Choreography#5 : Performance Ed

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de - archiving movement research : choreography#5 : performance ed. by Rose Breuss and Claudia Jeschke in cooperation with IDA research lab

Francesca Falcone REFORMING DANCE JIA RUSKAJA AND THE ACCADEMIA NAZIONALE DI DANZA

Rose Breuss AS IF THERE WERE A NEGATIVE IN THE ARCHIVE TEXTURES OF DOCUMENTATION: A CHOREOGRAPHIC SCORE ON GERTUD BODENEGGER

ISBN 978-3-940388- 73-5 © Rose Breuss, Claudia Jeschke, epodium (München) Website: www.epodium.de EMail: [email protected] Alle Rechte vorbehalten/All rights reserved Covergestaltung: Drahtzieher Design & Kommunikaon, Wien Satz: Johannes Novohradsky epodium ist eine eingetragene Marke ISBN 9783940388735 Germany 2019

Reihe dearchiving movement Herausgeber: Rose Breuss, Claudia Jeschke

Bibliografische Informaonen Der Deutschen Naonalbibliothek. Die Deutsche Naonalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikaon in der Deutschen Naonalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über hp://dnb.ddb.de abruar. Rose Breuss

As If There Were a Negative in the Archive

Textures of Documentation: A Choreographic Score on

Gertrud Bodenwieser

Linz, 2018

Choreography and historiography no longer uses the document as “inactive matter through which it attempts to reconstruct what humans have said or done, what is past and of what only a trace remains. It looks for determinations of units, quantities, series, relations in the textures of documentation as such.” 1 The following score applies this concept of documentation as a tool for dance specific praxeology, i.e. for artistic exploration and dancers´ agencies.

1 Foucault, Michel: Archäologie des Wissens, Frankfurt am Main 2015, Suhrkamp Verlag, 14. Table of Content

P r e l i m i n a r y R e m a r k s / K e y 0:

0.1. Textures of Documentation 0.2. Movement Phenotypes – Movement Simulations 0.3. The Material Force (Violence) of the Document – The Incarnation of Movement 0.4. Transcription into Labanotation (pages 2 – 7)

D o c u m e n t 1: Archive of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna -mdw Akademiesekretariat und Rektoratskanzlei Sammelmappen 1919-1944, Sammelmappe 'Gross-Bodenwieser', 2888/1935. (pages 8-16)

D o c u m e n t 2: Series I – IV Ines Murdoch’s verbatim movement-record of the Grades for a teacher’s certificate, 1942. From: Vernon-Warren, Bettina; Warren, Charles: Gertrud Bodenwieser and Vienna’s contribution to Ausdruckstanz, New York 2013, Routledge, 127-138 (pages 17-25, Dance Notation Booklet, pages 26-31)

D o c u m e n t 3: Series V and VI, Fragments 1 - 32 Ways to Compose and Transpose Movements Contributions from former members of the Bodenwieser Ballet: Helen Elton, Coralie Hinkley, Evelyne Ippen, Hede Juer, Emmy Steininger, Bettina Vernon. From: Vernon-Warren, Bettina; Warren, Charles: Gertrud Bodenwieser and Vienna’s Con- tribution to Ausdruckstanz, New York 2013, Routledge, 140-158 (pages 32-39, Dance Notation Booklet 40-47)

D o c u m e n t 4: Series VII – Progressive Spatial Lines and Auratic Contours Photographs of the Bodenwieser Ballet from the Image Archive of the Austrian National Library (pages 48-55)

D o c u m e n t 5: Series VIII Amalgamations of Actions, Model Sheets (Dance Notation Booklet pages 56-62)

B i b l i o g r a p h y a n d P h o t o g r a p h C r e d i t s (pages 63-64)

3 0

Preliminary Remarks/Key

0.1. Textures of Documentation

The selection of documents on Gertrud Bodenwieser took place as part of a search for indications concerning her movement and dance practice, her dance vocabulary and the rules of realisation. D O C U M E N T S 1 – 5 list and collect those descriptions and illustrations that could provide information on the forms of movement used in the dances. As part of Series I – VII, movement descriptions were excerpted, noted down and interpreted on the basis of a variety of documents on Gertrud Bodenwieser. The emerging motifs, components, parameters and fragments form the score’s documentary texture. Dancers2 – thus the experimental set-up of the given choreographic study – ‘incarnate’3 these scores via the vectors of living bodies. They realise the documentary tissue ‘literally‘ in their body tissue. Without such a physical activation, the movement indication of the documents remains in- complete, fragmentary and immaterial. There are only few instances where it is possible to decipher as concrete movement vocabulary the descriptions, symbols, drawings and the inconsistent terminology. Nevertheless they simulate a series of phenotypic arrays of movement.

2 Gertrud Bodenwieser worked primarily with female dancers: “1951. For the first time, men are accepted into the dance troupe.” (Dunlop McTavish 1992, 113). 3 In an article entitled La notation choréographique: une forme de survivance du passé, Anaïs Loyer analyses processes that emerge in living bodies in the ‘incarnation’ of notations. Scores, then, appear as the flotsam and jetsam of the past. “Nous ne pouvons rien savoir du passé “dans le passé” [..] Le passé est une histoire de débris.” Loyer, Anaïs: La notation chorégraphique : une forme de survivance du passé. http://larevue.conservatoiredeparis.fr/index.php?id=1822 (accessed on 12/8/2018)

4 0.2. Movement Phenotypes – Movement Simulations

Individual movements, individual movement elements, body fragments, movement action, phenotypic constructions of space, dynamic differences in height, chronological specificities: all these form the components of the documentary fabric found in the score. They are listed in Series I – VI and arranged as horizontal rows on a table. Vertical cuts into the fabric occurred in Fragments 1-32, leading into specific motif arrangements. These function as the starting point for physical transfers.

T A B L E from Documents I – VI and Vertical Series – Fragments 1 – 324

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 5 6 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 1 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 A A A A A B C A B A B a b A B 0 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 4

II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 9 9 9 10 11 11 11 11 12 13 A B B B 1 2 3 1 2 3 A B A B C C A B A B C A B C D 1 2

III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III 1 1 1 1 2 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 10 11 12 A B C A B C D E A B C

IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 8 A B A B 4 4 4 A B A B C C C C D E E E G 1 2 2 1 2 3 1 2 A B

V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

VI VI VI VI VI VI VI VI VI VI VI 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

4 For the verbatim transcription see 17–25 and the translation in Labanotation 26–31.

5 Whether and in what way Fragments 1 – 32 can be activated as dance movement is decided on by the dancers in the physical transposition and according to the actualisation of their movement repertory. They decide on the dominance or the perseverance of particular motifs and ‘amalgamate’ 5 these to form individual movements and/or complex sequences of movements. In the score ‘literally‘ transposed, the dancers encounter lacunae. The movements simulated on the basis of reading do not begin and end abruptly. The documentary fabric allows for the emergence of moments of movement, vague traces of movement. It projects into space body parts that are frozen; it sketches leaps that never land, impossible paths, unclear temporal tra- jectories, faint or ambiguous spatial traces. Any single motif remains fragmented, simulating a moment in space or a point in time as part of a movement that is not further determined. The two aspects that are amalgamated – this, at least, is the vision of this study – are, on the one hand, the performance of the score and, on the other, the movement of emergence (occurring subjectively). The edges of movement that begin or end abruptly open up formative space – subjective, dynamic time-space. According to Gertrud Bodenwieser, movement is to be completed not only ‘technically, but also compositionally’. The approach to this choreographic score is inspired by Bodenwieser’s legacy for dancers of considering it a given that conception and composition would be integrated into the artistic processes of dance-making. Document 1 testifies to this inheritance. Figures of eight of any size or details from figures of eight illustrate paradigmatically the compositional arrangements (relevant for Gertrud Bodenwieser’s dances). (e.g. Series V.6) An individual body part sketches out a figure of eight by swinging, performing an individual movement. In addition, the upper body – the movement of which is also conceptualised as a figure of eight – is involved in the swinging motion (contra-rotating or in parallel). The free leg is moved to form a figure of eight. The accumulated (individual) figures of eight are shifted, as part of the ongoing compositional procedure, into continuing motion: they are ‘carried’ into space, accumulated into step forms, transferred into twists and leaps. Figures of eight of varying scale influence the centrifugal forces and the weight of individual body parts and cause the form and dynamism of the whole body’s movement. How are individual movements (of eights) transposed into the complexity of movement compositions?

5 Ines Murdoch makes repeated use of the term amalgamation, see for instance Series II.13. Isolated movement motifs are synthesised into so-called ‘Amalgamations of movements – of any movement mentioned’. The term might imply a process differing from that of composition (the putting together, that is, the placing next to each other, behind each other, on top of each other of individual movements). What could amalgamation mean as part of dance processes? Dissolution? A new sheen, changed colour, changed solidity? The term encourages a ques- tioning of strategies of composition. Do single movements exert influence upon more complex movement sequences as a form of perseverance?

6 0.3. The Material Force (Violence) of the Document – The Incarnation of Movement Certainly, “reconstructivist work is never without a formative effect, so that what I create a recollection of for myself takes possession of me, [and] I can engage with it playfully, but it is not a game.” (Kluge 1999, 211) Only the human body has the ability of ‘incarnating’ movement. “Le corps est le seul vecteur qui puisse porter le movement vivant, l’incarner.” (Loyer 2018) The contemporary dancer’s body is not merely a material instrument, an executing organ. According to neuro-scientist Shaun Gallagher, there is “nothing about human experience that remains untouched by human embodiment: from the basic perceptual and emotional processes that are already at work in infancy, to a sophisticated interaction with other people; from the acquisition and creative use of language, to higher cognitive faculties involving judgement and metaphor; from exercise of free will in intentional action, to the creation of cultural artifacts that provide for further human affordances.” (Gallagher 2005, 247) Focussed through the lens of psycho-physiological and neuro-scientific insight, the act of reading (in our case reading the archive documents as a score) gains concrete physical dimen- sions: those of simulating and stimulating sense impressions and movement. “Readers sponta- neously produce dynamic perceptual simulations when simply reading texts. [...] If a text describes a person hammering a nail into a wall, readers simulate a horizontal nail, whereas the nail is simulated as vertical if it is said to be pounded into the floor.” (Bolens 2016, 13) For dancers, the ‘incarnation’ of a score implies being, simultaneously, the organ that can decipher and read, that simulates movement on the basis of stimulating impressions, that ac- tualises and activates its (movement) archives and memories and that is physically set in motion. The dancer is, all at once, a score’s receiving, simulating and executing organ. In Loyer, the ‘incarnation’ of documents would mean “d’extraire une forme de son contexte passé pour l’étudier en tant qu’objet dans un espace-temps contemporain. [..] Nous ne retrouve- rons pas une forme originelle. [..] Nous somme dans un mémoire mouvante de l’objet étudié, cette mémoire ne se fixe pas dans le temps, au contraire elle continue de s´écrire.“ (Loyer 2018) “By way of an example, Piaget recounts the history of a so-called false recollection. He re- members, as he explains, precisely and vividly, being bound to a carriage as a baby, the victim of an abduction attempt. (Where the event took place, the struggle between his nurse and the child thief, the coming to the rescue of passer-bys and the policeman) When he was 15, Piaget continues, the nurse told the parents in a letter that she had invented the story and that the scratches on little Piaget’s forehead had been caused by herself. Nevertheless, the experience (immediate experience) of the young Piaget having heard of the kidnapping attempt at the age of 5 or 6 years, which the parents still believed in, remained stronger than the disclaimer. The story created a visual memory, a reproduction of itself, which by means of the constructive abilities of our imaginative capacities can be developed into a complete scene, as if there were a negative in the archive. Splinters are all that is needed in order to set in motion this generative activity of the imagination.”(Kluge 1999, 211) Memory splinters develop a material force (and, according to Kluge, violence) and allow for the emergence of “vivid counter-production and autonomy” (211). In terms of the experimental design at issue here, this means: “Parler de recréation est aussi une façon d’affirmer la multiplicité des possibles et la valeur subjective du processus de lecture.” (Loyer 2018)

7 0.4. Transcription into Labanotation

Transcribing documentary texture into Labanotation renders necessary particular viewpoints and analyses. As movement notation/Labanotation is made up of a set of particular parameters, it selects from within the verbal movement descriptions those parameters needed for the construction of the notation. The reading process is directed toward (Laban-)space (body space, paths in space, points in space), activated body parts, chronological processes and patterns of action. The translation of the movement descriptions into Labanotation requires a dissembling of patterns of action and raises questions conditioned by the grammar of the notation, such as the question of how movement descriptions used with high frequency – circle, swing, turn, kick – can be transferred into symbols. The process of writing (the movement transfer into Labano- tation) emphasises, on the one hand, the many gaps found in the movement descriptions with regard to the movement’s spatial and temporal structure. On the other hand, such analyses break down a form of thematic material. The disassembling of action patterns bears potential in terms of composition. A variety of new interesting vertical series emerges from the continued disassembling of the textures of documentation. Play with the signs’ make-up leads to the appear- ance of movement metonymies: e.g. how to kick a turn, swing a kick, turn a swing etc. In the ‘literal‘ transposition into the notation image, we can see the parameters of movement in relation to which the documentary fabric remains a fragment, as well as why a recovery/re- construction of movements only becomes possible via the ‘vector body’. As choreographic re- source for processes of composition, it is – thus the experimental assemblage of the choreographic score – precisely the playful engagement (but, with Alexander Kluge, not a game) with gaps and lacunae, omissions, grey areas, ambiguities and shifts that leads to significant movement metonymies. Where and how do gestures preserved as fragments become productive?

