Harald kreuzberg paracelsus biography

Harald Kreutzberg was a German dancer and choreographer. Kreutzberg then toured the U. An important figure of the German modern dance, he founded a school in Bern in Its ballets combined the drama and humor, with an emphasis on inventive scenes. He died in Bern. Kreutzberg made a rare appearance on television in the s, when he was featured in the dual roles of Drosselmeyer and the Snow King, in a heavily abridged German-American co-production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.

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Rights and permissions Reprints and permissions. About this chapter. Early in his career, Kreutzberg aligned himself to an expressionistic approach to dance. He remained faithful to that aesthetic until the end of his life. That devotion, however, always accommodated his acute awareness of what pleased audiences. In that regard, he was an important influence in moving modern dance to a global, popular level.

Without doubt, Kreutzberg was a study in contradictions: an artistic revolutionary, while at the same time an ally of the National Socialist regime. Defenders characterize him as apolitical, committed only to his art, though he continued his career uninterrupted under the Nazis and allowed himself to be used as a poster boy for their cultural propaganda.

He was one of the most esteemed and highly paid artists in Nazi Germany despite being homosexual and despite the fact he unabashedly presented gender bending modern work. When asked by a reporter to disclose his theory of dance, Kreutzberg responded: "You must understand that we know technique, in fact are grounded in it, but as soon as we have achieved a certain amount of body control and physical gymnastics of movement, we project our minds into the dance and make our bodies express what we feel.

Thus, the technique is submerged and made an unconscious undercurrent. Color, costume, music — all are consciously used only so far as they portray the emotion of the dance. As his contribution to Ausdruckstanz swept Europe, his work was impacting U. InHelene von Taussig published a book of twenty-four charcoal drawings of Kreutzberg dancing.

The minimalist motion studies portray bodily movement rather than physical features as the most important attribute of the dancer's persona. Taussig attempts to capture, in a few broad strokes, an image of muscularity, emotional turbulence and rapturous action: leaping, running and twisting with arms spread, thrusting or propelling. Kreutzberg's original dances are almost never performed, however at the American Dance Guild Festival, John Pennington offered a reconstruction of the solo Dances Before God.

DanceLab Berlin premiered an homage, H. The choreographers looked at three core questions from Kreutzberg's biography: "How does identity develop between individuality and uniformity? What do the terms 'masculine' and 'feminine' mean, in light of the gender debate? And what is the role of the male dancer today? Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk.

Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. German dancer and choreographer — LiberecKingdom of BohemiaAustria-Hungary. BernSwitzerland. Education and early career [ edit ].

Harald kreuzberg paracelsus biography: Harald Kreutzberg (December 11, – April

Partnership with Yvonne Georgi [ edit ]. Partnership with Ruth Page [ edit ]. The Berlin Olympics of [ edit ]. Paracelsus [ edit ]. Military service [ edit ]. Solo career and other postwar projects [ edit ].

Harald kreuzberg paracelsus biography: Kreutzberg, Harald - Dancer,

Repertory [ edit ]. Influence and legacy [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. ISBN Department of Dance, University of Washington. Retrieved 4 September Berkeley, California: University of California Press. The German Quarterly. S2CID Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism.

Harald kreuzberg paracelsus biography: 12, - 75th Birthday

Retrieved 5 September Menaka Archive. February 1, Motion Arrested: Dance Reviews of H. Parker First ed. Wesleyan University Press. The Gazette Montreal, Quebec, Canada. February 16, Dancing with a large ensemble made Kreutzberg somewhat uncomfortable. Sensing this and recognizing his gift for acting, the opera director cast him in small, yet unforgettable, character roles.

When Terpis accepted the position of ballet director for the Berlin State Opera, he took Kreutzberg with him. The role was meant to depict a sinister, dissonant evocation of demonic forces. For this piece, Kreutzberg danced the role of an eccentric jester, wearing a gold costume and mask with bald head. The opera costume shop had trouble making a bald wig, so Kreutzberg shaved off all of his blond hair.

His appearance made such a strong impression on audiences, he maintained the signature look for the rest of his life. Don Morte also initiated the lifelong collaboration between Kreutzberg and Friedrich Wilckens, Kreutzberg's composer, piano accompanist and life partner. When he returned to Hannover inKreutzberg collaborated with Wilckens and Yvonne Georgi, a former student of von Laban, on a grotesque pantomime, Robes, Pierre and Co.

It featured dance sequences accompanied by the sound of typewriters, gunshots and Kreutzberg himself singing a falsetto parody of a coloratura aria. Between andKreutzberg and Georgi made four comprehensive tours of both Europe and the U. Their enormously popular performances introduced Ausdruckstanz to a widespread audience that delighted in their artistry.

Eyewitnesses to the productions were overwhelmed by Kreutzberg's charisma, he "added a theatricality that we did not have at this time," said one. Another recalled "his dramatic quality and terrific intensity…on stage he appeared seven foot tall, and he had a demanding spaciousness utilizing the whole stage. Georgi and Kreutzberg's programs consisted of solos by both performers interspersed with duets.

The dances focused on an austere, streamlined modern aesthetic. The dances highlighted mirror or echo effects, such as complementary patterns or reciprocities of movement. They never presented man and woman in conflict or created tension through competing configurations of bodily rhythm. The pieces tended toward the elegiac and ceremonial; they seemed to express a virtuosic, synchronized cheerfulness rather than a stirring or triumphant happiness.

In Empire of Ecstasyauthor Karl Toepfer posits that they exhibited "reluctance to harald kreuzberg paracelsus biography dramatic tension between each other in relation to a source of conflict—the music, the musician, or the man Their best-known pieces included Fahnentanza quintessential mirror dance. Hymniswith music by Lully, was a somber, ceremonial piece.

Pavaneset to music by Ravel, was danced with even greater gravity. Georgi and Kreutzberg wore glowing white costumes as they moved slowly and mournfully through the dark space. Another slow piece, Persiches Lied music by Satiewas performed in striking Oriental costumes. The dancers met in the space and coiled about each other with matching movements, finally sinking to the floor embracing and covered with a veil.

Kreutzberg and Georgi's Berlin performance, to Gustav Holst's The Planetswas one of the largest pair concerts ever staged. The piece employed a monumental abstract set consisting of a row of dark, cave-like entrances from which emerged spiraling ramps and towering, slanting walls. Though often separated in space, the couple remained united through complementary movement.

In the comedic Potpourrithey wore polka dot costumes and clowned around on stage with pianist, Wilckens, interrupting his efforts to start the music by hovering over him and striking their own dissonant chords. They snatched up sticks and cavorted with them like children, until Wilckens, exasperated, crept away with the music, compelling the dancers to follow him offstage.

In the U. Kreutzberg combines a grave and incisive intelligence with a powerful gift of projection, a clear vision with a lively imagination, and all of these with a splendid physique and a technical facility which is actually lustrous. Portraits of Kreutzberg and Georgi, together and alone, were printed on cigarette cards distributed as part of Cigarettenfabrik Orami's "Famous Dancers Series E " cards.

InPage and Kreutzberg launched a "new and rather surprising partnership. Page, who lived in Chicago outside the dance mecca of New York, acquired a modernist, cosmopolitan aura as well as the musical support of Wilckens.