Wigman, Mary, 1886-1973

Mary Wigman, German modern dancer and choreographer, was born Mary Wiegmann, November 13, 1886 in Hanover. She trained first with Emile Jaques-Dalcroze in Hellerau and Dresden and later with Rudolf von Laban in Anscona, Switzerland and in Munich. Her debut as a concert dancer and choreographer occurred in 1919. Successful performances encouraged her to open her own school in Dresden, where among her first students were Yvonne Georgi, Gert Palucca, and Harald Kreutzberg. By 1925, her students included Ruth Abrahamowitsch, Hanya Holm, and Tilly Losch. Her students performed as a company, touring Western Europe throughout the 1930's. Wigman performed at the Berlin Olympics of 1936, but the National Socialists closed her school, and she became a teacher at the Leipzig Music Academy. After World War II, she returned to Berlin, re-opening her school in 1948, which became the center for the German modern dance movement. She choreographed over one hundred dances for herself and her dancers but also worked in various German opera houses, staging productions of Gluck in Leipzig and Mannheim and a famous joint performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and Catulli Carmina in 1955. She died in Berlin September 18, 1973.

German modern dance pioneer in choreography, technique, and teaching theory.

One of Wigman's many students was Margaret Gage, American dance teacher, performer, and choreographer.

Born in Hanover, Germany in 1886, Mary Wigman is considered to be one of the founders of the modern dance movement. Through her studies in Emile Jaques-Dalcroze's Eurhythmics school and with Rudolf von Laban in Ascona, Switzerland, she used dance as an expression of life and created her own style referred to as expressionist dance or "absolute" dance. Her early performances were silent or danced with percussion only. In 1920 she opened her own school in Desden, Germany where she taught her theories of movement. She died in Berlin in 1973.

Pola Nirenska was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1910 and insisted on dancing as a child. Although she had very little early training she attended the Wigman School and graduated with honors in music and dance in 1931. Nirenska performed in the 1932-1933 Wigman company tour through the United States and Germany. At the start of World War II, Nirenska, who was Jewish, emigrated to England. In 1949, Nirenska moved to the United States where she studied dance with leading modern dance choreographers and opened her own company in 1951 in Washington, D.C. Pola Nirenska died in Maryland in 1992.

Sources:

Dunning,Jennifer. "Pola Nirenska, a Choreographer And Teacher, Is a Suicide at 81." The New York Times, July 31, 1992. Accessed June 28, 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/31/arts/pola-nirenska-a-choreographer-and-teacher-is-a-suicide-at-81.html.

"Wigman, Mary (1886-1973)." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Gale Biography In Context. Accessed July 3, 2012. http://ic.galegroup.com.