D o c u m e n t 1

Akt 2888/35, 24/10/1935

Archive of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

D o c u m e n t 2

Series I – IV

Ines Murdoch’s verbatim record of the Grades for a teacher’s certificate, 19421

Ways to compose movement

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 5 6 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 A A A A A B C A B A B a b A B 1 2 3 4

I I I I I I I I I 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 1 2 3 4 1 2 3

1 Vernon-Warren, Bettina; Warren, Charles: Gertrud Bodenwieser and Vienna´s Contribution to Ausdruckstanz, New York 2013, Routledge, 127-138. The exercise instructions copied out in italics are not worked into the Dance Notation Booklet (pages 26-31) as they cannot be translated into the movement parameters used in Labanotation. They form instructions for composition.

18 SECTION 1

LEGS

1 Leg lifting, from hip, with knee bent, toe pointing to ground and leg facing forward - thigh to be raised parallel to ground A on one spot: 1.A.1 Lifting and holding a certain time 1.A.2 quick lifting 1.A.3 Lifting slowly and quickly rising on the ball of the foot 1.A.4 Lifting in jumping 1.B As A, but carried into space 1.C As A, but moving backwards

2. Leg lifting to side 2. A Leg rolled in from hip 2. B Leg rolled out from hip

Both in 4 ways Slowly Quickly On ball of foot Jumping

3. Quick kicks – to front, and then to side, knee facing upwards

4. Walking. Slowly, toe to heel Quickly heel to toe On balls of feet – quickly

Running 4. A Legato 4. B As a jump run Then running in simple patterns – e.g. Circle, An Eight

5. Fundamental turning, on own axis with 3 or 4 steps

6. Standing on one leg – other relaxed Pointing, A with relaxed leg B with stretched leg to front, side, back then diagonal front – diagonal back

7. As 6, but in kneeling on one leg.

19 8. BENDING (a) In Standing. Weight on back foot, other pointed to front. Bending over unweighted foot, head towards knee. To side. One foot pointed to side. Alternate bendings over weighted and unweighted legs – keeping body well facing front. (b) In Kneeling – on both knees. Slowly and swinging 8.1 Simple bending forward and up 8.2 Simple bending to alternative sides 8.3 Simple bendings back and up On one knee – as (1)

9. Weight changing – one foot pointed to front. And change weight, from front to back leg. A. whole foot B. on balls of feet and down.

10. Arm Movement. 10.1. SLOWLY lifting arms to side, to shoulder level, and dropping 10.2. Arms lifted from sides – palms up – making small circle so that they drop through centre of the body. 10.3. Lifting in circle, from centre, out to the side and down, (arms separately, then together) 10.4. Opening and closing of arms, from centre to side, then side to centre, at shoulder level.

11. Movement combining arms and weight changing. Toe pointed to one side – arms at shoulder height on opposite side. As weight changes from one foot, bring arms in semi-circle to shoulder height on opposite side- 11.1 just slowly 11.2. Then swinging. 11.3. Then with side chassé, taking a circle and a half swing with arms – in swinging; in jumping.

12. Combinations of steps – e.g. 2 step forwards; 1 step back; chassé forwards; 2 steps back, any simple combination

13. amalgamations – not longer than 8 or 16 bars. e.g. 4 jumps with 4 weight changes, 2 turns, 4 steps ect. NOTE: for Central European Dancing When weight is lying on foot or feet, they should NOT be turned out further than diagonal between front and side. Legs lifted in the air may be turned out from the hip when lifted back and sometimes when lifted to side.

20 II

II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II II 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2. 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 9 9 9 10 A B B B 1 2 3 1 2 3 A B A B C C A B A B C 1 2

II II II II II II 11 11 11 11 12 13 A B C D

SECTION 2

All movements as in Section 1, must be combined with arm movements – e.g. jumping with opening and closing of arms running with lifting and dropping of arms, ect.

Lifting of leg back, slowly, then quickly A With leg stretched, and turned out in the hip B With leg bent B.1 hip turned out (attitude) B.2.hip turned in (arabesque)

Lift leg forwards, and right leg back, with arms closing over the front leg, and opening with leg back 2.1.In walking 2.2. In Swinging 2.3. In jumping

Standing on the spot Right leg swing forwards, swing back and down Swing back, swing forwards, and down Swing across the body, out to side and down

Bending back, in standing. 4.A With weight on back foot, other pointed. 4.B With weight on front foot – other relaxed to the side

21 5.A Swing right leg forwards, right leg back, then bend forwards, over the left (pointed) leg. 5.B Swing left leg forwards – leg back, step onto it, then bend back, over this weighted leg 5.C Swing leg across the body, out to side, step onto it, and draw other pointed leg up to it, so that body becomes a C.

Circling of body, front side back side ect. 6.A In standing. 6.B In kneeling – on one knee – on both knees

Weight changing in 4 directions, front, back, one side, other side. Work out various combinations, e.g. starting back, starting front, or to one side

Weight changing in kneeling. On one knee, other foot forward. Weight forward over front knee – arms open – weight back sitting onto one foot – arms closed over stretched leg and vice versa.

TURNS 9.A Cross right foot over other, go onto toes, straighten knees, and come down with left foot in front – both feet close together. 9.B Turning with quick little patterning steps, on the same spot 9.C With leg lifted parallel to ground, but knee bent, and toe pointed, raise in circle from side to cross over other leg in turn as A.

Square step. Standing left foot. Right leg step across left. Left leg step back – right leg step to side. Left leg across to starting position. Then cut off corners, making it into a circular step, and move into space.

JUMPS 11.A Double jump – with bent and stretched legs. (Standing on left foot – kick up right leg – and while still in air kick up left leg to it, and land on right leg.) 11.B Fouetté jump 11.C Short run, kick one leg up, and land with both feet together. 11.D Continuous jumping up and down. Both legs together – kick one leg up. 11.D.1 To front 11.D.2 To side 11.D.3 To back.

Step combinations – e.g. a chassé – and lift one leg forwards – chassé – and lift other leg back, ect.

Amalgamation of movements – of any movement mentioned – must last for at least 32 bars.

All modern ballroom music excluded from choice.

22 III

III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III 1 1 1 1 2 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 10 11 12 A B C A B C D E A B C

SECTION 3

All movements of Section 2 must be combined with body movement – Body and arms must be taken in parallel and opposition direction to legs.

Circling of body – forwards, side, back, side – rising onto toes and taking arms in same circular motion. 1.A In standing. 1.B In kneeling (both knees) 1.C With a short run or chassé, carry the movement from standing to kneeling on one knee, on one circular swing.

Simple circling of leg in kick – starting in front, through side to back.

Figure movements of arms – in circles, loops, and form of 8, - in and chosen direction.

3.1. In Standing. 3.2. With weight changing – either up and down or side to side (arrows) 3.3. With steps. 3.4. With jumping.

Falling to ground. Straight forward, to side, backwards. 4.A softly 4.B passionately (linking the fall with upright positions – either sitting or standing.)

Moving forwards or backwards in kneeling and crawlings – with various expressions.

Turns – with body bendings and movements.

6.A Quick turning on the spot – simple closing and opening of arms with body bending forwards and backwards. 6.B Quick turning on the spot – with body moving in circles – front side – back side. 6.C Turning with the swing of the arms in either circles, loops or 8s. 6.D Reverse, leg taking circular swing from front to back, placing it down at back, and turning with body movement – on spot, then into space.

23 Jumps – 7.A Fish leap – body curled as a C, backwards, whilst in leap. Arms stretched by ears over head – legs very stretched – all movement comes from waist – legs, hips, backwards from waist; chest, shoulders, head, arms, backwards from waist. 7.B Jack-in-the-Box Jump. Both legs pushed forwards into air, and try to touch toes with the hands. 7.C Jeté en tournant. 7.D Chassé. Right leg kick forwards and quickly bend to hit left tigh, then left leg spring out backwards – all in one movement. 7.E Double jump, as a high kick, with body bent backwards on landing.

8. Body Wave. To sides, forward, backwards A Standing B Swinging C Jumping

9. Balance Exercises. Difficult walking, with arms and body movement. Various forms of lying, sitting and kneeling, after own choice and combined with getting up.

10. Pre-arranged by pupil – A Series of turns and jumps B Swinging, growing and impulse movements.

11. Realisation of Music – into movement. A Walking to certain Rhythm. B Walking to patterns in rhythm. C Dynamic of movement soft or strong slow or strong, slow or quick, light or heavy, changing according to the music.

12. Improvisations – expressing either a character, emotion or the music. Not longer than 64 bars.

13. TWO Dance solos – (character dances may be included) Dances choreographed by the Teacher. All Modern Ballroom Music excluded from choice.

24 IV

IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 A B A B 4 4 4 A B 1 2 2 A B

IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV IV 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 8 A B C C C C D E E E G 1 2 3 1 2

SECTION 4

1. Leg lifted from hip with knee bent and toe pointed to ground, combined with wave bend backwards.

2. Bending to side (e.g. left) gradually raising right leg to side, and slowly sweeping left arm down line of body into a circle to shoulder height, and down.

3.TURNING: 3.A Taking (e.g. right) leg and (right) arm, both with a circular swing outwards, pelvis well forward and turning on the spot. 3.B Same as A, but taking leg and arm with a circular swing from side over across front of body.

4. Any free and difficult combinations of body and arm movement, for balance – to be done 4.A On the spot 4.B Into space. e.g. 4.1. Waves, on one leg, to front, sides, back. 4.2. Circles of body – with one leg pointed A Front B Back.

5.A Develop leg forward, pelvis well forward, and ending in a back bend taking arms in great circle with the body (taken with a chasse). 5.B Develop to side, taking both arms in a circle and in same direction as leg, into a side bend, then place leg down, and draw other one up to it (also with a side chassé)

25 6. JUMPS. 6.A Heel clicking, moving sideways – one leg is held about a foot off ground, whilst other is brought up to click the heel. 6.B A Fouetté jump, with heel click at end before landing. 6.C Grand jeté – a simple high leap after 3 steps, or chasse, 6.C.1 With front leg stretched. 6.C.2 With back leg stretched. 6.C.3 With both legs bent. 6.D Fouetté jump, with a bell clap from the straight leg onto the lifted leg. 6.E Splits in the air. 6.E.1 Body facing front, legs to side. 6.E.2 Body facing front, one leg front, other back. 6.F Double jump in turning. 6.G Jump with front leg stretched forward, other leg bent under it.

7. COMPOSITIONAL FORMS. Turn any given exercise into a compositional form – e.g. a series of bendings. - “ - of turns. - “ - of steps and jumps.

Amalgamations of movement in compositional form, e.g. turning and falling to ground; sitting and rising to fully stretched position; turning and leaping.

8. IMPROVISATIONS, to express all the dynamics of music – e.g. crescendo and decrescendo, legato and staccato. Express a character e.g. an angel, gnome, witch, ect. Examiners must give 3 well-known characters for choice – of which the pupil may choose ONE for characterization.

9.Solo dances. 2 to be prepared. One may be arranged by teacher. One MUST be choreographed by the Student.

All Modern Ballroom Music excluded.

26 SECTION 1 LEGS : E B und C

E :

0 #

A.4 : E M

: E 0 # A.3 : M E

0 : # E

A.2

: M E 0 2.B # A.1 : E 2 0 2.A # 1

. Q Q - . Q Q - . - D . F C - D E pointing . with leg F C E - .

- .

F - . D -

E sX -

6. B C 4 B

4 # # M # legato 6. A # ¿ # # M M # s # ¿ 3 6 4 A 5

27 BENDING

. 8. 3 - Ö . 9

- 9 . and - á 9 . - ; o pointing slowly and 9 . with leg swinging 8. 2 É - 9 9 . - Ö 9 . 9 Å - ;; o 9 . 8. 1 - á 9 D ; - É 9 9 ; D 7. B Å É ; o h 9

8.(b) ; # 9 D 7. A D Å or ; É É 9 9 ; D Å o ; # o h 9 8.(a) 8

C 10.3 10.4

! !

