Lert, Ruth Clark, 1915-1997,

Ruth Clark Lert was a dance teacher, historian, critic, and photographer who collected dance literature and mememorabilia during her extensive career.

She was born in Berlin, Germany in 1915. She graduated from the Steffi Nossen School of Dance in 1933. In the 1930s and 1940s, she studied under a number of noted dancers and choreographers, including Eugene Loring, Ruth St. Denis, and Juana de Laban. She taught at Loring's American School of Dance, the University of Dayton in Ohio, and the University of California, Irvine. Her writings appeared in major dance publications and textbooks, including Dance Magazine, Dance News, Educational Dance, and Focus on Dance. She died in San Francisco in 1997.

Biography

Ruth Clark Lert was born Ruth Sklarz in Berlin, Germany in 1915. Lert received a teacher's diploma in dance from the Steffi Nossen School of Dance in 1933, only three years before leaving Berlin for the United States. She resided in both New York City and Westchester, New York from 1936 to 1943. She continued to study dance under noted dancers and choreographers, including Merce Cunningham, Saida Gerrard, Lester Horton, Carlton Johnson, Juana de Laban, Bella Lewitzky, Eugene Loring, Murray Louis, Agnes de Mille, Ted Shawn, Ruth St. Denis and Virginia Tanner.

Lert became a United States citizen in 1943. From 1943 to 1945, she worked for the State Department as a writer and editor for Voice of America. In 1944, she married Wolfgang Lert, son of novelist Vicki Baum and Hannover Opera conductor Richard Lert.

Ruth Clark Lert began to collect dance literature and memorabilia as she pursued her own dance career as teacher, historian, critic, and photographer. She taught and lectured on dance, dance theory and dance therapy, in schools, summer camps, community groups, universities and dance schools in Holland and Switzerland.

Lert moved to California (circa 1950) and became an active member of the West Coast dance community. She instructed pre-school children in the Los Angeles Headstart Program and was a movement specialist for hearing-impaired and other handicapped children in the Los Angeles Department of Special Education. She also edited Movement in the Classroom, published by the Office of Urban Affairs, Los Angeles.

Lert became friends with Eugene Loring, and she taught at his American School of Dance for ten years. She taught at the University of Dayton in Ohio for the Adventures in Movement (AIM) program and lectured at various California universities, including the University of California, Irvine.

Besides teaching and lecturing, Lert photographed dancers and contributed articles to major dance publications and special education textbooks, including Dance Magazine, Dance News, Educational Dance, and Focus on Dance. She also edited Vicki Baum's memoirs, It Was All Quite Different. In 1981, she showed many of her photographs in an exhibit titled "Dance in Los Angeles --Dancers at Work 1956-1971."