Modern Dance in France (1920-1970) 9057020165, 9789057020162

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Introduction to the Series
Acknowledgements
List of plates
Exergue
Foreword
Prelude: Indelible Ephemera
Introduction
An Epic
The Sense of the Phylum
Modern Dance in the Birth-Place of Classical Dance
Virginity and Creation
Terminology
From Yesterday to Today
Contemporary Opinions
Fertility, Frivolity and Digressions
Dance to Serve Man? Man to Serve Dance?
Keys to Reading
Part I: 1920-1930: The Ground-Breaking Years
Chronology
Dance in the Roaring Twenties
The Influence of the Ballets Russes (and Waslaw Nijinsky)
Modern Dance is First and Foremost 'Individual'
Isadora, the Symbol
In the Wake of Isadora
The Body Rehabilitated
Harmonic Gymnastics
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze
Rudolf von Laban
Other Influences
The Plastic Arts
Exoticism
Venues for the New Dance
A Similar Volapiik of Movements?
The Actors
Institutions
The Ballets Suédois 1920-1924
The Duncan Line
Raymond Duncan
Elisabeth Duncan
Irma Duncan
Lisa Duncan by Odile Pyros
Ellen Tels-Rabanek
Postscript on the Legacy of Isadora by Madeleine Lytton
The Laban and Dalcroze Lines
Dussia Bereska
Marie-Louise van Veen
Jacqueline Chaumont
Marie Kummer
The Independent Ones
Georges Pomiès
Alexander and Clotilde Sakharoff by Denise Blanc-Raillard
Hélène Vanel and Loïs Hutton
Yvonne Redgis
Paul Swan
Charlotte Bara
Yvonne Sérac
Isabel de Etchessary
The Educators
François Malkowski
Renée Odic Kintzel
Irène
Popard
The Orientals
Jeanne Ronsay
Nyota Inyoka
Djemil Anik
Uday Shankar
Raden Mas Jodjana
Conclusion
Part II: 1930-1939: The Tilling Years
Chronology
Dance: from the Ground-Breaking to the
Ploughing of the Land
Mary Wigman
Mary Wigman in Paris in 1931
The Wave from Central Europe
Tours and Venues
A Diversity of Tendencies
The Actors
Institutions
The Archives Intemationales de la Danse
The Laban and Wigman Lines
Jean Weidt by Dominique Dupuy
Heinz Finkel
Ludolf Schild by Lise Brunei
Mila Cirul
Julia Marcus
Doryta Brown
The Dalcroze and Hellerau-Laxenburg Line
Anita Wiskeman by Florence Poudru
Hélène Carlut by Florence Poudru
Doris Halphen, Maïan Pontan and the Hellerau-Laxenburg School
Defectors from Classical Dance
Jean Serry
Janine Solane
The Independent Ones
Marguerite Bougai
Tony Gregory
Freddy Wittop
Josette and Renée Foatelli
The Educators
Fée Hellès by Denise Coutier
Liliane Arlen and Viennese Dance
Conclusion
Part III: 1945-1960: The Sowing Years
Chronology
The Return to Peace
New Landscapes
Our Own 'Modern' Dancers
Grafts
Turning Towards the Roots
Trends of 'Culture for the Masses'
Jacques Copeau and his Heritage
Travail et Culture (T.E.C.)
Éducation par le jeu dramatique (E.P.J.D.)
Spiritual Awakening
Scouts
Expression through the Body
Institutions that Foster Dance
The Birth of the Body
The Actors
Institutions
Jean Dorey and Danse et Culture
Dinah Maggie and Association Française de Recherches Chorégraphiques (A.F.R.E.C.) and the Théâtre d'Essai de la Danse
French Dancers of European Descent
Anne Gardon
Geneviève Mallarmé
Raymonde Lombardin
Charles Antonetti
Jacqueline Levant
Suzanne
Rémon
Claude Stéphane
Française and Dominique Dupuy and The Ballets Modemes de Paris
The Grafts
Jerome Andrews by Delphine Rybinski
Jacqueline Robinson by Geneviève Piguet
Laura Sheleen
Karin Waehner
Muriel Topaz
Paul d' Arnot
Edith Allard
Katherine Henry d'Epinoy
Gilberto Motta
Régine Drengwicz
In the Line of Janine Solane
Rose-Marie Paillet
Denise Blanc-Raillard
Marie-France Babillot
Titane Saint-Hubert
The Independent Ones
Olga Stens
Geneviève Piguet
Frédérique Franchini
Antoinette Guédy
Roger Ribes
The Educators
Hilde Peerbohm by Marie-Madeleine Cosnard, Paul and Annelise Galland, Monique Golhen and Régine Le Bourva
Yvonne Berge
Phyllis Drayson
Mireille Fromantel
Anne-Marie Debatte
From Drama and Mime
Bella Reine
Etienne Decroux
Jacques Lecoq
Marcel Marceau
In the Duncan Line
Madeleine Lytton
Odile Hamelin-Pyros
Conclusion
Part IV: 1960-1970: The Flowering Years
Chronology
Social Changes
The Rights of the Body
The Institutionalization of Dance
Festivals
Companies and Schools
A Digression on Folklore
Competitions
The 'Militants'
Everything Changes
American Influences
The Wave from Latin America
Multiplication
Youth and Vulnerability
The Actors
Institutions
The Introduction of Dance into Parisian Universities by Mireille Arguel
The Growing Presence of Modem Dance in Physical Training Centres
by Mireille Arguel
The Ballet Théâtre
Contemporain
The Théâtre
Français de la Danse
The Théâtre
des Nations
The Châteauvallon Festival
Art, Recherche, Confrontation at the Museum of Modern Art
The Bagnolet Competition: Ballet pour Demain by Nathalie Collantes
French Dancers, Nomadic and Sedentary
Françoise Saint-Thibault
Noëlle Janoli
Françoise Julliot de la Morandiére
Claudine Allegra
Isabelle Mirova
Claude Decaillot
Dora Feïlane
Aline Roux
Annick Maucouvert
Suzon Holzer
Renate Pook
Poumi Lescaut
Anne-Marie Reynaud
The Scholars
Michèle Nadal
Francine Lancelot
Muriel Jaër
Claude Pujade-Renaud
Jacqueline Challet-Haas
Mireille Arguel
Alberte Raynaud
Pinok and Matho
The Educators
Denise Coutier and 'Danse Ma Joie' (D.M.J.)
Jean Bouffort
Françoise
Chantraine
Sylvie Deluz
The 'Science of the Body'
The Graft from Latin America
Arlet Bon
Sara Pardo
Graziella Martinez
Juan Carlos Bellini
Mara Dajanova
Noémie Lapzeson
Paulina Ossona
Paulina Oca
Diana Obedman
Gladys Aleman
Sonia Sanoja
Guillermo Palomares
Jazz and African Dance: Another Turning Towards Roots
Ingeborg Liptay
Christiane de Rougemont
Epilogue
Appendices
The Specialized Press and Writers about Dance
Before the War
La Danse
La Tribune de la Danse
Revue Internationale de Musique et de Danse
Arts et Mouvement
Archives Internationales de la Danse
After the War
Art et Danse
Revue de la Danse
Danse
Les Cahiers de la Danse
Toute la Danse
La Danse
Danse et Rythmes
Les Saisons de la Danse
Chaussons et Petits Rats
Pour la Danse
Danse Perspective
Danse No. I
Empreintes-Écrits Sur la Danse
Danse
Danser-Voir et Vivre la Danse
A Few Authors who Wrote about Dance
Period Pieces: A Few Howlers
Bibliography
In France
Elsewhere
Other books by Jacqueline Robinson
Index

