Since its beginnings, Tanzarchiv Leipzig has not only been a place for securing and storing sources and materials on dance theory and practice, but also a documentation centre and an institution for dance research. This focus, already founded by Dr Kurt Petermann and expanded in various directions since the 1990s, is reflected in the large number and quality of publications edited and written by Tanzarchiv Leipzig. They are, in most cases, linked to research projects and conferences, but also to teaching events (lectures, seminars, colloquia, etc) in which the immense potential of the holdings was used for dance-related teaching at Hans Otto Theatre School and later at the Institute of Theatre Studies of the University of Leipzig. This is evidenced not least by a large number of qualification works and degree theses that have been written for decades with reference to the collections of the Tanzarchiv.
In the following, a few selected research projects are mentioned that exemplify the breadth and diversity of the topics, issues and methodological approaches investigated. Complementing the academic discourse in research and teaching, many other formats for communicating topics from the Tanzarchiv have developed, which in cooperation with the numerous partner institutions have always been able to address a municipal and often also supra-regional public (series of events, exhibitions, festivals, etc).
In order to promote networking and exchange between artists and academics from all disciplines interested in dance, the TANZ research workshop took place from 2012 to 2017 in cooperation with the Initiative 4für Tanz and the Institute of Theatre Studies at the University of Leipzig. The interdisciplinary approach to the topic of dance from the perspectives of artistic work on the one hand and insights from theatre and music studies, dramaturgy, pedagogy, archival science and medicine on the other, showed synergy effects that were reflected in artistic projects as well as in research work.
This research workshop on dance has meanwhile found its continuation in numerous courses related to the topics of the Tanzarchiv, as well as in several colloquia in which the current research and qualification projects are continuously presented and discussed.
Dance played a special role in the GDR: classical ballet and dance theatre could be seen on many stages of the republic, but beyond that, folklore and mass choreographies also fulfilled important functions in the ‘artistic creation of the people’ of the GDR. The research project funded in 2013 and 2014 by the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig in conjunction with three other projects on elite education in the GDR and in cooperation with the Institute of Theatre Studies, investigated precisely this dance landscape of the GDR between elite promotion, folk art and mass culture, which has hardly been researched to date. Based on numerous interviews and the extensive holdings of the Tanzarchiv Leipzig, the project analysed the interplay of exemplary institutions (such as training centres, the Tanzarchiv Leipzig or dance festivals), forms (such as ballet, new artistic dance, dance theatre or folk dance) and actors (such as teachers, dancers or choreographers) and their significance for dance in the GDR.
An accompanying conference entitled Körper/Politik: Tanzformen, Institutionen und Akteure in der DDR (English: Body/Politics: Dance Forms, Institutions and Actors in the GDR) with numerous contemporary witnesses took place at the Institute of Theatre Studies Leipzig from 13–15 November 2014. A publication is in preparation and will appear in the Recherchen series of the Theater der Zeit publishing house.
The focus of this research project, funded by the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism, and realised in cooperation with the Institute of Theatre Studies, was the development of body politics in Germany in the first half of the 20th century between disciplining and staging. The main focus was on the founding years of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze’s rhythm school in Hellerau before the First World War, the spread of expressive dance by Rudolf von Laban and the dancers Mary Wigman, Hertha Feist, Jenny Gertz and others who trained in Hellerau, as well as the work with movement choirs in the 1920s, also influenced by Laban.
An accompanying symposium took place under the title BODY POLITICS. Rhythmics, Modern Dance and Movement Choirs was held in cooperation with the performance group LIGNA at HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts in Dresden on 3-4 November 2012. A publication on the event will be published by spector books.
Curated by Prof. Dr Patrick Primavesi, the series Tanz – Archiv – Labor took place from April 2009 to February 2011 and focused on the artistic practice of dance and performance as well as the work of the archive and its theoretical reflection. The history and present of dance, physical culture and performance were each questioned by the invited artists and academics in terms of their contemporary historical dimension and significance. Participants in the series of events included: andcompany&Co, Fabian Barba, Laurent Chétouane, Jeff Friedman, Laurent Goldring, Hermann Heisig, Heike Hennig, Anna Hoetjes, Thomas Lehmen, LIGNA, Constanze Macras, Carmen Mehnert, Bettina Milz, Martin Nachbar, Irina Pauls, Isabelle Schad, Mario Schröder, Michael Touma, Doris Uhlich, Britta Wirthmüller, Petra Zanki.
Under the special motto “Das Tanzarchiv Leipzig lädt ein” (English: Tanzarchiv Leipzig invites you), the Tanzarchiv dedicated the winter semester 2010/11 to selected contemporary choreographers who presented their current works in conversation. Britta Wirthmüller and Martin Nachbar were among the participants.
In the search for new methods and experimental forms of work to generate knowledge beyond the written culture, Prof. Dr Inge Baxmann’s research project focused on the Parisian “Archives Internationales de la Danse” (A.I.D), founded by Rolf de Maré, in cooperation with the Bibliothèque-musée de l’Opéra in Paris and the Centre nationale de la Danse in Paris/Pantin. Until 1940, the A.I.D. were an international gathering place for emigrated dancers, dance and cultural scholars and ethnologists. Linking non-European dance practice and European folk dance culture with modern styles and with a focus on theory and history, the A.I.D. worked to recover a body of knowledge at cross-purposes with the traditional academic orders of knowledge. An accompanying conference took place in Paris from 28.03.-02.04.2006.