Gertrud Bodenwieser


Gertrud Bodenwieser, also known as "Gertrude", was a dancer, choreographer, dance teacher and pioneer of expressive dance.

Early life

The daughter of Theodore and Maria Bondi, a wealthy Jewish couple, she turned to dance under the pseudonym Gertrud Bodenwieser of which she was celebrated in Vienna as a sensation. Bodenwieser's style was based on classical ballet of which she was originally taught by Carl Godlewski from 1905 to 1910; she had a new style of dance that was welcomed by the audience, critics and young students with much enthusiasm. She was inspired by the works of Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis. One of her greatest successes was "Demon Machine", a dance performance, in which a group of dancers turned into machines.

Career

Bodenwieser was appointed professor of dance at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. In the concert hall's basement she ran her own dance studio. Her pupils went out on tours throughout Europe as Tanzgruppe Bodenwieser. Among her students who went on to pursue their own careers were names such as Vilma Degischer, Trudl Dubsky, Shona Dunlop MacTavish, Gisa Geert, Grete Gross, Erika Hanka, Hilde Holger, Evelyn Ippen, Susi Jeans, Gertrud Kraus, Maria Palmer, Lisl Rinaldini, Emmy Towsey, Peggy van Praagh, Bettina Vernon and Cilli Wang.
Bodenwieser and many of her dancers were Jewish and in 1938, when the Nazis invaded Austria, the ballet was forced to leave Europe. Bodenwieser fled with a handful of students to Colombia, where she gave a guest performance as part of the 400 year celebration of Bogotá. She was even able to fill a bullfight arena with enthusiastic spectators. Her 1944 dance, "The Masks of Lucifer", showed intrigue, terror and hatred as personifications of political totalitarianism and became famous as the embodiment during an ominous time.
Emigration led Bodenwieser to Australia where she lived the rest of her life. In Sydney, she taught dance and founded the Bodenwieser Ballet, which was described as "the first truly influential modern dance company in Australia". Bodenwieser's teaching produced some of the most important dancers, choreographers, and artists of Australia, including Anita Ardell, Keith Bain, Margaret Chapple, Coralie Hinkley, Ena Noël, and Eileen Kramer. One student from the days of Vienna, Dunlop MacTavish, continued to dance with the company and also taught ballet in local Sydney schools, including Abottsleigh Girls' School. The company toured both urban and rural Australia, and also toured France, New Zealand, South Africa and India, before folding with the death of its founder.

Personal life

Bodenwieser was married in 1920 to the Viennese director and playwright Friedrich Rosenthal, who died in 1942 in Auschwitz concentration camp. She died suddenly on 10 November 1959.

Literature