Citation preview

MODERN DANCE IN FRANCE

Choreography and Dance Studies A series of books edited by Robert P. Cohan, C.B.E.

Volume 1 The Life and Times of Ellen von Frankenberg Karen Bell-Kanner Volume2 Doople The Eternal Law of African Dance Alphonse Tierou Volume 3 Elements of Performance A Guide for Performers in Dance, Theatre and Opera Pauline Kaner Volume 4 Upward Panic The Autobiography of Eva Palmer-Sikelianos Edited by John P. Anton Volume 5 Modern Dance in Germany and the United States Crosscurrents and Influences Isa Partsch-Bergsohn Volume 6 Antonio de Triana and the Spanish Dance A Personal Recollection Rita Vega de Triana Volume 7 The Dance of Death Kurt Jooss and the Weimar Years Suzanne K. Walther Volume 8 Dance Words Compiled by Valerie Preston-Dunlop Volume 9 East Meets West in Dance: Voices in the Cross-Cultural Dialogue Edited by Ruth Solomon and John Solomon

Please see the back of this book for other titles in the Choreography and Dance Studies series

MODERN DANCE IN FRANCE AN ADVENTURE 1920-1970

Jacqueline Robinson Translated by Catherine Dale University of Hull, England

~~ ~~o~!~~n~~:up LONDON AND NEW YORK

First published in 1997 by Overseas Publishing Association This edition published by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY 10017 Copyright© 1997 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association) Amsterdam B.V. Published in The Netherlands by Harwood Academic Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Robinson, Jacqueline Modern dance in France: an adventure 1920-1970. (Choreography and dance studies; v. 12) 1. Modern dance - France I. Title 792.8'0944 ISBN 90-5702-015-7

Cover illustration: Dancers by Maurice Lang.

In memory of Laurent

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CONTENTS

Introduction to the Series

XV

xvii

Acknowledgements List of plates

XVlll

xxi

Exergue Foreword by Valerie Preston-Dunlop

xxiii

Prelude: Indelible Ephemera by Dominique Dupuy INTRODUCTION An Epic The Sense of the Phylum Modern Dance in the Birth-Place of Classical Dance Virginity and Creation Terminology From Yesterday to Today Contemporary Opinions Fertility, Frivolity and Digressions Dance to Serve Man? Man to Serve Dance? Keys to Reading PART I 1920-1930: THE GROUND-BREAKING YEARS Chronology Dance in the Roaring Twenties The Influence of the Ballets Russes (and Waslaw Nijinsky) Modern Dance is First and Foremost 'Individual' Isadora, the Symbol In the Wake of Isadora The Body Rehabilitated

V 11

XXV

1 1 2

3 4 5 7 10

12 13

19 23 24 25 26 27 29

viii

Contents

Harmonic Gymnastics Emile Jaques-Dalcroze Rudolf von Laban Other Influences The Plastic Arts Exoticism Venues for the New Dance A Similar Volapiik of Movements?

30 32 35 36

THE ACTORS

46

INSTITUTIONS The Ballets Suedois 1920-1924

47 47

THE DUNCAN LINE Raymond Duncan Elisabeth Duncan Irma Duncan Lisa Duncan by Odile Pyros Ellen Tels-Rabanek Postscript on the Legacy of Isadora by Madeleine Lytton

40 42 44 44

49

50 53

54 55 60 61

THE LABAN AND DALCROZE LINES Dussia Bereska Marie-Louise van Veen Jacqueline Chaumont Marie Kummer

61 61

THE INDEPENDENT ONES Georges Pomies Alexander and Clotilde Sakharoff by Denise Blanc-Raillard Helene Vanel and Lois Hutton Yvonne Redgis Paul Swan Charlotte Bara Yvonne Serac Isabel de Etchessary

67 67 69 76

THE EDUCATORS Fran