban's concept of dance influenced Wigman a lot, as a result, Wigman achieved expressionist dance. Her performance based on contrast, for instance, expansion and contraction, pulling and pushing.

In l914, Wigman performed her first production, Hexentanz. This was her solo dance, and it without music. When she worked with Laban, she always supported to performed without dance. Furthermore, she formed its own unique style of dance because she had special concept about modern dance.

(Hexentanz, fragment 4)

In 1920, Wigman established her own dance school that became known as "Dresden Central School." Wigman trained many famous dancers that included Hanya Holm, Harald Kreutzberg and Gret Palucca.

In World War II, Wigman obeyed the rule of Nazi that fired all Jewish dancers in her schools. In 1942, her schools were shut down because Nazi government banned to use dance to express any philosophical views.

Wigman died on September 18, 1973 in Berlin.