On Stage Alone: Soloists and the Modern Dance Canon

224 Pages·2012·2.51 MB·English

by  Claudia Gitelman

On Stage Alone
University Press of Florida
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
New College of Florida, Sarasota
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola
University Press of Florida
Gainesville/Tallahassee/Tampa/Boca Raton
Pensacola/Orlando/Miami/Jacksonville/Ft. Myers/Sarasota
O N S TAG E A L O N E
SOLOISTS AND THE MODERN DANCE CANON
Edited by Claudia Gitelman
and Barbara Palfy
Copyright 2012 by Claudia Gitelman and Barbara Palfy
Printed in the United States of America on Glatfelter Natures
Book, a paper certified under the standards of the Forestry
Stewardship Council (FSC). It is a recycled stock that contains
30 percent post-consumer waste and is acid-free.
This book may be available in an electronic edition.
All rights reserved
17 16 15 14 13 12 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
On stage alone : soloists and the modern dance canon /
edited by Claudia Gitelman and Barbara Palfy.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8130-4025-7 (alk. paper)
1. Dancers. 2. Dancing—Psychological aspects. 3. Modern
dance. I. Gitelman, Claudia. II. Palfy, Barbara.
gv1594.o53 2012
792.8—dc23
2012001071
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611-2079
http://www.upf.com
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Introduction 1
Claudia Gitelman
ONE Michio Ito’s Shadow: Searching for the
Transnational in Solo Dance 7
Carrie J. Preston
TWO Alone into the World: Reflections on Solos from
1919 by Vaslav Nijinsky and Mary Wigman 31
Ramsay Burt
THREE The Solo That Isn’t a Solo: Ann Carlson’s
Dances with Animals 55
Janice Ross
FOUR Aesthetics of Early Modernist Solo Dance
in Central Europe 73
Karl Toepfer
FIVE Exotica and Ethereality:
The Solo Art of Maud Allan 119
Julie Malnig
SIX Modernity and Nationalism in Solo Dance
in Brazil: The Bailado of Eros Volúsia and
the Performance of Luiz de Abreu 141
Sandra Meyer
SEVEN Strange Heroes 163
Deborah Jowitt
EIGHT Anna Huber: A Conceptual Moment
in Switzerland 187
Renée E. D’Aoust
List of Contributors 203
Index 205
Illustrations
1.1 Michio Ito in Japanese costume, 1915 13
3.1 Ann Carlson and kitten in Animals 61
3.2 Ann Carlson with her dairy cow partner in
Madame 710 69
3.3 Ann Carlson in a face-to-face moment with
Madame 710 69
4.1 Mata Hari, ca. 1905 75
4.2 Olga Desmond and Adolf Salge as “living statues”
inConquered, 1908 79
4.3 Olga Desmond in Schwertertanz (Sword Dance),
1910 81
4.4 Anna Pavlova in the opening of The Swan, Berlin,
1908 87
4.5 Gertrud Leistikow in a dance from Adonisfeier, 1911 91
4.6 Lavinia Schulz in the fantastic costume for her Bibo,
Hamburg, 1924 98
4.7 Edith von Schrenck, 1925 101
4.8 Niddy Impekoven as the Captured Bird (Gefangener
Vogel), Munich, ca. 1919 105
4.9 Niddy Impekoven in Chaconne, Berlin, 1931 107
4.10 Oda Schottmüller wearing a mask for Nachtstück,
Berlin, 1935 111
vii
4.11 Ella Ilbak in costume for The Flame, Stockholm,
1924 114
4.12 Ella Ilbak in Sweden, 1948 115
5.1 Maud Allan as Salome, ca. 1908 127
5.2 Maud Allan in Mendelssohn’s Spring Song, ca. 1908 130
5.3 Maud Allan, veiled, ca. 1908 136
6.1 Eros Volúsia dancing a samba, Oia a fóia no a, 1929 146
6.2 Eros Volúsia resting after No Terreiro de Umbanda,
1937 149
6.3 Eros Volúsia in Cascavelando, 1937 153
6.4 Luiz de Abreu with furled flag in Samba do
crioulo doido 156
6.5 Luiz de Abreu with a Brazilian flag backdrop in Samba
do crioulo doido 157
7.1 Daniel Nagrin in his Strange Hero, 1948 164
7.2 Daniel Nagrin as “Wild Horse” in Annie Get Your
Gun, 1946 171
7.3 Daniel Nagrin at seventy-one 183
8.1 Anna Huber in Eine Frage der Zeit, 2008 195
viii Illustrations
On Stage Alone