# #

9. B V V

W 10.2

V Y Y

9. A

D 10.1

10 9

28 Section 2

2.2 + 2.3

11.4 11.3 ! : 1.B.2 C 11.2

2.3 M C M ! : D 1.B. 1 M 1.B D 2.2 11.4 - 1.A.2 - : 11.2 C

C M \ D 9 2.1

M M D 11.3 : -

11.1 1.A.1 11. 1 2

3.1 3.2

3.3

4.B

4.A

M C

# Ö o 3.2 4.B

M D Ö o

4.A

M N

3.3 Ö o 3.1 4

3 37

29 5

á o ! 6.B \

M É - - 8 vice versa 8 Ö umgekehrt M - 5.C á 8 8

Ö Å M o o ; ; ! s ; - ! 9.C 6.B E s M ; patterning steps 8.

6.A 7. variations 5.B 9.B \ s

É 8 8 ! Å o 8 Ö 8

á - M 8 N 8 - Å o s 5.A 6.A 7. 9. 6 9.A 5

move into space 11.D

11.B

! ! ) P

11.B

11.D

- ( E ! - 1 ! 11.C

10. 11.A

11.

30 SECTION 3

Ö o double jump 1 1.B 7.E

1.A ® 1 $ 1 V V 1.C V É 9 7.D 3-6 Ö 9 ! jeté en tournant. á P 9 Å o ; ; 7.C 1.B . > ;

7.B

É 9 É 9

Ö 9 Ö 9 Ö l á á M o Ä 9 N „ 9 § Å Å o o 1.A 1.C 2 7.A

1. 7

jumping

8.C

swinging

8.A 8.B 8

31 SECTION 4

W m W ) O 3.B É o

m 3.A # 6 D V - V 3

5.B

6.C.1 ! ! 6.C

á o E, F Ö ) 2 o 6.C.3 O

m # V V V 6.B - 5.A , 5 E F 0 # 4 1 6.A 6.C.2 6

C !

6.G double jump in turning

6.F

6.E

D o c u m e n t 3

Series V and VI Ways to Compose and Transpose Movements Contributions from former members of the Bodenwieser Ballet: Helen Elton, Coralie Hinkley, Evelyne Ippen, Hede Juer, Emmy Steininger, Bettina Vernon.1

Ways to compose movement

V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

V.1

The basis of Gertrud Bodenwieser’s modern dance art form was the circle. (Coralie Hinkley)

V.2

She could create from a simple idea. For example, from a circle she could create many [..] combinations of legs and arms, twists and leaps. (Evelyne Ippen)

V.3

Arms, fingers, face, head, hair, neck, shoulders, limbs, feet. (Coralie Hinkley)

Particular attention was paid to delicate hand movements. (Extracts from Bettina Vernon’s archives)

V.4

Swinging the legs, then arms, circling trunk, head, finally combining all these movements with steps. (Helen Elton)

1 Vernon-Warren, Bettina; Warren, Charles: Gertrud Bodenwieser and Vienna´s Contribution to Ausdruckstanz, New York 2013, Routledge.

33 V.5

Unimpaired fluidity which commences at the centre of the body and goes in all directions through it to the ends of the limbs. (Hede Juer)

V.6

Tracing Figure 8. (Helen Elton)

V.7

Unfolding movement from the centre of breath out to the extremities. (Coralie Hinkley)

V.8

Movements commencing at the centre and extending to the ends of the limbs and fingertips. (Extracts from Bettina Vernon’s archives)

V.9

One could elaborate on a simple movement – design, changing the levels, or shape, uniformity or distortion, a re-vitalizing influence on the original design. (Coralie Hinkley)

V.10

The Square as a basis for spatial variations. (Helen Elton)

V.11

Varied and interesting space patterns and dance sequences. (Helen Elton)

V.12

Variations in the configurations of the arc, circle, spiral, tilt, bend, curve. (Coralie Hinkley)

V.13

Form a circle around her. (Extracts from Bettina Vernon’s archives)

V.14

Circular movements on the floor, look attractive and interesting. (Extracts from Bettina Ver- non’s archives)

V.15

She also created many interesting leaps; one of them is now known as the ‘Spiral Jump’. (Evelyne Ippen)

V.16

Ways to transpose movement, different gradations of flow, dynamics, rhythms, expressions. (Coralie Hinkley)

34 V.17

Circle, wave, arc, spiral – never static – always fluid – never-ending gradations of flow, rhythms, designs, expressions, with the breath as the impulse for the surge of dance. (Coralie Hinkley)

V.18

There were moments of great complexity in Bodenwieser’s choreography. (Coralie Hinkley)

Ways to transpose movement

VI VI VI VI VI VI VI VI VI VI VI 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

VI.1

Ways to transpose movement - a re-vitalizing influence on the original design. (Coralie Hinkley)

VI.2

Every movement is a design in space. (Coralie Hinkley)

VI.3

From the simplest gesture to the most complex combinations. (Coralie Hinkley)

VI.4

Using the idea as a springboard. (Evelyne Ippen)

VI.5

Often sculptural positions would be introduced to show a good expressive line of the body with a smooth progressive movement between them. (Bettina Vernon)

35 VI.6

We not only gained a living language of movement, but we exercised it and developed it incessantly. (Emmy Steininger)

VI.7

It was never a matter of expressing the obvious surface idea (in the case of Sunset, for instance to “imitate” the setting of the sun), but it was a human experience. (Emmy Steininger)

VI.8

There is something beyond the image. (Emmy Steininger)

VI.8

I would like to study under Wiesenthal as well. (Bettina Vernon)

VI.9

Although, after I left Frau Gerty, I trained under many teachers, including Sigurd Leeder. (Bettina Vernon)

VI.10

Bodenwieser believed very much in specialist classes. (Bettina Vernon)

VI.11

The rise and fall of the breath, phrasing of the movement sequences, musical awareness and connections, whether in the symmetry of the dance lines or the conflict of the unequal, achieved special qualities of texture and form, depth, meaning. (Coralie Hinkley)

Additional Passages Concerning V and VI

Helen Elton

V.4 / V.6

“The warm-up movements were generally in the form of swinging ones: tracing the figure ‘8’, swinging the legs, then arms, circling trunk, head, finally combining all these movements with steps from side to side. Adagio exercises followed, slow balancing ones, never neglect- ing arm and hand movements. Elevation technique was also stressed.” (Vernon-Warren 154)

V.10

One day Frederick Ashton, being the great artist he was, and always alert to any new approach to dancing, came to our studio to find out about the form of choreography he had heard that

36 Bodenwieser taught. He was interested in the concept of using the square as a basis for creat- ing spatial variations of dance patterns. After his visit, I must admit, I learned more from his comments about how to draw out choreographic patterns than I was able to convey to him. (Vernon-Warren 165)

V.11

In the choreography classes Bodenwieser often used the square as a basis, enabling varied and interesting space patterns and dance sequences. (Vernon-Warren 154)

Coralie Hinkley

V.1

The basis of Gertrud Bodenwieser’s modern dance art form was the circle based on geometry. “Every movement is a design in space”, she said. (Vernon-Warren 261)

V.3 / V.12

Madame embraced the design of the wave, figure of eight and loop. These forms were then metamorphosed into living, breathing elaborations through our expressive bodies and their parts: (V.3) arms, fingers, face, head, hair, neck, shoulders, limbs, feet, (V.12) initiating variations in the configurations of the arc, circle, spiral, tilt, bend, curve, from the simplest gesture to the most complex combinations (Vernon-Warren 261)

V.7

Our lyrical or dramatic qualities were projected through the fluidity of unfolding movement from the center of breath out to the extremities. (Vernon-Warren 257)

V.17

The demands of her technique embraced the circle, wave, arc, spiral – never static – always fluid – never-ending gradations of flow, rhythms, designs, expressions, with the breath as the impulse for the surge of dance. (Vernon-Warren 257)

V.9/ V.16/ VI.1

Some of my favorite movements in my kinetic memory are: a pure opening of the spirit as the leg is lifted back slowly, at the same time the body opening and bending back on the leg, simultaneously arms opening into a circle ... ripples of the body – side wave – faster than light.

The classes were limitless in their creativeness. We were given insight into (V.16), (VI.1.) ways to transpose movement, different gradations of flow, dynamics, rhythms, expressions. (V.9) One could elaborate on a simple movement – design, changing the levels, or shape, uniformity or distortion, a re-vitalizing influence on the original design. (Vernon-Warren 261f)

37 V.18

There were moments of great complexity in Bodenwieser’s choreography. (Vernon-Warren 261)

VI.2

The basis of Gertrud Bodenwieser’s modern dance art form was the circle, based on geometry. “Every movement is a design in space”, she said. (Vernon-Warren 261)

VI.11

Evelyne Ippen

V.2 / VI.4

I cannot say much about her style of dance; in her words “a dancer should be seen and not de- scribed”. She was a wonderful teacher and was most astonishing in the style and variety of movement that (V.2) she could create from a simple idea. For example, from a circle she could create many lessons, combinations of legs and arms, twists and leaps, expressing both the commonplace and (VI.4) using the idea as a springboard to the more bizarre and absurd. Most of her lessons were based on this concept. (Vernon-Warren182)

V.15

She also created many interesting leaps; one of them is now known as the ‘Spiral Jump’. It was not easy, and many technically proficient dancers had difficulty in managing it. In her school I conducted the elevation class which was very interesting. (Vernon-Warren182)

Hede Juer

V.5

The Bodenwieser style is decorative, fluid, effortless, lyrical and dynamic, and displays every kind of human emotion. It embraces movements in circles, spirals, leaps, waves and figures- of-eight with the body flexible and leaning in all directions. Emphasis is placed on flowing arm and delicate hand movements. There is an unimpaired fluidity which commences at the centre of the body and goes in all directions through it to the ends of the limbs. Movements can also be dynamic. In turns, the body can lean in all directions and the knees can be bent slightly Stress is placed upon each movement of a dance having its corresponding phrase of

38 music and also an appropriate unexaggerated facial expression such as pleasure, charm, fear, determination or remorse. (Vernon-Warren 109)

Emmy Steininger

V.6

Bodenwieser’s work on a new dance creation did not begin with the first rehearsal, but long before in the way in which she trained her dancers. The training of all her dancers was based on regular improvisation. The improvisation was the crowning point of every lesson, always eagerly looked forward to. One can only say that it was the magic of her personality, which created the mood and conveyed the content of what was to be expressed. Then the dancers, filled with the idea and with a musician equally inspired to improvise, externalised in movement their inner understanding and feeling for the idea. It must be left to be imagined how practised in expressive power those dancers must have been, for whom such an experience occurred almost daily for years. We not only gained a living language of movement, but we exercised it and developed it incessantly, so that Bodenwieser could use us as instruments for the creation of images of beauty, of tenderness or of power. (Vernon-Warren 172)

VI.7/VI.8

What I can say, however, is that (VI.7) it was never a matter of expressing the obvious surface idea (in the case of Sunset, for instance to “imitate” the setting of the sun), but it was a human experience and the direct realization that we were expressing something universal. Indeed it is always so when an idea is given an artistic form by a truly inspired creator: (VI.8) there is something beyond the image itself that is deeper, wiser, and not capable of being explained. The dancers were living in the dance, and the dance was a poetic image for the audience. (Vernon-Warren 173)

Bettina Vernon

VI.5

Often sculptural positions would be introduced to show a good expressive line of the body with a smooth progressive movement between them. Bodenwieser had a remarkable talent for noticing and developing latent abilities of dancers and students. She did not hesitate to change the choreography and costumes if it was considered to be beneficial to a dancer and the dance. She was of the opinion that dancers’ capabilities could be judged when dancing a waltz. (Ver- non-Warren 123)

VI.8

The possessiveness of Bodenwieser towards her pupils could be a problem. In my case she expected me to be restricted to one teacher only for “Artistic Dance”. Grete Wiesenthal was appointed professor at the Academy in 1934 and ran a masterclass. Being very fascinated by her technique and personality, I announced one day to Frau Gerty that I would like to study under Wiesenthal as well. She replied: “I do not think it is necessary to attend her classes as

39 well as mine;” however, I took the big step and went privately to Wiesenthal’s flat at Modena Park, where she taught her favourite pupils in her salon. After her classes she would often ask us to tea; we had lively discussions about dance and also private matters. I found her classes very fascinating as well, and I was very proud to have two such famous teachers, totally different in their teaching and character. (Vernon-Warren 192)

VI.9

Although, after I left Frau Gerty, I trained under many teachers, including Sigurd Leeder , whom I greatly admired. (Vernon-Warren 189)

VI.10

Bodenwieser believed very much in specialist classes. For example, Evelyn Ippen was asked to teach classes of the Bodenwieser leaps; Bettina Vernon, the waltz classes. The idea was to demonstrate the Viennese waltz as a ballroom dance (Gesellschaftstanz – social dance) and then develop it later into the Artistic Waltz as the Australians were familiar with the former. (Vernon-Warren 124)

Extracts from Bettina Vernon’s archives:

V.3 / V.8 / V.13 / V.14

[..] combined with loose movements of the head and arms, followed by the wave and figure of eight movements of the feet, legs and arms, and swinging leg movements. “When bending backwards attention was paid to raising of the chest by breathing inwards to show a gradual curving of the back.” Some of the movements were developed away from the barre with different interpretations implied by the music. Other movements were circular movements of the arms and body, high leaps and turns. Emphasis was always placed on the flexibility of the body and the importance of (V.8) flowing movements commencing at the centre and extending to the ends of the limbs and fingertips. (V.3) Particular attention was paid to delicate hand movements. Practice would be given in making (V.14) circular movements on the floor look attractive and interesting. Often students had to (V.13) form a circle around her so that she could more easily see and if necessary correct their movement. (Vernon-Warren 123)

40 Fragment 2 Fragment 1 I.1.A.2, II.1.A., III.1.A, IV.2, V.2, VI.2 I.1.A.1, II.1, III.1,IV.1.,V.1,VI.1

0 #

É 9

Ö 9

á 9 N Å o

á o

\ É 9 9

Ö 9

á 9 N The basis of Gertrud Bodenwieser's : modern dance art form was the circle Å - o 0 She could create from a simple idea. For Ways to transpose movement - a re- - : example, from a circle she could create # vitalizing influence on the original design many [..] combinations of legs and arms, . 0 twists and leaps. # Every movement is a design in space .

