Irmgard Bartenieff was 33 when Hitler came to power in Germany. Two years later, she and her Jewish husband were forced to close their dance company. Although they immigrated to the US in 1937, they found the American dance community did not want European ideas. Consequently, Irmgard and her husband had to find another way to earn a living.
Rudolf Laban’s career followed a similar trajectory. After he immigrated to England in 1937, he too had to find other ways to earn a living beyond dance.
Movement analysts today are the beneficiaries of these necessities and Laban and Bartenieff’s resourcefulness. Find out more in the next blogs.