Anna Helms-Blasche (1877-1963)

Together with her husband Julius Blasche, the folk dance collector, choreographer and author is one of the most important personalities of the folk dance movement in Germany in the 20th century. As a member of the Wandervogel movement, she collected and published traditional folk dances and created her own dance games. After the Second World War, she worked to promote exchange between folk dancers in West and East Germany. The Anna Helms-Blasche Collection contains her correspondence, dance booklets, manuscripts, postcards, photographs and newspaper cuttings. Research
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Rudolf von Laban (1879-1958)

One of the most important holdings of the Tanzarchiv Leipzig is the estate of the dancer, choreographer and dance theorist Rudolf von Laban. With his “School for Art” on Monte Verità near Ascona, he developed ideas for a new movement pedagogy and a movement script from 1911 to 1917, which he further perfected at the end of the 1920s (Kinetography or Labanotation). Due to his artistic, theoretical and pedagogical impulses, he is considered a pioneer and co-founder of modern dance in Germany, where he also had a significant influence on amateur dance through movement choruses. In the 1930s, Laban also
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Fritz Böhme (1881–1952)

The German dance critic and theorist Fritz Böhme studied literature and art history in Berlin. As department head of the arts section of the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, he published his dance reviews almost daily for years from 1919 onwards. In the Weimar Republic, Böhme was a driving force behind the establishment of dance congresses, dance journals and dance teaching forums. His main goal was the creation of a national dance academy and a national archive for dance history. His estate contains materials on the dance scene of his time: essays, manuscripts and lectures, Böhme’s correspondence, documents on contemporary dancer personalities,
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Mary Wigman (1886-1973)

The founder of modern dance in Germany, Mary Wigman began her dance career in Émile Jaques-Dalcroze’s school of rhythmic gymnastics in Hellerau. In 1912 she left Hellerau and became a pupil and collaborator of Rudolf von Laban in Ascona, Munich and Zurich. Wigman’s work as one of the best-known dancers and choreographers of expressive dance contributed greatly to the establishment of dance as an independent art form. In 1920 she opened her school in Dresden, which she continued to run until 1942. During the war she moved to Leipzig, where she continued to teach under increasingly difficult conditions. In the
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Jenny Gertz (1891-1966)

Among Laban’s students was the German dancer and dance teacher Jenny Gertz (1891-1966), who became known mainly for her dance work with children. Gertz’s communist commitment led to the closure of her school in Halle/Saale by the Gestapo during National Socialism. She emigrated to Prague and later to England, where she continued teaching children’s dance. After the end of the Second World War, Gertz returned to Halle/Saale, where her pedagogical principles and methods were hardly recognised. Her estate at the Tanzarchiv Leipzig contains letters, manuscripts and teaching materials as well as photographs and short films. Research
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Gret Palucca (1902-1993)

One of Mary Wigman’s most famous students was Gret Palucca, who soon achieved a similar level of fame as a solo dancer and also established her own school in Dresden in 1925. After the Second World War, she was able to re-found and expand her school and educate generations of dancers – despite constant conflicts with cultural functionaries of the GDR – not only physically but also spiritually and artistically to creativity and independence. As a founding member of the Academy of Arts of the GDR, she was its vice-president from 1965-1970, which is why Palucca’s actual estate is in
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Erich Janietz (1903-1995)

Erich Janietz became known above all for his efforts in the field of German folk dance. Influenced by the Wandervogel movement and the Free German Youth Movement, he was one of the important personalities of the folk dance movement in Germany before and after the Second World War, together with Ludwig Burkhardt, Herbert Oetke, Anna Helms-Blasche and Julius Blasche. In addition to his work as a gymnastics and folk dance teacher, he published the magazine “Der Volkstanz” from 1925 and the magazine “Der Tanzkreis” from 1930. In the GDR he worked at the Central House for Folk Art and was
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Herbert Oetke (1904-1999)

Coming from the Wandervogel movement, Oetke was active from 1924 as a collector of folk dances and melodies and published numerous essays on traditional folk art and folk dance collections. From 1945, together with Aenne Goldschmidt, he helped to build up the “State Folk Art Ensemble” of the GDR. He was able to publish his extensive work “Der deutsche Volkstanz” in two volumes in the GDR in 1982. His collection contains material on folk dance and Oetke’s own work. Research
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Jean Weidt (1904-1988)

