The Academy of Arts is an international community of artists, venue and archive at the same time. Renowned choreographers are members of the Akademie der Künste and are guests at irregular intervals with performances, lectures or in talks.
From 2008 to 2010, the series “Political Bodies” presented choreographers who created a new dance language in situations of social upheaval, including Pina Bausch, Gerhard Bohner, Reinhild Hoffmann, Susanne Linke, Alain Platel and Arila Siegert.
The Akademie is also a forum for the cultural-political discussion of the production conditions of dance. The Academy’s archives offer sources and testimonies on dance in the 20th century, which are made visible online on the “Digital Atlas of Dance” platform.
The Dance Spectrum also includes the “Valeska Gert Visiting Professorship”, a cooperation with the Free University of Berlin and the DAAD, in which choreographers work practically with students of dance studies.

.

 

(Text: Press Office Akademie der Künste)

The importance of Bremen as an important address for the development of the German Dance Theatre began in 1968 with the involvement of Johann Kresnik to the Bremen Theatre. Here he spent more than ten years developing his politically committed choreographic theatre, which, with titles such as “Pigasus” or “Schwanensee AG”, aimed at radical social criticism. Further stations of Kresnik’swork are Heidelberg, Berlin and Bonn.

In 1978 he was followed by Reinhild Hoffmann in Artistic Direction (in the first years together with Gerhard Bohner), who released some of her best work here with “Five Days, Five Nights”, “Wedding”, “Weed Garden”, “Kings and Queens”, “Callas” and “Foehn”. Hoffmann’splays are characterised by great pictorial power and stronger dance orientation.

After Hoffmann’s move to the Schauspielhaus Bochum in 1989, Kresnikreturned to Bremen for another five years. In 1994 Susanne Linke (until 1997) and Urs Dietrich jointly directed the ensemble and established their style based on reduction and precise composition.

Since the beginning of the 2012/2013 season, Michael Börgerding has been at the helm of the house as artistic director.

 

(Norbert Servos)

The tradition of the D. T. dates back to 1873, when an independent dance library was first established in Berlin at the Akademie für Tanzlehrkunst.

In the 1930s, the holdings, by then supplemented by numerous private collections of dancers and choreographers, were affiliated to the German Master Dance Institutes under the direction of Fritz Böhme.

After the destruction during the Second World War, the dancer and teacher Kurt Peters began to build up a new dance archive, which was acquired by the SK Stiftung Kultur of the Stadtsparkasse Köln in 1985 and made accessible to the general public together with the City of Cologne as an information and research centre for dance in the Mediapark.

In addition to preserving testimonies of the art of dance, the D. T., under the direction of Frank-Manuel Peter, is increasingly dedicated to the scientific processing and presentation of these documents in exhibitions and publications and enjoys an international reputation.

 

(Norbert Servos)

Officially a master class of the Essen Folkwang Hochschule, the ensemble was founded by Kurt Jooss in 1928 and affiliated with the Essen Opera House a year later under the name Folkwang Tanzbühne.

From 1929 until Jooss’s emigration in 1933, the company mainly presented Jooss productions, including such important pieces as “Pavane auf den Tod einer Infantin”, “Der grüne Tisch” and “Großstadt”. In 1949, after his return to Essen, Jooss once again directed the ensemble, now called Folkwang Tanztheater, until its dissolution in 1953. In 1963/64, a revival succeeded under the name Folkwang Tanzstudio.

In 1968, after Jooss’ retirement, his former soloist Hans Züllig took over the direction of the company, which from then on was to become an important springboard for the young generation of dance theatre choreographers.

Among the directors of the dance studio who presented their first works here were Pina Bausch, Reinhild Hoffmann, Susanne Linke and now Henrietta Horn. From its beginnings to the present day, the dance studio has played a decisive role in shaping aesthetic styles.

(Norbert Servos)

In the dissemination and promotion of modern dance after the Second World War, the headquarters of the Goethe Institut in Munich played a decisive role. With the support of the G.I., important innovators of dance such as Pina Bausch, Reinhild Hoffmann, Johann Kresnik and Susanne Linke, among others, were able to make their pieces known abroad.

However, the international successes also strengthened the initially still controversial work of the dance theatre pioneers in their own country and enabled them to continue it in the first place. Accompanying the extensive guest performance tours, the Goethe Institutes organised lectures, lecture demonstrations, workshops, film screenings, exhibitions and collaborations between foreign and German dancers and choreographers all over the world.

Younger representatives of dance such as Rui Horta and Sasha Waltz also owe their careers to the support of the G.I. All in all, modern dance from Germany in all its varieties would hardly have achieved the world renown it has gained in recent decades without the continuous and long-term support of the G.I.

 

(Norbert Servos)

Founded in 1994 by Anne Neumann-Schultheis, I. T. is a meeting of professional dance creators and dance promoters from around the world that takes place every two years.

After its early years in Essen, the I.T. moved to Düsseldorf in 2002. Each autumn, it offers four days of exhibition stands with information about current dance events worldwide, an international artistic showcase programme with 37 companies and soloists from 17 countries and an international discussion and lecture programme. It sees itself as a showcase for contemporary dance and as a platform where artists, dance organisers, managers, scholars and promoters meet to exchange and discuss the latest information on dance worldwide. Likewise, the I. T. offers a market for suppliers of products and services related to dance.

It is a project of the Gesellschaft für Zeitgenössischen Tanz (GZT NRW) and the NRW Landesbüro Tanz with the support of the public sector.

(Norbert Servos)

The Mary Wigman pupil Gret Palucca is one of the outstanding protagonists of the expression dance, who toured extensively from the twenties into the fifties. With her humorous, cheerful manner, she formed the antithesis to the more dramatic Wigman. Typical titles of her early dances were: “In weitem Schwung”, “Verklingend”, Plötzlicher Ausbruch”, “Fern”, Stilles Lied”, “Treibender Rhythmus”, “Fernes Schwingen”. Following her temperament, she embodied the light-hearted side of New Artistic Dance.

In 1925 she opened her own school in Dresden, which was closed in 1939 for political reasons. But she resumed teaching as early as 1945 and continued to build her school’s international reputation. It became an important site for the transmission of expressive dance heritage.

Today it is the only independent dance academy in Germany where all other forms of stage dance are taught in addition to Palucca’s style. Choreographers such as Dietmar Seyffert, Birgit Scherzer, Arila Siegert and Stephan Thoss emerged from the P.

 

(Norbert Servos)

The T. L., now under the direction of Inge Baxmann, was founded in 1957 by Kurt Petermann, who directed it until his death in 1984. The original conception of building up a collection of traditionally handed-down folklore in the German-speaking world was expanded by the founder to include all areas of dance during the compilation of his extensive dance bibliography.

In 1975, the T. L. was assigned to the GDR Academy of Arts as a branch office; since 1993, it has existed as a non-profit association and is primarily dedicated to dance studies. Dance history is to be kept alive and negotiated in ever new contemporary contexts. The T. L. maintains its own series of events on dance studies topics (every Wednesday), publishes its own series of publications, the “Documenta Choreologica”, and holds conferences and exhibitions.

The collection has, among other things, more than 10,000 publications, including 80 periodicals, as well as more than 5,000 visual and audio media. The reference library is open all year round to anyone interested.

 

(Norbert Servos)