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The Notion of Mysticism in the Philosophy and Choreography of Mary Wigman 1914-1931

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2014

Dianne S. Howe
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Extract

Mary Wigman wanted to develop a new dance form, one that could express her personal perception of the spirit of her era and communicate her innermost feelings. What she created in her early choreographies, despite variations in specific works, was a dance in which one of the most prevalent constituents was mysticism, found in the purpose, process, and content of her choreography. It is by virtue of the element of mysticism that Wigman's artwork can be linked to a major aspect of the German Expressionist movement, which had come to full flower in art and drama during Wigman's artistically formative years.

German Expressionism was the attempt, by several German artists circa 1907-1925, to express the inner reality of a character, situation, or event rather than the external, scientifically verifiable facts, by portraying the essence, by giving form to experience to convey its universal significance. This expression of the artist's vision, which was intensely individual in style and inspiration yet universal in content, was often marked by distortion or non-realistic symbols used to attain a direct communication from soul to soul, that is, to express the essence of their vision so that it could be apprehended on a sensed level rather than on an intellectual level. The German Expressionist artists, as well as Wigman, developed their own, individual styles according to their particular art medium and individual personalities.

Type
Research Article
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , Summer 1987 , pp. 19 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 1987

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References

NOTES

1. Sorell, Walter, ed., The Mary Wigman Book: Her Writings Edited and Translated by Walter Sorell (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1975), pp. 28 and 81Google Scholar; Kneer, R.M., “Mary Wigman Sees Dance as Apotheosis of the Age,” Musical America, Vol. 51 no. 1, (Jan. 10, 1931): 6, 31Google Scholar.

2. Cf. the work of Nolde, Strindberg's Dream Play, and Hasenclever's Die Menschen.

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4. Selz, Peter, German Expressionist Painting (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1957), p. 228Google Scholar. See also Kandinsky in Miesel, p. 2.

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9. Berthe Trümpy, Review of Wigman's 10 Nov. 1917 concert, Mary Wigman Archiv, Akademie Der Künste, West Berlin, p. 3. This translation from German and all others to follow are by D.S. Howe and R. Buecher.

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16. Mary Wigman, Sorbonne Lecture (TS), May 27, 1931, Mary Wigman Archiv, Akademie Der Kunste, West Berlin, p. 45. See also p. 10 of this lecture and Michel, Artur, “Mary Wigman — on Her Sixtieth Birthday,” Dance Observer Vol. 13 no. 9 (November 1946): 108Google Scholar.

17. Wigman, , “Choreographie,” p. 8Google Scholar.

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22. Flake, Otto, “Mitteilungen des Zürcher Stadttheaters,” reprinted in “Mary Wigman Zürich Atelier Spielweg I: Engagements in der Schweiz durch die Konzertdirektion Kantorowitz Zürich. Kritiken der schweizer Presse,” 1919, p. 2Google Scholar.

23. Levinson, André, “The Modern Dance in Germany,” Theatre Arts, (February 1929): 151Google Scholar.

24. Wigman, Mary, “Lecture,” n.d. Mary Wigman Archiv, Akademie Der Künste, West Berlin, p. 15Google Scholar.

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28. Kasimir Edschmid, one of the primary theorists of the German Expressionist movement, in his treatise “Über den Expressionismus in der Literatur und das neue Dichtung” (1919) described the artistic process of the German Expressionists. Samuel, Richard and Thomas, R. Hinton, in Expressionism in German Life, Literature and the Theatre (1910-1924) (Philadelphia: Albert Saifer, 1971) p. 10Google Scholar, paraphrase it:

They do not try to catch the “momentary effect of a situation” but “its eternal significance.” They are not concerned with “descriptions” but with “experience.” They do not “reproduce” but “create.” They are not “receptive” but “searching” for a new conception of the world. Surrounding all Expressionist art, says Edschmid, “is an atmosphere of continuous excitement.”

Another important theorist for the Expressionists was Wilhelm Worringer, who wrote “Abstraction und Einfuhling.” Written in 1907, prior to Edschmid's articles, this thesis also pointed to the primary importance of intuition in the creative process.

29. Sorell, , The Mary Wigman Book, p. 52Google Scholar.

30. Wigman, , The Language of Dance, p. 98Google Scholar.

31. Cf. Myers, p. 98.

32. Review of Wigman's concert on May 16, 1919, St. Galler Tagblatt (n.d.) Reprinted in “Mary Wigman Zürich Atelier Spielweg I,” p. 7.

33. Michel, Artur, “The Development of the New German Dance” in Modern Dance, ed., Stewart, Virginia, (New York: E. Weyhe, 1935), p. 6Google Scholar.

