Dance Techniques 2010

Dance Techniques and Lives
147
Patricia Stöckemann
Dance Techniques and Lives — Discussions
about German Expressionist Dance
Three Interviews with: Ann Hutchinson Guest,
Anna Markard and Reinhild Hoffmann, and Katharine Sehnert
Expressionist dance not only defined an epoch, approaches
developed by the early teachers are still being used by
some dance educators today—approaches that are comparable
to those used by contemporary dancers today. This
series of structured interviews with experts investigates the
influence of dance techniques on the lives of these experts.
Their very personal accounts provide insight into the way
they pass this knowledge on and how they use it themselves.
Participants
Ann Hutchinson Guest (* 1918) was an internationally
recognized expert on dance notation (in particular, Labanotation).
Anna Markard*(* 1931, † 2010) was the
daughter of Kurt Jooss and Aino Siimola, and a trustee
of her father’s work. Reinhild Hoffmann (* 1943) is a
choreographer and one of the protagonists of German
dance–theater. All three trained in the Jooss–Leeder modern
dance technique at different times and places.
Kurt Jooss (1901–1979) laid the foundations for what
would become the German school of modern dance at
the Folkswang School, which he established with Sigurd
Leeder (1902–1981) in Essen in 1927. Mary Wigman’s
(1886–1973) pedagogical work before and after the
Second World War ensured that that their legacy would
continue. Katharine Sehnert (*1937) came to Berlin in
1955 to study at Wigman’s studio and is one of the last
students to have trained with Mary Wigman personally.
Interviewer
Patricia Stöckemann
Ann Hutchinson Guest on
the Jooss–Leeder School of
Dance in England
London, 8 May 2010
When and how did you first encounter Jooss–
Leeder Technique? Who were your teachers?
I went straight from boarding school to the Jooss–Leeder
School of Dance in Dartington in January 1936, at
the age of seventeen. The school year had already begun,
which is why I had to catch up on the missing material
by attending a summer course in 1936. I had ‘script’, as
the subject was called at the Jooss–Leeder School, on
my first day of training. I didn’t discover the official term
Labanotation until later in New York. As I’d very
much enjoyed studying math at school, the notation
system’s logic appealed to me.
Although the school was called the Jooss–Leeder
School of Dance, Jooss himself taught little; he looked
after the dance company and was on tour with his
troupe most of the time. Leeder was the most important
teacher at the school. He taught third–year students
when I arrived. Lisa Ullmann taught second–year students,
and Marlisa Bok was responsible for first–year students.
Teachers of the respective school years taught all the
subjects, like technique, eukinetics, choreutics, and improvisation.
Friderica Derra de Moroda came once a
year to teach Hungarian and Russian folk dance to third–
year students.
We saw little of Jooss, as I said. I remember a few
classes he gave during the summer course of 1936—
they were an excellent introduction to various forms of
waltzes. I wish I had written down all the variations
he taught. In another class, which was a more general
class, I recall he started with practical work then continued
on to theoretical considerations. His English was
wonderfully fluent and one thought led him to the
next, and one theme led him to the next. It was always
interesting and fascinating.
*Anna Markard took part in this discussion
shortly prior to her death on 18 October 2010.