Sulle orme di Gret Palucca. Un equilibrio di contrasti al tempo della Repubblica di Weimar

Abstract

Acclaimed by the public and critics of her time, Gret Palucca embodies one of the most eminent interpreters of GermanAusdrucktanz. A pupil of Mary Wigman, the dancer inaugurates the Palucca Hochschüle für Tanzin Dresden in 1925. Distancing herself both from Wigman's choreographic styles and from the notions of academic ballet –as understood by master Heinrich Kröller –Palucca combines exuberant creativity with logical and systematic exploration of movements. Famous for her athleticism, she founds a «choreographic vocabulary» based on upward jumps and leg extensions, conceiving performances on the correlation between emotional and mental processes, and the constant search for contrasts between «push and counterthrust, tension and relaxation». The improvisation and the energetic charge of the movements represent the distinctive features of Gret Palucca's performative style which, simultaneously, absorbs andcultivates the artistic impressions produced by the avant-garde exponents of the early twentieth century (Mondrian, Kandinskij, Kirchner). The essay, framed in the historical context of the Weimar Republic, sounds out the training course, the aesthetic ideals and the maturation of Tanz Palucca's concept, investigating a complete and organic technique that represents one of the most significant testimonies of the nascent phenomenon of modern dance, aimed at reconstructing «the dancing experience of a new era».