Fragment 4 Fragment 3 I.1.A.4,II.1.B.1, III.1.C, IV.3.A, V.4,VI.4 I.1.A.3, II.1.B, III.1.C, IV.3.A, V.3 VI.3

É 9 É 9

Ö 9 Ö 9 á 9 á 9 Å o ; ; Å o

: ! M M Arms, fingers, face, head, hair, neck, : shoulders, limbs, feet. ! Every movement is a design in space . From the simplest gesture to the most complex combinations. 0 0 # # Particular attention was paid to delicate hand Swinging the legs, then arms, circling movements. trunk, head, finally combining all these movements with steps.

41 Fragment 5 Fragment 6

I.1.A,II.1.B.2,III.2, IV.3.B, V.5, VI.5 I.1.B,II.2,III.7,IV.4,V.6,VI.6

Any free and difficult combinations of body and arm movement, for balance - to be done.

jumps

M § Unimpaired fluidity which commences at the centre of the body and goes in all directions through it to the ends of the Tracing Figure 8. limbs. carried into M space

: We not only gained a living language of ! Often sculptural positions would be 0 movement, but we exercised it and introduced to show a good expressive on one spot # developed it incessantly. line of the body with a smooth progressive movement between them.

Fragment 7 Fragment 8

I.1.C,II.2.1,III.7.A,IV.4.A,V.7,VI.7 I.2,II.2.2,III.7.B.IV.4.B,V.8,VI.8

Any free and difficult combinations of body and arm Any free and movement, for difficult balance - to be combinations of done - into space. body and arm movement, for balance - to be done - on the spot.

Ö l o Ä „

. >

Movements commencing at the centre and It was never a matter of expressing the but moving extending to the ends of the limbs and obvious surface idea (in the case of Sunset, backwards fingertips. for instance to “imitate” the setting of the 0 sun), but it was a human experience. # There is something beyond the image. Unfolding movement from the centre of

breath out to the extremities.

42 Fragment 9 Fragment 10 I.2.B,II.3,III.7.D,IV.4.4.2.A,V.10,VI.10 I.2.A,II.2.3,III.7.C,IV.4.4.1,V.9,VI.9 Circles of body Waves on one with one leg leg, to front, pointed front side, back; ® 1 $

One could V V elaborate on a V simple movement - design, changing the : levels, or E shape, : uniformity or E distortion, a re-vitalizing influence on the original design.

! : Although, after E P Jeté en I left Frau tournant Gerty, I trained under many teachers, : including Sigurd Leeder. E

: M E

: E The Square as a basis for spatial variations.

: : Bodenwieser believed very much in specialist classes. E E

Fragment 12 Fragment 11 I.4,II.3.2,III.8,IV.5.A,V.12 I.3,II.3.1,III.7.E,IV.4.4.2.B,V.11,VI.11

Circles of body with one leg pointed Ö back o

m #

Ö Q V V o Q V Q 1 double jump Q

D F C D E F C E Varied and interesting space patterns and dance sequences. M

The rise and fall of the breath, phrasing of the F movement sequences, musical awareness and # M connections, whether in the symmetry of the # dance lines or the conflict of the unequal, D ¿ # achieved special qualities of texture and form, depth, meaning. E Variations in the configurations of the # arc, circle, spiral, tilt, bend, curve. # M C Any number of steps, walking slowly,

# toeAny tonumber heel, of quickly steps, heelwalking to toe,slowly, on ¿ ballstoe to of heel, feet quicklyquickly.Mix heel theto toe,steps. on

43 Fragment 13 Fragment 14

I.4.A,II.3.3,III.8.A,IV.5.B,V.13 I.4.B,II.4.A,III.8.B,IV.6,V.14

E , F

swinging

Form a circle around her.

D Ö o

W W

É o

# V V

legato Circular movements on the floor, look attractive and M interesting. s

Fragment 15 Fragment 16

I.5,II.4.B,III.8.C,IV.6.A,V.15 I.6,II.5.A,III.9,IV.6.B,V.16

, - E F . ) , E F O - . - . Balance Exercises. - Difficult walking, with arms and body . movement. Various jumping forms of lying, - sitting and . kneeling, after own choice and combined - with getting up. . M - C . Ö Å - # o o

M -

She also created many interesting Ways to transpose movement, leaps; one of them is now known as different gradations of flow, dynamics, the 'Spiral Jump'. # rhythms, expressions. #

44 Fragment 17 Fragment 18 I.7,II.5.B,III.10,IV.6.C,V.17 I.8,II.5.C,III.11,IV.6.C.1,V.18 Ö o A Series of turns and jumps B Swinging, growing and impulse movements. M

- .

- . A Walking to certain Rhythm. B Walking to patterns in rhythm. - C Dynamic of movement soft or strong slow or strong, slow or . quick, light or heavy, changing - according to the music. pointing . with leg

- . á - o . - . Simple Bendings and Up, to - M weighted and unweighted legs .

Circle, wave, arc, spiral - never static - always fluid - never-ending gradations of flow, rhythms, designs, expressions, with the breath as the ; D impulse for the surge of dance. Å There were moments of great complexity in ; # o h Bodenwieser's choreography. kneeling or standing -see 6

Fragment 19 Fragment 20

I.8.a,II.5.c,III,12,IV.6.C.2 I.8.B,II.6,IV.6.C.3

! !

Ö 9

Improvisations - expressing 9 either a character, emotion or the á 9 music

É 9 á o 9 Å o

Circling of body, in Standing and kneeling

D D D M É É 9 É ; 9 ; D o D Å Å o h ; o h

45 Fragment 21 Fragment 22 I.9,II.6.A,IV.6.D I.9.A,II.6.B,IV.6.E

) O

\ É 8

É 8 Ö 8 á 8 Ö 8 Å á o ; ; 8 N Å o C W

D V

Fragment 23 Fragment 24

I.9.B,II.9.A,II.7,II.8,IV.6.E.1 I.10,II.9.B,IV.6.E.2

turning with quick patterning steps

Arm movements

M ! ! s ; - ! ! E s ;

- - s

8 C 8

46 Fragment 25 Fragment 26

I.10.1,II.9.C,IV.6.G I.10.2,II.10,IV.7

! ! COMPOSITIONAL FORMS. Turn any C given exercise into a ! compositional form - e.g. a series of bendings. - “ - of turns. - “ - of steps and jumps.

- -

M E - 8

Y Y ! !

# #

V V

Fragment 27 Fragment 28

I.10.3,II.11.A,IV.8 I.10.4,II.11.B

- ( ! - 1 !

IMPROVISATIONS, to express all the dynamics of music - e.g. crescendo and decrescendo, legato and staccato. Express a character e.g. an angel, gnome, witch, ect.

) P

47 Fragment 29 Fragment 30

I.11,II,11.C I.11.1,II.11.D

C C

M M D D

Fragment 31 Fragment 32 I.11.2,II.12 I.11.3,II.13

Amalgamation of movements - of any movement mentioned

Step combinations C

M D

M M D D

D o c u m e n t 4

Series VII

Progressive Spatial Lines and Auratic Contours Photographs of the Bodenwieser Ballet from the Image Archive of the Austrian National Library Faculty Image – Detail from Gustav Klimt

Groupings, Spatial Arrangements

There was never a line which made identical movements. (Hede Juer)

Often sculptural positions would be introduced to show a good expressive line of the body with a smooth progressive movement between them. (Bettina Vernon)

What is striking in Laban-analysis and in the transfer of movement descriptions is that while there are specifications concerning space and direction, there are no evident indications regarding the space-height/-level of the body’s separate limbs. In Labanotation, the body’s precise spatial position can be gained from two factors: that of spatial direction and that of level in space. A system of axes that is transferred onto each individual joint of the body renders possible the precise determination of points in space. For example, in the case of a leg movement forward (e.g.: II 5 B Swing left forward), the space found on the sagittal level of the joint, that is, in front of the body, would be included in its entirety. The second piece of information – that concerning spatial level – indicates the precise level, in this case as part of the space found in front of the body. Points underneath the hip joint (the centre of the arm’s axis system) are assigned to the lower level (e.g. front – low), the point in space on the height of the hip joint are mid-level (e.g. front – mid), the space above the hip joint is assigned the upper level (e.g. front – high). In Labanotation, movement space is a Euclidean, geometrical, virtual space. It becomes visible in the positioning of the body parts.

49 VII. 1. Progressive Spatial Lines

In terms of the movement and action space of the Bodenwieser dances, there are indicators that allow for realisation beyond the merely virtual, Euclidean movement space. The Euclidean kinesphere constructed by Laban envelops the space surrounding the singular body.2 Documents VII on Gertrud Bodenwieser, however, point to an expanded space of perception and movement, as placed in relation to the ‘other’, the neighbouring body. The kinesphere constructed around the singular body is reconstructed to form a kinesphere enveloping several bodies. Space, spatial direction and movement space emerge from the relation to one or several (adjacent) bodies, in the form of touch and distance between bodies, in the arrangement with other bodies (in front of/behind/to the side). Space becomes manifest in spatial lines moving across several bodies; it is this a space of the relatedness of bodies. Dynamic spatial tendencies produced by accumula- tions of body parts replace Euclidean directions in space. The dancers’ non-identical spatial movements (different body positions, and/or the same positions with varying body orientation in space or varying position as part of the group) work to alter a fixed movement space (parallels, symmetries). It is transposed into directed movement energies. A photograph series of Bodenwieser dancers supplements Series I – VI in terms of spatial indications regarding Gertrud Bodenwieser’s dances. The photographs selected for this paper are from the 1930s and have been published online on the National Library’s catalogue.3 The photographs and images 1 – 7 in this case serve the reading and interpretation of the particular movement space depicted and of the relation between space and body in movement. They are integrated into the choreographic score and they attempt to “open space” for the processes of composing movement material.

2 Defined as an icosahedron, a kinesphere makes accessible the positions taken by the individual body and the space that can be reached by the individual body parts without shifting weight. 3 Photographs 1 – 4 were taken in the “Atelier d’Ora” by Arthur Benda in the 1930s. In 1925, Benda took on the studio, previously run by Dora Kallmus (1881 – 1963). Kallmus became legendary not least due to her photographs of expressionist dancers such as Anita Berber, Stefan Droste, La Argentina, Harald Kreutzberg or Yvonne Georgi. Until 1942, she worked with famous fashion designers in Paris, photographing illustrious personalities. As a Jew, she was forced to flee; surviving in the south of France, she returned to Paris only in 1945. In her final years, she photographed animal corpses in abattoirs. See Faber, Monika; Ruelfs Esther und Vukovic Magdalena (eds): Machen Sie mich schön, Madame d´Ora, Dora Kallmus, Fotografin in Wien und Paris 1907 – 1957, Vienna 2017, Brandstetter Verlag

P H O T O G R A P H 1:

Tanzgruppe D’Ora-Benda, Atelier ; Gertrud Bodenwieser (Tänzerin und Choreographin): Tanzgruppe in Tanzpose ;1935-02-08

The female dancers’ arms cross on a diagonal to the right upper image edge; they form v- like arcs; the hands close the lines to form a narrow frame; they are situated on an imaginary, fairly diagonal line on the image-mid-right; the heads form a relatively horizontal line; the body is directed from the right upper image edge to the lower left, down to the point where the knee of the dancer to the left is situated. Towards the margins of the positions held, the line as a whole is bent as a result of the bending of the legs of the dancer to the left and of the arm of the dancer to the right. The two bodies merge. The body of the dancer to the front serves as a torso which seems to carry two sets of shoulders, heads and arms.

