Dance Techniques 2010

104
Historical Context
to the Folkwang University in 1976 where he served concurrently
as training director for the Folkwang Ballet and
the Tanztheater Wuppertal, both of which were, at the
time, under the direction of Bausch (1940–2009). Lutz
Förster—who, after completing his dance education in
Essen, began his professional career in 1975 with Bausch
at the Tanztheater Wuppertal, and now, since 1992, is
director of the Folkwang University Dance Department—
describes Cébron as a “master of movement analysis.”
Förster names both Cébron and Hans Züllig as formative
teachers. 7
Relation to Other Art Forms
Both Jooss and Leeder considered it important for students
to have insight into other art forms; both worked
in educational environments offering students involvement
with a variety of artistic media beyond dance that
included music, theater, visual arts, film, design, etc. And
both Jooss and Leeder were artistically gifted and multitalented:
Jooss began music and acting studies in Stuttgart
in 1920 before going on to study dance with Rudolf von
Laban; Leeder was active not only as a dancer, but also as
a painter, costume designer, and stage technician.
Jooss subscribed to the idea of a dramatic dance theater.
His choreographic works show human behavior and social
milieus in a stylized form. 8 For his famous work, The
Green Table, he and his company received first prize at
the 1932 International Choreography Competition in
Paris. Jooss saw the intersecting of art forms, i.e., between
dance, drama, and opera as being important, 9 and his
artistic approach was clearly linked to Expressionism. His
choreographies presented subjective impressions of the
world—using time and space abstractly, his works were
an interpretation of his impressions and transformed his
message into a narrative form.
Affinities and equivalents can be found in the visual arts.
For example, as of 1927 in Essen, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
(1880–1938) drew sketches for paintings, among which
was the Farbentanz (‘dance of color’) that was eventually
realized in the Folkwang Museum’s ceremonial hall. Kurt
Jooss’s dance works also have a powerful expressionistic
aesthetic based in Realism, similar to Kirchner’s work
and to paintings and sculptures of other Expressionists
like Otto Dix (1891–1969), George Grosz (1893–1959),
Edvard Munch (1863–1944), and Ernst Barlach (1870–
1938).
In the 1960s and 1970s, Jooss was a pioneer in contemporary
dance theater in Germany. He was guided by a new
interpretation of dance through multimediality, and led
the way with his aesthetics and staging of dance.
Relevant Theoretical
Discourses
Expressionist art and the German new dance movement
evolved from a renunciation of conventional notions
about art at the time, and both were closely intertwined
with the Lebensreformbewegung. Ballet’s rigid form was
burst open in a myriad of ways—by the sheer joy of experimentation.
Because representatives and proponents of
the classic and modern approaches to dance all needed to
formulate and clarify their ideas, a demarcation between
the two camps was both understandable and necessary.
In retrospect, Jooss and Leeder’s integrating mindset, as
manifested in their teaching approach, was ahead of its
time and remains relevant. From a cultural and historical
point of view, further research must consider where modern
dance fits into the history of art in society’s Modern
era. The understanding and relationship of ‘traditional’
versus ‘modern’ should not only be recalibrated in the
era of ‘Modernism’, 10 but contemporary choreographies
should also be taken into consideration.
Jooss and Leeder, both as choreographers and teachers,
sought an interface between modern dance and ballet. For
both men, however, it was also important to maintain the
independence of both dance forms in the curriculum. The
various dance forms or techniques, as well as the characteristics
that define them, had to be taught separately in
order for dancers to be able to understand any specific
style(s). With this in mind, it makes sense when Passow
points out that Jooss–Leeder Technique is in no way a
synthesis of ballet and modern dance—as has often been
written elsewhere.
On the other hand, Jooss’s historic aesthetic was based
upon crossing and overstepping boundaries. When a piece
called for it, Jooss included ballet elements, ballroom
dancing, and historic dance forms. The label ‘hybrid dance
form’ applies not only to the traditional Jooss–Leeder
Technique, but also to the present–day work taught by
Passow at LABAN.
7 See Tonja Wiebracht: ‘“Doch eines fehlt
dem neuen Tanz in Deutschland: Die konsequente
Systematisierung der Tänzererziehung.”
Die Folkwang Hochschule wird 80.’
. In: Ballett Intern, 4 / 2007, pp. 4–8, here p. 5.
8 For more about his artistic approach, see
the monograph by Patricia Stöckemann:
Etwas ganz Neues muß nun entstehen. Kurt
Jooss und das Tanztheater. Munich: K. Kieser
Verlag, 2001.
9 About this, see the catalog of works published
in Stöckemann 2001 (pp. 443–461).
10 See remarks by Gabriele Klein: ‘Was ist
modern am modernen Tanz? – Zur Dekonstruktion
dualistischer Tanzverhältnisse’. In:
Gesellschaft für Tanzforschung (Ed.): Jahrbuch
1993, Volume 4. Wilhelmshaven: Florian
Noetzel Verlag, 1993, pp. 61–72.