Throughout his life, Jean Weidt strove to give expressive dance a political dimension. With his company Die Roten Tänzer (The Red Dancers), he organised socially critical dance evenings in Berlin from 1929. Weidt was thus an important protagonist of the political theatre of the Weimar Republic. For him, dance was a mouthpiece for issues of the working class and the oppressed. In 1933 he emigrated to France and worked in Paris, Moscow and Prague until the end of the Second World War. He became internationally known with his group Ballets Weidt, for which he created, among other things, the choreography
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Henn Haas (1907-1989)

Born in Riga, the dancer, ballet master and choreographer Henn Haas studied at Vera Fokina’s ballet school and at the Trümpy-Günther School in Berlin from 1926 to 1932 and also took classes with Rudolf von Laban, Mary Wigman and Harald Kreutzberg. From 1938 he worked with his Theatre of Dance in Weimar and Erfurt. After the war, he took over the choreographic direction of the FDGB dance ensemble in the newly founded GDR and worked as a choreographer at the Landestheater Halle. In addition to numerous ballets, he also created choreographies for film and television. The collection contains newspaper articles,
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Herbert Burchard (1908-1999)

Both theoretically and practically, Herbert Burchard was concerned with folk, folklore, amateur and social dances and worked mainly in the field of dance epochs and dance classes. From 1927-32 he was dance director of the Dessau Dance Circle. The collection includes numerous notes on folk dance, writings by well-known authors (e.g. Herbert Oetke, Hans Deibel), compositions by Siegfried Schwantes and correspondence. Research
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Ilse Loesch (1909-2006)

The German dancer and dance teacher Ilse Loesch was a student of Rudolf von Laban and also worked with Jenny Gertz. In her pedagogical work with disabled people, movement choirs, young people, drama students and children, she tried to educate people holistically through dance and movement and to promote their personal development. In her book Mit Leib und Seele. Erlebte Vergangenheit des Ausdruckstanzes (Berlin 1990), Gertz impressively describes her experience as a movement teacher and committed propagandist of expressive dance. The extensive collection contains materials on amateur dance for dance training, stage practice, dance art, movement and dance research, notations,
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Dorothea Anger (1910-2000)

After studying physical education, mathematics and physics, Anger took dance lessons with Mary Wigman and worked for decades as a dance teacher. She finished her studies in 1934, from then until 1945 she was a sports assistant at the Technical University of Dresden and later artistic director of the dance ensemble of the Central FDJ Students’ Club of the TU Dresden. Anger’s work was mainly devoted to amateur stage dance. From 1951 onwards, she belonged to various dance societies such as the SAG, BAG, VDO and ZAG. The collection contains personal documents, notes, correspondence, programmes and other materials (1955-1990). Research
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Eberhard Rebling (1911-2008)

The German pianist, music and dance scholar studied with Curt Sachs and Erich Moritz von Hornborstel in Berlin. In 1936 he emigrated to The Hague and returned to the GDR in 1952, where he was editor-in-chief of the newspaper Musik und Gesellschaft until 1959, from 1957 also co-editor-in-chief of the music magazine Melodie und Rhythmus and from 1959 professor and rector of the Hochschule für Musik, which received the name “Hanns Eisler” through his initiative. Rebling authored several writings on dance, including: Ballet gestern und heute (Berlin 1957), Tanz der Völker (Berlin 1972) and Die Tanzkunst Indonesiens (Berlin 1981). His
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Rudolf Liechtenhan (1911-2005)

The Swiss Rudolf Liechtenhan was an internationally recognised ballet specialist. As a critic and dance publicist, he cultivated contacts with many dance personalities. He also worked as a dramaturge at various opera houses, for example in Stuttgart with John Cranko, in Hamburg with John Neumeier and finally with Uwe Scholz in Leipzig. The Tanzarchiv’s collection includes his ballet library and his collection of dance images.
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Ingeborg Baier-Fraenger (1926-1994)

The dance teacher, kinetographer and foster daughter of the German art historian and folklorist Wilhelm Fraengler studied Rudolf von Laban’s dance script with Albrecht Knust at the Folkwangschule in Essen in 1957 and produced many kinetographs, also of folk dances. She worked as a dance teacher and teacher of dance script in Berlin until 1964. Afterwards, together with Fraenger’s widow, she dedicated herself to organising Fraenger’s estate and became the editor of the large Fraenger monographs on Jörg Rathgeb, Hieronymus Bosch and Matthias Grünewald. Her estate includes personal documents, her correspondence, her kinetographic work, magnetic tapes, microfilms, records, slides and
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Kurt Petermann (1930-1984)

