Guide to the Papers of Gertrud Bodenwieser, 1919-2020

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9263, MS Acc16.119, MS Acc21.039

Creator:

Bodenwieser, Gertrud, 1890-1959

Extent:

(12 ms boxes + 2 medium folio boxes + 1 large folio box + 1 outsized phase box + 13 map folios + 1 folio packet + 1 folder)

Language:

English and English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Gertrud Bodenwieser, National Library of Australia, [class, series, file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The collection held by the Library includes correspondence, photographs, costume designs, programs, press cuttings, publicity material and posters, music scores, writings by Bodenwieser, personal documents, dissertations and publications. The collection documents Bodenwieser's career in modern dance both in Europe and Australia, and the tours and performances of her dance companies Tanzgruppe Bodenwieser and the Bodenwieser Ballet. The collection also documents numerous exhibitions and writings relating to or featuring Bodenwieser, which reflect the continuing appreciation of her talent and influence.

There are few letters to or from Bodenwieser. The correspondence primarily relates to administration of the Gertrud Bodenwieser Archives, including arrangements for exhibitions of material from the collection, and donation of material to various dance archives, libraries and museums. Among the correspondents are Shona Dunlop MacTavish, Eileen Cramer, Margaret Chapple, Hede Juer, Johanna Exiner, Hilde Holger, Robyn Rawson, Giora Manor, Lysbeth Cohen, Karl Bittman, Dr Agnes Bleir Brody, Meg Abbie Denton, Claire Robilant, Paul Bentley, Edward Pask, Ann Butt, Genevieve Oswald, Bengt Häger, Carlos Hecht and Sir Eugene Goossens.The 2016 consignment includes a detailed timeline of Gertrud Bodenwieser's life and work; photographs and recollections of Bodenwieser group reunions; a comprehensive list of Madame Bodenwieser's choreographies for children, accompanied by production photographs; photographs of Emmy Steinninger-Taussig teaching Bodenwieser inspired classes and improvisation; drawings of dancers in the Bodenwieser style; and documents relating to recent revivils and re-imaginings of Bodenwieser choreographies, illustrating the continuation of Madame Bodenwieser's legacy.The 2021 consignment includes recollections of friends of Gertrud Bodenwieser compiled by Barbara Cuckson including from herself, Elaine Vallance, Robert Cuckson, Eileen Kramer, Diane Overall and Margaret Cuckson.

Biographical Note:

Gertrud Bodenwieser, dancer, teacher and choreographer, was born in Vienna on 3 February 1890, the younger daughter of Theodor and Maria Bondi. She was trained in classical ballet by Carl Godlewski, but soon came to develop her own modern expressionist mode of dancing based on the New Dance method. By 1917 she had adopted the surname 'Bodenwieser'. She married theatre director Friedrich Jacques Rosenthal on 27 June 1920.

Bodenwieser's first performance was at the Wiener Konzerthaus, Vienna, on 5 May 1919. Between 1920 and 1938 she taught at the Akademie für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (the Vienna State Academy for Music and Drama); she was appointed Professor in 1926. In 1931 she won a Grand Prix in Florence, Italy, for her ballet Dämon maschine (later Demon machine). In 1923 Bodenwieser and her newly formed dance company, Tanzgruppe Bodenwieser, appeared in a production of Ferdinand Raimund's Der Verschwender. From 1925 to 1939 Bodenwieser and Tanzgruppe Bodenwieser toured extensively in Europe, also visiting New York and Japan.

Following the Nazi invasion of Austria in 1938, Bodenwieser and her husband fled to France. While Bodenwieser went on to join some of her dancers in Colombia, Rosenthal stayed in France, where he was later arrested and interned in the concentration camp at Auschwitz, Poland. It is believed that he died in 1942. Bodenwieser arrived in Australia in 1939 and established the Bodenwieser Ballet in Sydney. From 1940 to 1954 the Ballet toured Australian cities and towns, as well as visiting New Zealand, South Africa, Rhodesia and India.

During her career, Bodenwieser choreographed approximately 300 dance works, including dance dramas and comedies, group dances and solo dances, as well as dances for operettas and plays. Over 100 of these were composed in Australia, where Bodenwieser played a significant role in the development of modern dance. Her studio in Sydney helped to produce some of Australia's best choreographers and dancers, including Keith Bain, Margaret Chapple and Shona Dunlop MacTavish. Bodenwieser also worked with the New South Wales Art Council and the Mobile Theatre Unit. She died in Sydney on 10 November 1959.

For a full list of works choreographed by Bodenwieser, refer to Shona Dunlop MacTavish's biography, An ecstasy of purpose (1987), as well as lists collated by Marie Cuckson and Emmy Towsey in Series 11.

Collection Retrieval Advice:

Please note: each consignment in this collection has a separate box number sequence (i.e. there are multiple Box 1's). Please cite the relevant Class number as well as the Box number when requesting retrieval of material from the collection.

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

Following Gertrud Bodenwieser's death in 1959, papers documenting her extensive career as a dancer, choreographer and teacher were left in the custody of Marie Cuckson. Together with Emmy Towsey, Cuckson arranged and added to the collection, through donations of memoirs, costume designs and other material from Bodenwieser's friends and associates. In August 1998 the collection was donated to the Library by Cuckson and her daughter Barbara Cuckson. Part of this collection was also sent to the National Film and Sound Archive.

Arrangement:

The original arrangement of the collection by Marie Cuckson and Emmy Towsey has been preserved by the Library.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Performing arts

Conditions Governing Access:

The collection is available for reference

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Gertrud Bodenwieser, National Library of Australia, [class, series, file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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