
Performing Femininity
Dance and Literature in German Modernism
Alexandra Kolb(Author)
Peter Lang Verlag
Published on 15. June 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
326 pages
978-3-03911-351-4 (ISBN)
Description
This is the first book to analyse the cultural representations of female identity that were created by the interaction between choreography and literary writing in German modernism. It explores the connections between dance, literature and gender discourses with a focus on a key period of the Austro-German dance scene: the years between 1900 and 1933. Drawing on influential feminist and gender theories, this book evaluates the choreographies of leading artists such as Grete Wiesenthal, Mary Wigman, Valeska Gert, Anita Berber, and the sensational 'dream' dancer Madeleine Guipet. In response to growing criticism of ballet, German modern dance reflected and helped shape a reassessment of images of the female, embracing both essentialist and constructionist models of femininity. It also triggered a range of literary responses from dance artists themselves and from contemporary authors - some high-profile, others less well known. This interdisciplinary work offers analyses and part-translations of texts by Alfred Döblin, Frank Wedekind and Carl Sternheim, amongst others, which have to date received little attention in Anglo-American cultural studies due to their unavailability in English.
More details
Series
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Peter Lang Group AG, International Academic Publishers
Edition type
New edition
Illustrations
3 ill.
Dimensions
Height: 220 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
460 gr
ISBN-13
978-3-03911-351-4 (9783039113514)
Schweitzer Classification
Person
The Author: Alexandra Kolb is Lecturer and Chair of Dance Studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand, having previously worked in the UK and Germany. She received her doctorate from Cambridge.
Content
Contents: Feminist Perspectives - Ballet: Its Critics and Its Decline - Female Expression in Modern Dance - Radical Avantgarde Choreography - The Crisis of Modern Dance.