Mary Wigman Research Paper

Mary Wigman is considered to be one of the pioneers of modern dance alongside Isadora Duncan, Loie Fuller, and others (Ambrosio). Modern dance developed as a rebellion of the restrictions of ballet in order to express movement as an essence of life ("Mary Wigman Biography"). Mary Wigman was a German dancer and Choreographer, born in Hanover, Germany on November 13th, 1886 ("Mary Wigman Biography"). When she was very young she went on a trip to Amsterdam where she attended a dance performance by three students of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze ("Mary Wigman Biography"). This performance leads Wigman to become very fascinated with dance as an expression of life rather than just strict movement ("Mary Wigman Biography"). In 1911 despite her parent’s disapproval, Wigman enrolled in Jaques-Dalcroze’s dance school in Dresden-Hellerau ("Mary Wigman Biography"). Two years later she furthered her dance education by traveling to Switzerland for a dance summer course by Rudolf von Laban, she

ended up staying at the Laban school for six years ("Mary Wigman Biography"). When she left Laban School she worked to develop her own unique style of dance that could express human emotion and sorrow ("Mary Wigman Biography"). She named this dance style “New German Dance” ("Mary Wigman Biography").
Wigman worked on her new dance style on the mountains of Switzerland in isolation where she could be left alone in her thoughts and emotions ("Mary Wigman Facts").

Her choreography often included instruments such as gongs, bells, and drums from Asia and Africa due to her influence by non-western and tribal motifs ("The History of Modern Dance"). Her first performances were in Breman and Hanover where she was born; unfortunately, these concerts were poorly received because of how strange this style of dance was in comparison to commonly known ballet ("Mary Wigman Facts"). However, that did not stop Wigman from continuing New German Dance. Later that year she won acclaim from audiences and critics and her reputation was established ("Mary Wigman Facts"). Wigman’s style became known as “Ausdruckstanz”, or Expressionist Dance in Germany ("Mary Wigman Facts"). With her new reputation Wigman opened up her own school of dance in Dresden and taught what we know as modern dance ("Mary Wigman

Facts").
Wigman danced during a very difficult time period in Germany. Not too long after she had opened her dance school World War II began, forcing Wigman to flee to West Berlin ("Mary Wigman Biography"). However, Wigman did not let the World War keep her from dancing; after she fled she took up a job as a guest choreographer and opened another danced school ("Mary Wigman Biography"). Wigman created the basics of modern dance; she said that no move was ugly because each move represented an emotion ("Mary Wigman. German Expressionist Dancer and Choreographer”). On September 18th, 1973 Wigman died in West Berlin ("Mary Wigman. German Expressionist Dancer and Choreographer"). Many of her dances were very dark and represented death and desperation, reflecting what was happening in her country at the time. The picture above features Mary Wigman performing the piece “Witch Dance,” which is a very dark piece rich inspired by a nervous breakdown she had in 1918 ("Mary Wigman. German Expressionist Dancer and Choreographer"). The picture shows her reaching up as if she is surrendering to a greater power; her emotion represents giving up, or admitting defeat. I chose this picture because I feel like it represents modern dance as a whole; full of emotion, telling a story, and free of the restrictions of ballet. That is why I fell in love with modern dance in high school my freshman year. I never knew how to express myself, I wasn’t good at writing, singing, or acting, but when I found dance I found a new way to live. Dance was my way to relieve stress and have fun, it made me appreciate human emotion as a form of art that made dance even more beautiful.