P H O T O G R A P H 2:

Tanzgruppe D’Ora-Benda, Atelier ; Gertrud Bodenwieser (Tänzerin und Choreographin): Tanzgruppe;1935-02-08

The two female dancers’ bodies and the two parallel circles of the wooden hoops merge, the latter defining the body positions. The bodies’ outer edge plays with touch on the inner side and slightly outside of the wood. Position and lines are shared by the dancers, yet not identical, as they are mirrored.

P H O T O G R A P H 3:

Gertrud Bodenwieser D’Ora-Benda, Atelier ; Die Tänzerin und Choreographin mit einer zweiten Tänzerin, die “Schwebenden” darstellend. ;1931-09-24

The two “hovering” dancers (“Die Schwebenden” [The Hovering Ones] is the photograph’s title) create a diagonal (through the arrangement of their heads) from the left-lower to the right- upper image edge. As all body limbs are maximally constrained, the body space is narrowed to a minimum.

P H O T O G R A P H 4:

Harald Kreutzberg and Yvonne Georgi, Photo: Dora Kallmus, around 1927.

Harald Kreutzberg and Yvonne Georgi present a staging of arms in one of Dora Kallmus’ photographs. The linearity of upper and lower arms limits the faces. They appear as if separated from the body, as if forming a montage onto another plane. Due to the entanglement of arms, attachment to an individual dancer’s body becomes blurred. In this case, the surrounding line serves less to separate inner and outer space clearly than to foreground and background and to emphasise suggestively body parts and body gestures.

VII. 2. Auratic Body Contours/Micro-Spaces:

Contours (lines drawn around one or several bodies) contrast or complement spatial lines. As in the reflection of strong backlighting, they accentuate the body edge or the shared edge of several bodies grouped together tightly. At times, the bodies are grouped so that they seem to assimilate to pre-drawn contours (e.g. circle/half-circle). The contour is, then, not the result of stillness. Rather, the body seems to work its way into a pre-defined contour. The spatial definitions of the contours put bodies into contact with one another. In constrained surroundings, they ‘amalgamate’ body surfaces of various sizes. Such body architectures unlock a further spatial spectrum. In contrast to larger, dynamic spaces of air, a micro-space emerges in the curves and bends, on the surfaces and lines of the body contours.

P H O T O G R A P H 5:

Lucifer´s Masks: from left to right, Katja Georgieva, Melita Melzer, Bettina Vernon, Emmy Taussig. Photo: Noel Rubie, Sydney.

First image: the four female dancers’ contours form a frame/contour curved downwards and resembling a half-circle. In the choreography “Terror”4, the dancers symbolise father, mother and two children. The figure of terror closes in on the family with relentless steps, drawing an increasingly tight square, finally stepping over the fallen bodies. The four dancers represent the family threatened by terror and construct a sequence of various protective and cocooned group images. Contours and outlines of the group situation seem to determine the position of the individual bodies. The limitation of the (movement) space appears as if pre-figured and the bodies move in a series of pre-determined frames.

In the first image of the dance, the parents protect the sleeping children on their lap. The surrounding frame, the enveloping line focus the scope of action inwards, towards each other. The border to the open space constitutes an emphatic contour. The space directed inward, however, is not closed. It is opened at the front, for observation. The contouring line seems to fixate the traces as if they belonged to a crime scene – like events that are reconstructed retrospectively by means of the fictional contours of the bodies’ past positions.

4 The choreography “Terror” forms part of a triptych entitled “Lucifer’s Masks” and was first performed in 1936. In 1994/95, the two Bodenwieser-dancers Bettina Vernon and Evelyne Ippen rehearsed the piece together with students of the Bruckner Conservatory Linz. With the addition of a canon of ‘Bodenwieser Exercisen’, it was performed as part of Esther Linley’s dance evening “Verfemte Tänze” [“Ostracised Dances”] at the Wiener Festwochen, 1996.

FACULTY IMAGE JURSIPRUDENZ VON GUSTAV KLIMT

In the faculty image “Jurisprudence”5, Gustav Klimt painted goddesses of vengeance. These present further forms of enveloping and defining body contours. The body – for instance that of the goddess of vengeance – appears as if pressed down by the enveloping line, by the black space surrounding her. This form of envelopment gives a further figurative dimension to the goddess’ body visible only in fragmentation. It is simultaneously the body of a woman and the tentacle of an octopus. The figures seem to be fully situated in the body space, not requiring surrounding space or a relation to that space. Space develops solely and fully in the closed relational space of individual bodies, the inner situation and the overall arrangement of the individual spaces.

5 Gustav Klimt’s faculty images were stored in Schloß Immenhof in Lower Austria during the Second World War, and were destroyed in 1945 by the withdrawing NS troops. In 2005, the Vienna-based Leopold Museum mounted black and white copies of these images on the ceiling of the university’s grand ceremonial hall.

D o c u m e n t 5

Series VIII

Amalgamations of Actions Model Sheets

KEY

Rotation, clock - anticlockwise

s body centre (of gravity) / Fingers, right and left As if there were a Arms, right and left Negative in the Archive Ä jhû Face, head, neck, hair Score + k Shoulder, Chest Rose Breuss m Pelvis o Torso è Legs, right and left ; Knees, right and left

˚ 1 Slight and Strong accents " ! Strong and gentle ™ # ˙ $ Uplift, buoyont ˘ ¯ Weighty, heavy ;9 Emphasized, unemphasized

57 SCORE 2. There are two types of circles/movements. Active movements are indicated by fully sketched circle lines, passive co-motion 1. is indicated by dashed circle lines. Use the movement elements/components from “As If There Were a Negative in the Archive” ad libitum, in any possible variation, make use of any type of body part. Amalgamate the movement elements/components into (any possible) movement flow.

Use scores 1 - 10 and include them in this movement flow (of any kind). Memorise (any) movement patterns (of your choice) and memorise various different movement sequences.

3. The interplay of different circle segments: circle segments that run in parallel, symmetrically or in opposition, related to each other contrapuntally. The circles run clockwise and counter- clockwise. The sketches show schemes. When realised, the circles may be placed with one another, that is, drawn into the air from one point in space; or they may be understood as parallel, symmetrical, opposing spatial tendencies that are set in motion by different body parts and at different points in space. In this manner, tendencies of direction emerge as part of the arbitrary streams of movement.

58 4. 5. Twisting/turning (clockwise or counter- Elaborated accents. clockwise) of the (various) body parts in Accents/changes of tension occur on the movements on circle segments. different circle sectors. These take place suddenly or are of relatively short duration or are temporally extended.

Á Á

# ™ ! 1 & &

Â Â

6. 7. Thick arrows accentuate directions, thin Certain body parts and constellations are arrows signal the (arbitrary) flow of selected and linked to 1-5 and 7-10. movement.

ª ª ª o/ ès ª m èÄ.m ks o/ ;

. ; è Äs / k; o

59 8. 9. In the sketches, accented staffs are placed The size of the circle segments/traces is in between the circles. These simulate accent varied as follows: shifts in space. 9a “Accent walls” develop from the spatial By lifting and lowering the body (pliés/ displacement of repeated accents. relevés) 9b By a change in body weight (the arm circle, for instance, can be enlarged by means of larger steps or a shift of weight to the knees or floor positions) 9c By turning ; (the arm circle, for instance, is directed ; into the room) ; 9d By jumping ; (the height levels of the circles executed are changed) 9e Combinations of stepping, falling, jumping, turning ; ; ; ;

109

10. ; Fixate particular combinations/series from ; ; all elements and phrase them as sequences/ ;; ; combinations of about a minute. ;; ; ;; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

60 ; ; ; 9:; ¯ ¯ $ ü ˘9: ( ' 1 1 ˘9 :

( ' 1 ˘9 1 :; ( s 1 ˘9 1 ///////// / // //////// Fingerwald : ///////// ( s ˚ ˚

61 ˚(˚s ˚ ˚ !ª ª 1

˚(˚s

; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ª ª ; ; ; ! ( s ; ˚ ; ; 1; ; ; 1 ˚; ; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; 1; ; ;; ; ; ( s; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

118

62 ; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; o/ è m è .m ks o/ ; ; ; ; ; ( s; ; ; ( s; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; 1; ;1 ; 1; 1 ;

11. These sequences form the movement substance, the movement material for choreographic work.

; ;; ( s ;.m ; km;s /; ; ;; o ; ; 1;1

63 Bibliography

Bolens, Guillemette: The Style of Gestures, Embodiment and Cognition in Literary Narrative, Baltimore 2012, The John Hopkins University Press

Dunlop MacTavish, Shona: Gertrud Bodenwieser: Tänzerin, Choreographin, Pädagogin, Bre- men 1992, Zeichen + Spuren Verlag

Faber, Monika; Ruelfs Esther and Vukovic Magdalena (eds): Machen Sie mich schön, Ma- dame d’Ora, Dora Kallmus, Fotografin in Wien und Paris 1907 – 1957, Vienna 2017, Brand- stetter Verlag

Foucault, Michel: Archäologie des Wissens, Frankfurt am Main 2015, Suhrkamp Verlag

Gallagher, Shaun: How the Body Shapes the Mind, New York 2005, Oxford University Press

Grayburn, Patricia: Gertrud Bodenwieser, 1890 – 1959, A Celebratory Monograph on the 100th Anniversary of her Birth, Katalog London

Kluge, Alexander: In Gefahr und größter Not bringt der Mittelweg den Tod, Texte zu Kino, Film, Politik, Hamburg 1999, Vorwerk Verlag

Loyer, Anaïs: La notation chorégraphique : une forme de survivance du passé. http://larevue.conservatoiredeparis.fr/index.php?id=1822 (accessed on 12/8/2018)

Mdw Archive Document

Vernon-Warren, Bettina; Warren, Charles: Gertrud Bodenwieser and Vienna´s Contribution to Ausdruckstanz, New York 2013, Routledge

64 Photograph Credits

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Bildarchiv Austria: Photograph 1: Tanzgruppe D’Ora-Benda, Atelier ; Gertrud Bodenwieser (Tänzerin und Choreographin): Tanzgruppe in Tanzpose ;1935-02-08

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Bildarchiv Austria: Photograph 2: Tanzgruppe D’Ora-Benda, Atelier ; Gertrud Bodenwieser (Tänzerin und Choreographin): Tanz- gruppe;1935-02-08

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Bildarchiv Austria: Photograph 3: Gertrud Bodenwieser D’Ora-Benda, Atelier ; Die Tänzerin und Choreographin mit einer zweiten Tänzerin, die „Schwebenden“ darstellend. ;1931-09-24

Photograph 4: Faber, Monika; Ruelfs Esther and Vukovic Magdalena (eds): Machen Sie mich schön, Ma- dame d´Ora, Dora Kallmus, Fotografin in Wien und Paris 1907 – 1957, Vienna 2017, Brand- stetter Verlag, 116 (with kind permission of Photoinstitut Bonartes GmbH Wien)

Photograph 5: Dunlop MacTavish, Shona: Gertrud Bodenwieser: Tänzerin, Choreographin, Pädagogin, Bre- men 1992, Zeichen + Spuren Verlag, 81

65 Reforming Dance

Jia Ruskaja and the Accademia Nazionale di Danza1

F RANCESCA FALCONE

Our purpose here is to summarise the vision of Evgeniya Fyodorovna Borisenko (January 6, 1902 April 19, 1970), known to the dance world as Jia Ruskaja (I am Russian)2. Her vi sion took shape as the Accademia Nazionale di Danza (National Academy of Dance) in Rome3, established in 1940 as a component of the Silvio D‘Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art4. Only in 1948 was the Accademia to gain its independence on the teaching and the administrative front. The institution’s structure and curriculum were designed to meet the requirements both of a vocational school on the one hand, and a school for physi cal and rhythmic education on the other. The school was at the time, singular of its kind in Italy, introducing, as it did, a new concept to dance teaching. Rather than being solely vocational, it assigned considerable impor tance to the psychophysical preparation of the female student5, and to the training of teachers.

From the outset, Ruskaja was intent on broadening the female dancer’s sphere of knowl edge and educating her in a wide range of artistic and human disciplines.

What do we know of Evgeniya Fyodorovna Borisenko? Little is yet documented of her life before she reached Italy. Educated in the Crimea, she studied dance and foreign languages before ﬂeeing Russia with her father an Imperial Army oﬃcer in 1918 shortly after the October Revolution broke out. She completed her education at Geneva, where, foiled owing to her sex in her attempts to study engineering she enrolled in medicine. The knowl edge she gained there of anatomy and physiology would enable her to design the Dance Theory programme at the Accademia from 1948 on. As for the Dalcroze method, she most likely learnt of it in either Switzerland or London.

