The choreographer, dancer and author Judith Kuckart has donated her personal film collection to the German Dance Film Institute Bremen for digitisation and long-term archiving.

The collection includes video recordings of performances, choreographies and rehearsals from various creative phases and provides an insight into over four decades of artistic work. Judith Kuckart has been one of the most influential figures in contemporary dance in Germany since the 1980s.

With the acquisition of this material, the Tanzfilminstitut is expanding its collection with important documents of German dance history. The films will be professionally digitised, archived and made accessible for research, teaching and the interested public in the long term.

‘We are delighted about the trust that Judith Kuckart has placed in the archive with this handover,’ says Heidemarie Härtel, founder and director of the institute. ‘Collections like this are of great value for the cultural memory of dance.’

Amidst stacked drums, mixed desks, a collection of sofas, piano stools and sun longers an a 3-meter-high King Kong, we meet theater photographer Jörg Landsberg today. He draws Heide-Marie Härtel’s attention to special treasures: They are photos with the choreographer Hans Krensik from an exhibition in the foyer of the Theater Bremen in 2019/20.
Heide-Marie Härtel has a special connection to Hans Krensik. In her previous life as a dancer, she was a member of his company at the Theater Bremen as a soloist. In her life as a filmmaker, she has documented many of his choreographies and pieces and also produced films about Krensik, a pioneer of choreographic theater.

Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company (KCDC), one of the world’s leading dance companies was founded in 1970 by the late Yehudit Arnon who laid the foundation for today’s thriving International Dance Village under the direction of Rami Be’er. The Dance Company and the International Dance Village is located in the Western Galilee in northern Israel at Kibbutz Ga’aton, 8 kilometres from the Lebanese border. The International Dance Village is the heart and home of the company.

On 7 October 2023, Hamas attacked Israel. Due to its proximity to the Lebanese border, Kibbutz Ga’aton was declared a war zone.

On the initiative of the German Dance Film Institute the Colegium of KCDC organised the removal of the archives for security reasons to National Dance Archives in the Beit Ariela Public Library in Tel Aviv.