34. “Mary Wigman: ‘die Feier’ Erstaüfführung in der Hamburger Volksoper” in Hamburger Anzeiger, February 1927Google Scholar, n.p. Oscar Bie, in Maggie Odom's article “Mary Wigman: The Early Years: 1913 - 1925,” The Drama Review, Vol. 24 no. 4 (1980): 88Google Scholar, is quoted as saying that in Die Feier, Wigman “is the solution to this problem which is called Expressionism — the spiritualization of matter.”

35. Grund, Gustav, “Mary Wigman in Dresden,” n.d. Mary Wigman Archiv, Akademie der Künste, West Berlin, p. 125Google Scholar.

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37. Michel, “The Development of the New German Dance,” p. 10.

38. “Die Tänzerin Mary Wigman,” p. 7.

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40. Michel, “The Development of the New German Dance,” p. 10.

41. Wigman, Mary, “The New German Dance” in Modern Dance, ed. Stewart, Virginia (New York: E. Weyhe, 1935), pp. 20–21Google Scholar.

42. See also Holm, Hanya, “The Mary Wigman I Know,” in The Dance Has Many Faces, ed. Sorell, Walter (New York: Columbia University Press, 1966, second edition), p. 44Google Scholar. Holm says of Wigman: “In her Witches Dance (1926), … it was … the deep-bedded darkness in man, the wicked and witch-like trends in the human character” that she portrayed.

43. See also Biedrzynski, Richard, “Das doppelte Gesicht Die Tänzerin Mary Wigman,” Deutsche Zeitung (Berlin), no. 490, October 19, 1925, n.p.Google Scholar; Grund, Gustav, “Die Ausdruckskunst der Mary Wigmann,” in Die Schöne Frau (Berlin), Vol. 3 no. 8 (1928): 29Google Scholar; “Triumph Mary Wigmans,” 1928, Mary Wigman Archiv, Akademie Der Künste, West Berlin, n.p.

44. Artur Michel, “Mary Wigman — On Her Sixtieth Birthday,” p. 108.

45. Huth, Arno, “Neue Tänze Mary Wigmans: Jubiläums Tanzabend in Berlin,” Hannoverscher Kurier, no. 532, November 1929, n.p., Cf. the work of Otto (The Gypsy) MuellerGoogle Scholar.

46. Hanya Holm, “The Mary Wigman I Know,” pp. 43, 49; Holm, Hanya, “Pioneer of the New Dance,” The American Dancer (April 1933): 9Google Scholar; Artur Michel, “The Development of the New German Dance,” p. 6.

47. Lloyd, Margaret, The Borzoi Book of Modern Dance (Brooklyn: Dance Horizons, 1949), p. 14Google Scholar.

48. Michel, “Mary Wigman — On Her Sixtieth Birthday,” p. 108.

49. Scheyer, Ernest, “The Shapes of Space: The Art of Mary Wigman and Oskar Schlemmer,” Dance Perspectives no. 41 (Spring 1970): 20Google Scholar.

50. Review of Wigman's August 25,1919 concert at the Kursaal, Fremdenblatt Arosa, reprinted in “Mary Wigman Zürich Atelier Spielweg I,” p. 11.

51. See the discussion of Strindberg in Samuel and Thomas, pp. 119-120.

52. Myers, p. 41.

53. Wigman, , The Language of Dance, pp. 8–9Google Scholar.

54. Maack, Rudolf, “Mensch und Schicksal im Tanz, Mary Wigmann wird am 13, November 75 Jahre Alt,” Die Zeit, November 10, 1961. [unpaginated]Google Scholar. See also Gustav Grund, “Die Ausdruckskunst der Mary Wigmann,” p. 29.

55. Sorell, , The Mary Wigman Book, p. 138Google Scholar. Wigman also notes here that other audience members saw it as a dervish dance or “sheer ecstasy in geometric form,” to which Wigman replied that all three were correct interpretations.

56. Bach, , Das Mary Wigman Werk, p. 51Google Scholar.

57. “Mary Wigman, ein Weg,” Die Schaffende Frau Vol. 6 no. 66 (August 1925): 115Google Scholar.

58. Michel, “The Development of the New German Dance,” p. 10.

59. Trümpy, p. 2.

60. Flake, p. 4; Koegler, Horst, “In the Shadow of the Swastika — Dance in Germany, 1927-1931,” Dance Perspectives 57 (Spring 1974): 8Google Scholar; Sorell, , The Mary Wigman Book, p. 56Google Scholar.