1 Given the extremely controversial nature of Jia Ruskaja’s activities under Fascism and her overweening ambitions thereafter, the author wishes to clarify that the present essay is not an apology. Given her prominence in Italian artistic education, we do however consider it worthwhile to set out the facts, to the extent they are known, as fully as possible. 2 It was Anton Giulio Bragaglia (1890-1960), who first used that name. The Ballets Russes were all the rage at the time. 3 Hereinafter: “AND”. This essay covers the period from the founding of the AND to Ruskaja’s death. 4 The Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica Silvio D’Amico was founded in 1936 by the critic Silvio D’Amico and is still the only State theatre school. Funded by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) and by the Mini- stry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, the Academy grants the equivalent of Bachelor of Arts and Master’s degrees. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accademia_Nazionale_di_Arte_Drammatica_Silvio_D%27Amico), 3/9/2019). 5 Male students were not admitted. Ruskaja was merely expressing a commonly-held view when she wrote: “Dance, a strictly feminine activity, allows the limbs to develop harmoniously […] without uncoordinated, harsh gestures. Once the dance had ceased to portrary warlike attitudes, it became an art form suited only to woman, the very image and expression of grace, ben- evolence and harmony.” (Jia Ruskaja, La danza come un modo di essere, preface by Marco Ramperti, Alpes, Milano 1928, p. 10).

66 In 1920, at Constantinople, she married a muchdecorated English oﬃcer, Daniel Douglas PoleEvans, whom she had met on a British gunboat on the Kerč–London voyage. The marriage was annulled shortly after the birth of their son, who remained in London with PoleEvans.

Ruskaja then began an aﬀair with the RussianArmenian poet Gostan Zarian, with whom she travelled to Italy. They stayed brieﬂy at the Villa Bellagio (Fiesole, Florence), where the Swiss painter Arnold Böcklin had lived. Here, she decided to settle in Italy and become a dancer6.

Through Gostan Zarian, she fell in with Rome’s artistic scene, inter alia with Anton Giulio Bragaglia, director and founder of the cuttingedge periodical Cronache d’attualità. Close to the avantgarde, Bragaglia was an acquaintance of Futurism’s founder Tommaso Mar inetti. In 1921, Bragaglia set up the Teatro degli indipendenti (Theatre of Independents)7 attracting writers and intellectuals such as Luigi Pirandello, Prosper Merimée, Guillaume Apollinaire, Eugene O’Neil and others. Bragaglia also undertook brief but intense experi ments with ﬁlm.

Francobaldo Chiocci reports Bragaglia’s words: “Russian woman in Italy? Just let her move and she’s already a great dancer”8. It was Bragaglia who helped to construct Ruskaja’s two fold public personage, i.e. as dancer and intellectual. 9

From 1925, essays began to appear in the magazine Comoedia under Ruskaja’s signature. As it happens though, they were written by Bragaglia under whose name the selfsame ar ticles later appeared! According to Patrizia Veroli, Ruskaja’s book La danza come un modo di essere (1928), may also have been written under Bragaglia’s guidance, since the aesthetics of Ruskaja’s movement as stated there refer directly to themes raised by Bragaglia in his Comoedia articles. The publishers (Alpes) promoted Ruskaja’s book thusly: “Dance as an initiation ritual.”10. In Ruskaja’s words “free expressive dance [...] ﬂows from within; it relies upon inborn predispositions, unencumbered by the constraints of tradition, prompted by rhythmic momentum and by attitudes taken from the ﬁne arts”.11

As Ruskaja began to create choreographies for the Teatro degli indipendenti around which gravitated the avantgardists Marinetti, Soﬃci, Prampolini, her name began to circulate amongst fashionable Bohemians. Indeed, Bragaglia had founded a small troupe of dancers including Ruskaja, Ikar12, Anita Lamari and Lena Ertel.13 What interested him was not the ballet, but “plastic” or rhythmic dance and pantomime (not to be confused with strict pan tomime in the ballet); this meant “dancing movement, where the spoken word and nar

6 Francobaldo Chiocci (ed.), “Note sulla vita di Jia Ruskaja”, in Jia Ruskaja, Teoria e scrittura della danza, Editoriale Spazio, Roma, 1970, pp. 67-75. 7 In 1918, Anton Giulio Bragaglia and his brother Carlo Ludovico headed the avant-garde art gallery Casa d’arte Bragaglia, and held conferences there. The gallery published a Bulletin (1921-1929). From 1921 to 1936 the brothers founded and directed experimentally the Teatro degli indipendenti in Rome, and from 1922 to 1943 Anton Giulio took charge of the new Teatro delle Arti. 8 Francobaldo Chiocci (ed.), “Note sulla vita di Jia Ruskaja”, cit. p. 69. 9 For the relationship between Bragaglia and Ruskaja, Cf. Patrizia Veroli, Baccanti e dive dell’aria. Donne, danza e società in Italia 1900-1945, Edimond, Città di Castello, 2001, p. 176. 10 Jia Ruskaja, La danza come un modo di essere, cit. 11 Ibidem [p. 1]. 12 Ikar’s stage name was Nikolaj Barabanov. A variety artist, he appeared in 1922 in Ivo Pannaggi’s Ballo meccanico (Cf. Laura Piccolo forwww.russinitalia.it for a biographical note) 13 Cf. Giulia Taddeo, “Il posto del corpo. Anton Giulio Bragaglia teorico di danza tra le due guerre”, in Danza e ricerca, Labo- ratorio di Studi, scritture, visioni, a. V, no. 4, 2013, pp. 57-116. https://danzaericerca.unibo.it/article/view/4200/3652,

67 ration play not merely a linkingrole, but in a fairly free correspondence between text and movement”.14 Ruskaja initially mixed genres, introducing Spanish, Indian and “Oriental” dances. In the latter genre, she showed herself to be a redoubtable seductress, as she did when acting in ﬁlm. She notably played the lead in Baldassarre Negroni’s 1929 ﬁlm Giu- ditta e Oloferne (Judith and Holofernes), where she blazes through her dance sequences. (Ill. 1 + 2)

Photo 1. Giuditta e Oloferne, 1929. Archivio Storico Accademia Nazionale di Danza (AsAND), serie Fotoriproduzioni, sottoserie I. Fotograﬁe, faldd 109141.

14 Patrizia Veroli, Baccanti e dive dell’aria, cit. p. 157.

Photo 2. Giuditta e Oloferne, 1929. Archivio Storico Accademia Nazionale di Danza (AsAND), serie Fotoriproduzioni, sottoserie I. Fotograﬁe, faldd 109141.

Ruskaja, who was nothing if not extremely shrewd and adept at selfpreservation – some would describe her as an outright opportunist – realised that the nascent Fascist regime would promote recognisable, reassuring symbols. She therefore put aside ambiguous, dis turbing characters such as Salomé, along with all the destabilizing aspects of postWorld War I dance that were alien to fascist rhetoric, and shifted to a tranquil, harmonious vein. She even altered her vocabulary to focus on harmony, on the serene and the contemplative; thus “free expressive dance”15 [1] (the word dance being in the singular), became “classical dances” (in the plural)16 [2], and included free dance forms performed outdoors in the midst of Greek or Roman monuments, by artists garbed in ﬂowing tunics17 [3].

In 1928, the first Dance School was set up within the Teatro Constanzi in Rome, led by the Russian couple Ileana Leonidoff18 and Dimitri Rostoff. In 1931, male students were admitted to school, then under the direction of the celebrated Nicola Guerra who had been ballet

15 Jia Ruskaja, La danza come un modo di essere, cit. [p. 1]. 16 In a programme for her Milanese school, Ruskaja stated that classical dances rely mainly on the style of expression, hence the attention paid to plastique and rhythm: “In the new style, classicism relies less on reproducing the forms preferred by Greek dance or overall, by ancient dance, than on going to the source of pathos, the blood and soul of that art, where dance is understood as the deepest expression of an entire people’s feelings. This classicism is apparent in the practice and teaching of a serene, ra- diant and thoroughly Mediterranean art” (Scuola di Danze classiche di Jia Ruskaja, Milano - Parco (Montetordo), [s.d.] p. 3. 17 Cf. Patrizia Veroli, La danza in Italia durante il fascismo. Corpi, pratiche, rappresentazioni, in Le pioniere della nuova danza italiana. Le autrici, i centri di formazione, le compagnie, Proceedings of the Conference organized for the tenth anniversary of Liliana Merlo’s death, Università degli Studi di Teramo, Facoltà di Scienze della comunicazione, 17-18 ottobre 2012, Abeditore, Milano 2016, p. 181. This is a revised and conflated translation of an essay first published in Discourses on Dance, vol. 3, n. 2, 2006, pp. 45-70. 18 Elena Sergeevna Pisarevskaya, better known by her stage name Ileana Leonidoff, has much in common with Ruskaja. She first acted in Bragaglia’s silent film Thaïs, before founding a touring company, the Leonidoff Russian Ballet. She later emigrated to South America, Cf. Laura Piccolo, Ileana Leonidoff. Lo schermo e la danza, Aracne, Roma 2006, and Laura Piccolo, in www.russintalia.com for a biographical note

69 master at Vienna, Budapest and Paris. Although Ruskaja had applied for that position, the time was clearly not ready for her reforms and she moved to Milan (1927). There she founded a school and the Compagnia di danze classiche19 with which she toured Italy. After meeting the scholar Ettore Romagnoli, who had joined the Accademia d’Italia in 1929, Ruskaja abandoned the avantgarde and opted for reinterpreting classicism.

And so in 1930, we ﬁnd her staging Euripides’ Iﬁgenia in Aulide at the Greek Theatre in Syracuse to music by Giuseppe Mulé, and Aeschylus’ Agamennone to music by Ildebrando Pizzetti, with scenery and costumes by Duilio Cambellotti. Despite Romagnoli’s death in 1938, Ruskaja continued to collaborate with Syracuse’s Istituto Italiano del Dramma Antico or INDA until 1948. Archivio Storico Istituto Luce documentaries20 exist with excerpts from these “classic dances”, notably a 50second clip dating from 1935 of Ruskaja perform ing with her pupils in the Greek Theatre at Taormina 21.

Ruskaja’s aim was to thoroughly reconﬁgure, as it were, the dancer. In Italy at that time, the word “ballerina” evoked a girl on pointe who had acquired technical skills alone and certainly not an allround artisticcultural education. Ruskaja however promoted the image of a cultured dancer moving easily between all the arts, an image she nurtured via interviews and articles that appeared in the day’s leading newspapers. Indeed, she married Aldo Borelli, editor of the Corriere della sera in 1929, while her Milanese home became a salon to which thronged painters, poets and writers. Meanwhile she had rented a studio for her private dancing school at the Teatro Dal Verme22.

In 1932, Ruskaja replaced Arturo Toscanini’s daughterinlaw Cia Fornaroli as head of the “Classical Dances” department at the La Scala Academy. Fornaroli would normally have held that position until retirement; her sudden dismissal was seen as an odious act of pressure from the Fascist régime’s hierarchs, who were close to Ruskaja, bearing in mind that Toscanini was notoriously antifascist. Cia Fornaroli later emigrated to the United States with Walter Toscanini. Ballet training was taken over by the ballerina Et torina Mazzucchelli, a virtuoso of the Italian school.

Now, by setting up a “Classical Dances” department, La Scala had opened the way to mod ernism23. Recalling the experiments of Dalcroze and Duncan, Ruskaja dubbed her method Orchestica. In the summer of 1934 however she dropped the experiment having concluded that ballet technique should not be disposed of, but rather modernised; in Germany at the time, Kurt Jooss too reasserted the importance of ballet technique24. Accordingly, Rus kaja recruited for Rome the La Scala ballerina Giuliana Penzi, who had taught at the Via Spiga school.

Sport, under the early Fascist directives, had been stigmatised as degrading grace and

19 Cf. the documentary LUCE, Stramilano presentato da Za Bum, 16’, mute, directed by Corrado D’Errico, 1929 [“Scuola di ’danze classiche’ e di ginnastica ritmica di Yia (sic) Ruskaya al Teatro Dal Verme”, con un assolo di Jia Ruskaja]. 20 The Istituto Luce (or Institute for Light; Luce is actually an acronym for L’Unione Cinematografica Educativa, or Educational Film Union), an Italian corporation set up in 1924. The Rome-based Institute produced and distributed films and documentaries for public screening, and supplied the fascist regime with powerful propaganda. It is the oldest public institution of this kind (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istituto_Luce). 21 Istituto Nazionale Luce, Giornale luce B/B0674 Taormina, Spettacolo di Danze classiche, 8 maggio, 1935 (https://patrimonio.archivioluce.com/luce-web/search/result.html?query=taormina+teatro+greco&jsonVal=). 22 The school moved to Montetordo in 1938, in a building put up by the Milan municipality. 23 In 1932, before Ruskaja took over at La Scala, the school brochure announced a course in „Greek dances and plastic attitudes“ (Cf. Flavia Pappacena, L’Orchesticografia di Jia Ruskaja, in Chorégraphie, anno 5, n. 10, p. 73). 24 See Patrizia Veroli, Baccanti e dive dell’aria, cit. p. 222.