After studying musicology, Petermann came to the Central House of Culture, where he was initially tasked with setting up a department for folk dance. This eventually developed through his dedicated collecting and research activities into the Tanzarchiv Leipzig. Thus, Petermann’s estate also reveals the history of the Tanzarchiv. His correspondence with the Central House for Folk Art, the Academy of Arts as well as dancers and dance institutions in Germany and abroad testifies to his important role in the political-cultural life of the GDR. The Petermann collection also provides insights into a creative, restless personality who was always developing new
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Fred Traguth (1932-2014)

The German dancer, choreographer and dance teacher began his career as a student of Kurt Jooss at the Folkwang School in Essen before studying modern dance and jazz dance with F. Wagner at the Graham School in New York. As a teacher, Traguth advocated a synthesis of modern dance and jazz dance. He was also enthusiastic about the dances of non-European cultures. In this spirit, he founded the open International Dance Workshop Bonn (ITW) in 1973, whose patronage was taken over by the German Unesco Commission in 1980. Research
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Gertrude Krombholz (born 1933)

After her dance training at home and abroad, including with Paul Krebs in Nuremberg, Krombholz worked from 1962 as a lecturer in dance in sports teacher training and in recreational groups with students, children, young people, senior citizens and the disabled. At the TUM Munich, she headed the departments of gymnastics, dance and movement from 1973 and later became director of sports teacher training. Using historical sources, she reconstructed Moriscan dances in 1976 and founded the group “Munich Moriscan Dancers”. Her collection, which is significant in terms of dance education, contains materials on the subjects of sport and dance, dance
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Uwe Scholz Collection (1958-2004)

Born in 1958, this world-renowned dancer and choreographer was Ballet Director of the Leipzig Opera from 1991 until his death in 2004. For his work as a choreographer, which includes a repertoire of more than one hundred ballets, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1996, in addition to many other awards such as the German Dance Prize. In the course of his successful career, he has created choreographies for major European stages such as the Zurich Opera House, the Stuttgart Ballet, the Vienna State Opera and La Scala in Milan, and has
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State Dance Ensemble of the GDR (until 1962 State Folk Art Ensemble of the GDR)

The collection is on permanent loan from the Federal Archives Potsdam and includes materials from the ensemble’s scientific documentation centre, which served the choreographers in preparing the dances (e.g. materials on geography and history, dance forms/families, methods, folk dances as well as tapes, photos and newspaper articles). The ensemble emerged from the State Song and Dance Ensemble, the successor to the National Cultural Group of the Free German Youth founded on 1 April 1950. In 1952, the dance ensemble was integrated into the Berlin Volksbühne. When the choir was dissolved in 1962, it was renamed the “State Dance Ensemble of
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State Folklore Ensemble of the GDR (until 1972 State Village Ensemble of the GDR)

The estate of this dance group, which was formerly directly subordinate to the GDR Ministry of Culture, is on permanent loan to the Federal Archives in Potsdam. The ensemble, consisting of a folklore ballet, a choir and a band, was based in Neetzow Castle from 1953 to 1964, and in Neustrelitz from 1964 to 1991. The dance performances were based on traditional and newly developed folk dances. Rosemarie Ehm-Schulz was in charge of the dance group until 1987, then Cornelia Nenz. The collection contains newspaper articles and magazines, programmes, slides and photos as well as audio and film tapes.
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Irina Pauls (born 1961)

Irina Pauls received her dance training at the Palucca Schule Dresden and then studied choreography at the “Hans Otto” Theatre Academy in Leipzig. In 1985 she was appointed ballet director at the Landestheater Altenburg in Thuringia. In 1990 she founded the TanzTheater at Schauspiel Leipzig, which was closed in 1998 due to cost-cutting measures. After a two-year stay in the USA financed by a scholarship, she took over the Tanztheater in Oldenburg in 1998 and became director of the dance department at the Stadttheater Heidelberg in 2000. After working as director of the dance theatre cooperation between the theatres in
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Thomas Lehmen (born 1963)

As a dancer and choreographer, Lehmen is one of the most important contemporary dance artists in Germany. His publications Schreibstück (book and score for 3 groups each in canon form) and Funktionen-Toolbox (for communicative choreographies) attracted international attention. Born in Oberhausen in 1963, Lehmen studied at the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam from 1986 to 1990. From 1990 to 2010 he worked mainly in Berlin and developed numerous solos, group pieces and projects: among others distanzlos, mono subjects, Schreibstück, It’s better to…, Lehmen lernt, which are performed worldwide. In 2010 and 2011 he was a professor at Arizona
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