Goslar, Lotte

German-born Lotte Goslar (1907-1997), was a dancer, mime, clown, and choreographer who emigrated to the United States, where she established her own company and also became an influential teacher of mime and movement for actors.

Goslar was exposed to innovative developments in modern dance in Germany, studying briefly with Mary Wigman and later joining the Gret Palucca company. Goslar, however, forged her own individual style. Often characterizing herself as a clown, Goslar was partly inspired by the work of the mime, Valeska Gert, but was more gentle and whimsical in her comedic approach. She began creating her own dances while in Palucca's company, but left after two years to begin a solo career. In 1933, while on tour in Prague, she left Germany in protest of the Nazi seizure of power. Erika Mann created a part specifically for Goslar in The Peppermill (1934), a satiric, anti-fascist revue that toured Europe before arriving in New York in 1937. Goslar remained in the United States, eventually winding up for a time in Los Angeles, with its large German émigré community. In 1943 she accepted what initially was to be an eight-week engagement to appear with Elsa Lanchester in a revue at the Turnabout Theatre; it lasted ten years. She also came to know Bertolt Brecht and served as choreographer for the premiere of his play, Galileo (1947), starring Lanchester's husband, Charles Laughton. Brecht would write the scenario for Goslar's piece, Circus Scene. During this time in California she also taught movement classes for actors; among her students was Marilyn Monroe. In 1943 Goslar met her husband Bill Seehaus and the couple eventually settled in Connecticut. In 1954 she created her own company, Lotte Goslar's Pantomime Circus. Developing an extensive repertory, the group toured the United States and Europe for over thirty years.

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