70 feminine beauty, turning woman into man and hindering procreation. In Giovanni Gen tile’s Fascist educational programme (1923), publicised by the ENEF’s guidelines (Ente Na- zionale per l’Educazione Fisica) making gymnastics compulsory, women’s gymnastics were to disregard any indication of strength while aiming at “graceful attitudes and movements reﬂecting a higher beauty”25.

Ruskaja’s Orchestica had other aims, as one gathers from the playbill for the AND’s 1958 yearend performance:

“Orchestica is an educational system aimed primarily at studying the harmony of movement and fostering musicality. It is made up of series of short studies, fragments rather than true dances, designed to lend the movement of all limbs and body parts perfect eurythm, and thereby achieve spontaneity and utter naturalness. Orchestica makes subtle sensations visible; it refers to instinctive consciousness, to a state of nature seeking to transcend nature itself. Freed from formal structures and artiﬁciality, Orchestica allows movement to revert to nature’s enchanted forms, quite intact and free from artiﬁciality.”26.

In a ﬁlm bearing the same title as the book, La danza come un modo di essere, shot both in a studio and in the AND’s openair theatre, one can study Ruskaja’s method developed doubtless in the 1950s under the name Orchestica 27 .

Ruskaja’s vocabulary as such, shows a clear connection with the philosophies of both Dal croze and Isadora Duncan of which Ruskaja was most certainly aware, although she re jected Duncan’s irrational, Dionysian side. The term “eurythmy” recurrs frequently, pointing to acquaintance with the theories of absolute dance. She uses the term “eu rythmy” in her published articles and interviews and in her book La danza come un modo di essere 28. Ruskaja’s large personal library shows her wideranging interests and not only in modern European dance 29. There are books by Laban and Levinson and most of the then current dance theorists involved with notation, a subject she studied in depth, as we shall see30.

Flashback to 1934, when Ruskaja suddenly left La Scala to devote herself to her Milanese private school, where she was joined by a number of talented students such as Giuliana Penzi and Avia De Luca. There she not only taught but choreographed, as well as opening a private school in Rome, travelling constantly between the two cities. In Patrizia Veroli’s words,

25 Angela Teja, Educazione fisica al femminile, Società Stampa Sportiva, Roma 1995, p. 51, cit. in Patrizia Veroli Baccanti e dive dell’aria, cit. p. 207. 26 Accademia Nazionale di Danza, Illustrazione didattica e Concerto di Danza, diretti da Jia Ruskaja, 28-29 giugno 1958, Ca- stello dei Cesari, Aventino, Roma, p. 6. 27 La danza come un modo di essere, L’orchestica di Jia Ruskaja, directed and choreographed by Jia Ruskaja, 25’, audio film, late 50th, Archivio Accademia Nazionale di Danza (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZhgNwwwxgY) 28 She says of Laban: “In Germany, Laban opened another school, inspired by the characteristic upwards thrust of Gothic architecture, while Mary Wigman’s dances refer to abstract symbols and schemes [of] a somewhat detached cerebral coolness which though joyless, one may nonetheless admire.” (Jia Ruskaja, La danza come modo di essere, [w.p.]. 29 Cf. Natalia Gozzano, Le arti visive e la danza. Testimonianze dagli archivi delle danzatrici Jia Ruskaja (1903-1970) e Fri- derica Derra De Moroda (1897-1978), in Rassegna degli archivi di stato, n. 1-2-3, 2011, pp. 235- 245. 30 For the current state of Jia Ruskaja’s Archive, Cf. Gianluca Bocchino, “Jia Ruskaja: carte private e carte pubbliche. L’archivio dell’Accademia Nazionale di Danza di Roma”, in Danza e ricerca, Laboratorio di studi, scritture, visioni, anno IX, numero 9, 2017, pp. 77-101. (https://danzaericerca.unibo.it/article/view/7652).

71 “The culture she shaped in her teaching and in her theatrical activity was a real ‘culture of consensus’. We do not mean to suggest that her works were propa ganda but rather that she turned out easytoread and essentially conservative symbols, that never opposed the prevailing tide whether choreographic, musi cal or scenographic; familiar ideas were put before the public in a way that came across as ‚elevated’”. 31

Unsurprisingy, the Fascist regime chose her to represent Italian dance at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where she won a gold medal (Ill. 3).

Photo 3. Olimpic Games, Berlin (1936) Archivio Storico Accademia Nazionale di Danza (AsAND), serie Fotoriproduzioni, sottoserie I. Fotograﬁe, faldd 109141.

In 1939, Avia de Luca and Giuliana Penzi (who took a First) won prizes at the International Competition in Brussels. Ruskaja’s group performed at the Accademia femminile in Or vieto, whose graduates were involved with the ONB (Opera Nazionale Balilla) educational organization. She also worked closely with the GIL (Gioventù Italiana del Littorio) 32, which took over the ONB in 193733.

During the War, Ruskaja’s school in Milan was bombed and she moved permanently to Rome. There, with the help of Silvio D‘Amico, Director of the School of Dramatic Art, she founded the Regia Scuola di Danza (Royal Dance School) in 1940. It was renamed Scuola Nazionale di Danza before, ﬁnally in 1948, taking the name of Accademia Nazionale

31 Patrizia Veroli, Baccanti e dive dell’aria, cit., p. 227. 32 Founded on October 27, 1937 out of the Fasci giovanili di combattimento (Fascist Youth Combat Brigades), the GIL promoted ideologically-based para-military training for youths aged 18 to 21, and operated as an umbrella organization for the ONB (Opera Nazionale Balilla) and its branches. The ONB was a para-military scout group for 6 to 17 year-olds. It reported to the Fascist Party’s National Secretariat ( PNF). (https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioventù_italiana_del_littorio). 33 Ruskaja’s school and the GIL cooperated in a number of ways; e.g. a 1942 performance in Boboli (Florence) with dances composed for the GIL students from Rome and Milan and her own soloists (Patrizia Veroli, Baccanti e dive dell’aria, cit., p. 228).

72 Danza. The Regia Scuola’s stated goal was similar to that of Ruskaja’s Milanese school: “renew the teaching of dance, by reverting to its ancient spiritual origins, to its noble ar tistic and educational purposes while bringing it up to date”34. In assigning spiritual values to the dancer, Ruskaja pursued her strategy of reﬂecting the régime’s collective values. Whereas dancers had previously been considered working class, Ruskaja created a new image of the cultured middle or even upperclass artist.

In 1942, Ruskaja set up a threeyear course for GIL physical education teachers, leading to an elementarylevel dance teaching diploma35. In 1943, that course was broken oﬀ because of the War but Ruskaja never gave up on including „dance gymnastics“ for girls into the State secondary schools as a form of physical education. When the Accademia della Far- nesina and the Accademia di Orvieto had to be closed down, leaving a gap in physical edu cation, Ruskaja came up with an idea that was to materialise only in 1951 with the Avviamento Coreutico.

The AND’s pedagogical and artistic programme was twofold: academic technique, i.e. the traditional heritage and Orchestica, “[…] a new aesthetic direction that hearkens back to the original educational concepts of ancient Hellas, where or chetics was a crucial part of culture, but enriched by the choreographic experiences of modern dance school”36. The way she saw dance technique is intriguing,

“[…] as the name implies, this is but the cool application of academic precepts. That being said, academic technique is important to teaching; the dancer ac quires thereby secure equilibrium and dynamics, which will prove of value to interpretative inspiration. In other words, academic technique is a means not an end.”37

As for pointe work, not found in Orchestica, Ruskaja writes:

“While academic technique corresponds to stylistic training in Nineteenth Century ballets, and to a complement in operas, Orchestica will be irreplace able in dance recitals and theatrical performances of Greek and Roman classics or authors nearer in time such as Shakespeare and Goethe.”38

The Orchestica involved short studies; “fragments as a vehicle for certain themes which prepare the student to express moods and feelings” as Ruskaja called them.39 Through Or- chestica, movement could be studied analytically, fostering musical and dynamic aware ness and control. 40

34 Cf. Ministero dell’Educazione nazionale, Regia Scuola di Danza, Saggio annuale, 1943, XXI, Maestra Giuliana Penzi, Maestra sostituta Rosa Mazzucchelli, p. 3. 35 Cf. Flavia Pappacena, “L’orchesticografia di Jia Ruskaja”, in Chorégraphie. Studi e ricerche sulla danza, a. 5, n. 10, p. 54 e pp. 76-77. 36 Accademia Nazionale di Danza, Illustrazione didattica e Concerto di Danza, diretti da Jia Ruskaja, cit. p. 5. The quotation appears in the original, in English. 37 Ibidem. The quotation appears in the original, in English. 38 Accademia Nazionale di Danza, Illustrazione didattica e Concerto di Danza, diretti da Jia Ruskaja, cit. p. 6. 39 Ibidem, p. 12. 40 Cf. the documentary Fanciulle e danza. Dimostrazione dei metodi didattici della Scuola di anze classiche di Yia Ruskaja [sic] in Milano. Coreografie di Yia Ruskaja. [sic], ’39, directed by Angelo Talamo, operators Angelo Iannarelli e Guido Albertelli, s.d. [1940-1941]. [Other choreographies by Ruskaja include Ottocento romantico, Momento musicale, Salomè, Prima lettera d’amore, Mattinata boschereccia].

73 The courses’ structure and programes were designed for girls only; in essence, they are still the AND’s curriculum today.

Predance (for girls aged 6 to 10): corrective gymnastic exercises and elementary rhyth mics.

Regular courses: 8 year olds. Preparatory (I, II, III), Intermediate (IV, V and VI) and Advanced (VII, VIII). The curriculum’s structure was not unlike the traditional one in stituted by Carlo Blasis at La Scala.

Intermediate: Dance technique, Dance Theory, Art History, Music History, Solfège. Dance Composition, Dance History41, Costume. Piano (optional) This led to a corps de ballet dancer diploma.

Corso di perfezionamento or Class of Perfection: 3year advanced specialization, an innovation for Italy, to train teachers, choreographers and soloists. It involved aca demic study. Prerequisite: the AND Regular Course Diploma plus a high school leaving certiﬁcate.

In 1951, Ruskaja achieved a goal noone would ever have thought possible: the AND di ploma became mandatory, to teach dance in Italy42. Even more perhaps than her un scrupulous manoeuvring under Fascism, that victory for Ruskaja unleashed a wave of controversy that has not abated to this day, as it was seen to confer a kind of autocratic privilege upon the AND.

What is more, the 1951 Act refers to the AND’s instituting a physical education, upper high school diploma course 43 just as a threeyear physical education course for teaching dance gymnastics in lower secondary schools was launched, called Avviamento coreutico, open to AND students considered unsuitable for a stage career. The Avviamento Coreutico course was initially referred to as „special“ or „temporary“, in the runup to formalisation.44 It boiled down to an expanded version of the initial plans for training primary school gym nastics teachers.

In 1952 the ISEF (Istituto Superiore di Educazione Fisica or Higher Institute of Physical Education), which took over the defunct Rome and Orvieto Academies, stepped in to pre vent Ruskaja’s further meddling with physical education.

Needless to say, Ruskaja did not give up; she wrote a major essay on the problems of physi cal education for the Conference of Pedagogical Studies held at the University of Bologna in 1953. There she reiterated the views expressed in her ANEF (Associazione Nazionale Educazione Fisica) Congress in 1952: lower secondary schools should beneﬁt from „dance gymnastics“ classes, which she said were “neither art nor dance, but a didactic method of physical education”. 45 The threeyear course for training physical education teachers at

41 Diego Carpitella took up the Chair of Dance History in 1953, the first such Chair in Italy. 42 Law n. 28 of 4/1/51. 43 Flavia Pappacena, L’orchesticografia di Jia Ruskaja, cit. p. 55. 44 Ibidem. 45 Jia Ruskaja, Precisazioni sulla ginnica della danza intesa come elemento base dell’educazione fisica femminile, Comunica-

74 the ISEF she deemed too short and superﬁcial. Young gymnasts were to be gradually pre pared from puberty on.

Ruskaja advocated ginnica della danza (dance exercice, or dancegymnastics), i.e. barre work, with a “corrective function, designed to do away with awkward, strained habits and attitudes”, before starting centre practice. After adagio exercises on one leg, Ruskaja’s dance gymnastics would involve „steps“: “movements arising from a utilitarian scheme are, through emotional stimuli, transformed; they progress in logical connection towards a harmonic discourse that can be inifinitely varied in expression.”46 Dance gymnastics aimed at a dancelike lightness, a quality of movement almost „liquid“ or „fluid“, an indication of higher economy of effort: “the more harmonious the movement, the less effort required”.47 But to achieve this quality – quite unlike the strength and virtuosity found in gymnasts’ training – Ruskaja insisted that the AND had to take charge of teaching dance gymnastics from the age of 10 or 11 on. Only when Dance and Dance Gymnastics students had turned 16 or 17 would they be expected to choose between the two disciplines.

Ruskaja’s proposals were rejected by the Ministry of Education, but she did manage to have Corsi Liberi set up

“to enable youngsters who love dance, but are barred taking it up as a career for lack of the requisite inborn facility, to acquire danceculture and (...) feel ings, spiritual enjoyment which they would otherwise have denied.” 48

And so Ruskaja honed the Dance Department’ skills and educated audiences. Her ambi tious plans to have dance taught in state schools came about shortly after her death, as Giuliana Penzi took over the AND in 1970.49

AND’s Via Cisalpino premises had only three dance studios, and was swamped by the in tense activity and by the pressure of students.50 In 1955, the AND moved to the Castello dei Cesari on the Aventino Hill, set in the Palatine Hill’s exquisite panorama. The same building housed the administrative oﬃces and dance studios, the primary and secondary schools. 51

Not everyone was enchanted by Ruskaja’s “invading” that part of Rome. As Francobaldo Chiocci wrote, the Aventine was considered “a place of Saints”, and priests protested to zione di Jia Ruskaja al Convegno di studi pedagogici sui problemi dell’educazione fisica, Università di Bologna, 11-12 aprile 1953, Gruppo editoriale Giornale d’Italia- Tribuna, Roma [1953] p. 5. Ruskaja writes“The gymnastics of dance is not, in point of fact, dance as an art form; it aims solely at physical education, relying upon its own aesthetic, ethical and functional character; it is a study-method involving a group of exercises through which one acquires a straightward, virtually automatic spontaneity, and is the fullest and most conscious means for gaining coordination, balance and harmony in movement.” (p. 4) 46 Ibidem, p. 6. 47 Ibidem. 48 Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, Accademia Nazionale di Danza, Jia Ruskaja, “Problemi didattici della danza”, Numero Unico, 1956, p. 15. 49 Educazione al movimento (Movement Education) was the title given experimental dance teaching in many Roman primary schools from 1978 on, and a good opportunity for AND graduates to teach those courses. 50 Contacted by Ruskaja, Italy’s leading papers published articles pointing out that the school’s 650 students could no longer be crammed into the premises (Cf.: [s.n.] Danzeranno sul tetto le allieve della Ruskaja, in Roma, 26 marzo 1952). 51 Upper and lower secondary academic schooling took place outside the AND’s premises, until in 1976 experimental secondary schooling was given there thanks to Margherita Abbruzzese and Giuliana Penzi, respectively Deputy Director and Director. Students who eventually decided against a dance career could go straight on to university. This experiment ended in 1996. A Decree concerning upper secondary schools (D.P.R., n. 89 / 2010) instituted the Licei Musicali e Coreutici (Musical and Cho- reographic High Schools) of which there are now 47 in Italy (2018/2019).

75 the Vatican at the dancers’ presence. In 1956, following an audience with the Vicar of Rome, Cardinal Micara suggested that Ruskaja contact the monks of the nearby Basilica Santa Sabina and have the young dancers attend Easter celebrations.

And so they entered St. Sabine. Pope Pius XII was to write: “Never before in modern times has the Church opened its portals, its altars to your art. Your light blue costume is pleasing to the sky and sports its very colour”52. Ruskaja’s work was thereby ﬁnally accepted by the Roman Church.

The school yearend dance recital held in June/July in the openair theatre, is now a tradi tion to which the public ﬂocks. As announced in the 1957 programme:

“The large affluence of public made it clear that it also became one of the most significant Roman tradition, and a proof of the fact that the discipline of dance is deeply taking root in the spiritual life of the people in Rome. Only a few years ago, such a performance would have been impossible: neglected dance could not have been the chief personage in an initiative so widely ac cepted. Then dance was pursued with a professional aim only: it was confined within the narrow, financial limits of theatres, it has completely lost its ar tistic autonomy and its educational function.”53

In the late 1950s Ruskaja founded various choreographic associations and institutions in cluding the Associazione Nazionale Insegnanti in 1957 (National Association of Dance Teachers) and that same year the Corso di Perfezionamento per danzatori professionisti (Advanced Curriculum for Professional Dancers). In 1958, 10 years after the AND was founded, Ruskaja set up the Centro Nazionale Coreutico (National Choreographic Centre); this was intended to become the embryo of a national troupe gathering in the AND, the Rome Opera House and a range of openair and similar theatres nationwide. Amongst its complex aims,

“a) Inviting dancers, choreographers, musicians, painters and sculptors, writers and journalists to help create and promote both expressions of dance b) Organizing dance recitals and ballets c) Promoting the art form via cinema, television and the newspapers d) Inviting photographers to events to encourage them to specialize in dance pho tography e) Founding a journal which had become “indispensable [...], given how widely known the art form has become and the interest it now arouses in artistic and cul tural circles”54.

By 1956 Ruskaja had founded the magazine Numero unico to promote the AND, of which seven issues appeared. In 1960, it became an academic journal for the publication of monographs: Rapporti fra danza e architettura (The Relation between Dance and Archi tecture), Danza e poesia (1961, Dance and Poetry), Danza e musica (1962, Dance and Music), Danza e Pedagogia (196364, Dance and Pedagogy), and ﬁnally Dante e la Danza

52 Francobaldo Chiocci, Note sulla vita di Jia Ruskaja, cit., p. 74. 53 Accademia Nazionale di Danza, Illustrazione didattica e Concerto di danza diretti da Jia Ruskaja, Accademia Nazionale di Danza, Castello dei Cesari, 6-7-8 luglio 1957, p. 17. (Francesca Falcone Archive). 54 Accademia Nazionale di Danza, Illustrazione didattica e Concerto di danza diretti da Jia Ruskaja, Accademia Nazionale di Danza, Castello dei Cesari, 28-29 giugno 1958, p. 19. (Francesca Falcone Archive).

76 (1965 Dante and the Dance). Prominent scholars and choreographers contributed notably in 1956 Alexander Sacharoﬀ and Kurt Jooss55. In 1958 Jooss staged Le vergini folli (The mad virgins)56 for the AND’s yearend performance.

Until Ruskaja’s death she pursued her attempts at inventing her own dance notation which she called Orchesticographia “to avoid ... as has most regrettably occurred, the didactic and artistic heritage being lost”57. Overambitious as ever, she wanted Orchesticographia to be recognized as THE Italian system of notation. At the ﬁrst world congress of chor eographers held in AixLes Bains (July 30 to August 4, 1957) Ruskaja stated that she had been working on the project since 193758.(Ill. 4).

Photo 4. International Conference of Choreographers, 1957 (Aix-Les_Bains). Second to the left: Jia Ruskaja, Serge Lifar, Dimitrije Parlić, Boris Kniaseﬀ. Archivio Storico Accademia Nazionale di Danza (AsAND), serie Fotoriproduzioni, sottoserie I. Fotograﬁe, faldd 109141.

Despite her claims to originality however, the inﬂuence of other notation systems is mani fest. Her personal library and archives (which later merged into the AND library) con tained texts by Laban and Benesh, and by the Italians Zadra and Chiesa although nothing by Zorn and Stepanov (Cf. Ann Hutchinson Guest in her Dance Notation).59 Ruskaja’s use of triangular symbols clearly points to her acquaintance with Laban’s initial

55 In the 1950s, Anton Dolin, Leonide Massine, Harald Lander, Mila Cirul, Lotte Goslar, Birger Bartholin, Pauline Koner, David Lichine inter alia, visited the AND. 56 Concerto di Danza, 28-29 giugno 1958, Castello dei Cesari, Aventino, Roma. Le vergini folli, by K. Jooss to music by J.S. Bach, with costumes by Alexandre Sakharoff. Soloists: La vergine savia, Avia De Luca; La vergine folle, Giuliana Penzi. 57 Jia Ruskaja, Teoria e scrittura della danza, cit. p. 5. 58 Attended by 33 choreographers and dance masters from Canada, Chile, France, Israel, Italy, Morocco, Sweden, Switzer- land, Tunisia, United States, Russia and Yugoslavia. It was chaired by Serge Lifar; with Ruskaja and Dimitria Parlic as vice- chairs; members: Boris Kniaseff, Mme. Rousanne. 59 Ann Hutchinson Guest, Dance Notation. The process of recording movement on paper, Dance Books, London, 1984, pp. 91, 95, 96. Cf. also Flavia Pappacena, L’Orchesticografia di Jia Ruskaja, cit. p. 58.

77 attempts60. In all events, knowledge of Labanotation (mainly in the USA) and Benesh no tation (created in England) had become increasingly widespread. By the mid1950s Rus kaja must have been well aware of dance scholars’ intensifying concern with protecting choreography and copyright and recording movement scientiﬁcally.

Amongst the AND’s admission criteria, Ruskaja had included Theory and Pedagogy of Dance for the Class of Perfection, relying upon Italian rather than French terms, as one sees in the ﬁlm Fanciulle e danza 61 and on Fascistera playbills.

Why did Ruskaja want to have Orchesticograﬁa, which became the main focus of the Dance Theory programmes she instituted in 1948, on the AND curriculum?

In 1951, as the AND diploma became the prerequisite for teaching dance in state schools, the AND strove for greater credibility.

As Victoria Watts puts it “The twentieth century witnessed increased energy and enthusi asm in regard to dance notation, with ﬁftyeight new systems invented between 1919 and 1977. […] ’Dance literacy’ was considered vital for staking a claim to legitimacy as an art form and to gaining recognition as a discipline within institutions of higher learning”62.

Photo 5. Saut de basque (salto basco), Jia Ruskaja, Teoria e scrittura della danza, Editoriale Spazio, Roma, 1970.

Thus Orchesticograﬁa (Ill. 5) qualiﬁed as a theoretical discipline for transcribing move ment, lending the authority of the “word”, as it were, to AND practice. To Ruskaja,

60 Rudolf von Laban, Choreographie, Diederichs, Jena, 1926. 61 Cf. note 40. 62 Victoria Watts, “Benesh Movement Notation and Labanotation: From Inception to Establishment (1919-1977)”, Dance Chron- icle, vol. 38, n. 3, 2015, p. 292.

78 “This writingsystem which is also a theory, will make it easier to pass on chor eographic masterpieces and improve teaching methods; learning will be better controlled on both the psychic and physical planes, more harmonious and compliant with the educational ideal we all pursue.”63

Magazines and newspeapers in Italy and abroad published lengthy articles on the issue. Amongst the curious headlines one reads, “Leggono la danza in chiave di violino” (They learn to read dance on the violinstave) 64. Fullpage articles explain and illustrate Ruskaja’s notation.

Although shortly before her death, Ruskaja published another book, Teoria e scrittura della danza when actually teaching dance theory Ruskaja focussed solely on Orchestico- graﬁa.

Whereas, properly understood as movement analysis, theory is essential to practice and entails, inter alia, indepth study of anatomy. Movement can be broken down, dynamic and rhythmic qualities identiﬁed and diﬃculties in performing particular steps or move ments pinpointed. Nor does dance theory disregard the study of aesthetic and expressive qualities.

In 1970, the Chair of Theory of Dance fell to Lia Calizza and Chiara Zoppolato, followed in 1974 by Flavia Pappacena who held it until 201265. At the present time, notation systems are part of the notation history curriculum in the Department of Dance Composition.

And so ends our brief overview of the history of the AND and its founder Ruskaja, a woman who must be seen as very much of her time.

An able and notably clever individual, Ruskaja was also something of a visionary. Reading society’s moods, she kept up with its twists and turns, while expanding the range of dance studies to encompass myriad cultural and artistic factors. To Ruskaja, all the arts must converse. Last but not least, civil servants and politicians found in her a very determined interlocutor indeed.

To raise the social status of dance, she would cherrypick her pupils from the middle and upper classes, an approach that was, to put it mildly, controversial, and marked her dis tance with the Opera Schools, seen by working class parents as a secure path to their child’s advancement.

Nor did Ruskaja hesitate to intervene into her students’ professional and private lives (al though she did nonetheless consult the family!), so as to foster whatever aims she believed feasible for them.

Loved and hated in equal measure, and whatever the political judgments that may be passed upon her, Ruskaja was beyond any doubt a central ﬁgure in 20th Century Italian dance66.

63 Jia Ruskaja, Semiografia della danza e sue prospettive didattiche, in “Nostro tempo. Cultura, arte e vita”, anno IV, n. -3 febbraio-marzo 1955, edizioni “Nostro tempo”, Napoli, p. 32. 64 Antonio Capor, Leggono la danza in chiave di violino, “La settimana INCOM illustrata”, 9 dicembre 1950, a. 3, n. 49. 65 From 1981 to 2017, taught by Francesca Falcone. 66 With thanks to Gianluca Bocchino and Antonella Altavilla for research assistance at the AND library and to Katharine Kanter, Chairman of the Société Auguste Vestris, for translation and editorial work. 79