Bodenwieser, Gertrud (1890-1959)

Field of activity
autobiographer/memoirist; choreographer; dance teacher; dancer
Libraries Australia
http://nla.gov.au/anbd.aut-an48221143
NLA Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-677072

Biographies

BODENWIESER, GERTRUD (1890-1959), dancer, choreographer and teacher, was born on 3 February 1890 in Vienna, younger daughter of Johann Theodor Bondi, auction-broker, and his wife Maria, née Tandler. Taught at home by governesses, from an early age Gertrud showed a talent for dancing. In c.1905-10 she was trained in classical ballet by Carl Godlewski, but soon recognized that this art form had 'become a mere exhibition of virtuosity'.

View the full record at Australian Dictionary of Biography

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 method of performing and teaching 'free' dance. By 1917 she had adopted the surname ?Bodenwieser'. She married theatre director Friedrich Jacques Rosenthal on 27 June 1920.

Bodenwieser gave her first public performance as a dancer 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), where she was appointed a professor in 1926. 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. During her tour with her company in South America she found herself unable to return to Vienna, and arrived in Australia via New Zealand in 1939. She immediately established a company in Sydney, variously called the Bodenwieser Ballet and the Bodenwieser Viennese Ballet. From 1940 to 1954 the company 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, including some which looked to Australia as a source of inspiration such as Waltzing Matilda and Central Australian Suite. Many of her works dealt with social issues including her well known Demon Machine, which she choreographed in Vienna in the early 1920s, which won a Grand Prix in Florence, Italy, in 1931 and which remained in the Bodenwieser repertoire throughout her life. Other works, such as The Blue Danube, were lighter in tone.

Bodenwieser played a significant role in the development of modern dance in Australia with her studio in Sydney helping to produce some of Australia's best-known modern choreographers and dancers, including Anita Ardell, Keith Bain and Margaret Chapple. Bodenwieser also worked with the New South Wales Art Council and the Mobile Theatre Unit. She died in Sydney on 10 November 1959. At the 2001 Australian Dance Awards she was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Further information about Bodenwieser and the Bodenwieser Ballet in Australia, with online resources including a brief film clip of Coralie Hinkley performing in Bodenwieser's Central Australian Suite, is contained in the National Library of Australia's exhibition Dance people dance. See 'The search for identity' and explore the 'More' links.

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Resources for Gertrud Bodenwieser

Selected resources (1)

Resources by Gertrud Bodenwieser (3)

  1. The new dance / Gertrud Bodenwieser
    Bodenwieser, Gertrud, 1890-1959
    [ Book : 1960-1983 ]
    At 6 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 32.413)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 32.413)

  2. Papers of Gertrud Bodenwieser
    Bodenwieser, Gertrud, 1890-1959
    [ Unpublished : 1919-1997 ]
    At National Library
    Papers of Gertrud Bodenwieser
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 31.324)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 31.324)

  3. [The Demon machine : collection of material related to the ballet The demon machine]
    Bodenwieser, Gertrud, 1890-1959
    [ Book : 1984 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.308)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.308)

Resources about Gertrud Bodenwieser (18)

  1. The new dance / Gertrud Bodenwieser
    Bodenwieser, Gertrud, 1890-1959
    [ Book : 1960-1983 ]
    At 6 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 31.943)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 31.943)

  2. Papers of Gertrud Bodenwieser
    Bodenwieser, Gertrud, 1890-1959
    [ Unpublished : 1919-1997 ]
    At National Library
    Papers of Gertrud Bodenwieser
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 30.446)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 30.446)

  3. [Biographical cuttings on Gertrud Bodenwieser, Australian dancer, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals]
    [ Published : 1900-1990 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 20.368)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 20.368)

  4. An ecstasy of purpose : the life and art of Gertrud Bodenwieser / [by Shona Dunlop MacTavish]
    MacTavish, Shona Dunlop, 1920-
    [ Book : 1987 ]
    At 13 libraries
    An ecstasy of purpose : the life and art of Gertrud Bodenwieser / [by Shona Dunlop MacTavish]
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 13.353)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 13.353)

  5. Gertrud Bodenwieser and Vienna's contribution to Ausdruckstanz / edited by Bettina Vernon-Warren and Charles Warren
    Vernon-Warren, Bettina
    [ Book : 1999 ]
    At 7 libraries
    Gertrud Bodenwieser and Vienna's contribution to Ausdruckstanz / edited by Bettina Vernon-Warren and Charles Warren
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 13.162)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 13.162)

  6. Gertrud Bodenwieser 1890-1959 : a celebratory monograph on the 100th anniversary of her birth / edited by Patricia Grayburn
    Grayburn, Patricia
    [ Book : 1990 ]
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 12.537)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 12.537)

  7. Gertrud Bodenwieser collection of photographs
    [ Photograph : 1919-1987 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.206)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.206)

  8. An ecstasy of purpose : the art and life of Gertrud Bodenwieser / by Shona Dunlop MacTavish
    MacTavish, Shona
    [ Book : 1897 ]
    At 2 libraries
    An ecstasy of purpose : the art and life of Gertrud Bodenwieser / by Shona Dunlop MacTavish
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.327)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.327)

  9. Portrait of Gertrud Bodenwieser / Clif Peir
    Peir, Clif, 1905-1985
    [ Art work : 1950 ]
    View online
    At National Library
    Portrait of Gertrud Bodenwieser / Clif Peir
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.404)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.404)

  10. Papers of Innes Williams
    Williams, Innes
    [ Unpublished : 1937-2002 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 5.225)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 5.225)

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  1. Bodenwieser Ballet (1939-1959)
    ... Bodenwieser, which Gertrud Bodenwieser had formed in Vienna in the 1920s as ...
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.009)

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  2. Cramer, Eileen (1914-)
    ... Born in Sydney, Eileen Kramer began her serious dance training at the Gertrud ...
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.002)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.002)

  3. Bain, Keith
    ... Gertrud Bodenwieser at her Sydney studios. He went on to dance with ...
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.001)

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  1. The Blue Danube (1940 - )
    The Blue Danube (1940 - )
    Created by NLAdance, 6 items.

    Choreographed by Gertrud Bodenwieser to Johann Strauss' waltz, The Blue Danube featured consistently in programs of the Bodenwieser Ballet, both within Australia and on international tours...

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.003)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.003)

  2. Waltzing Matilda (1954 - )
    Waltzing Matilda (1954 - )
    Created by NLAdance, 8 items.

    In 1954 Gertrud Bodenwieser created a three act dance work called Waltzing Matilda for her company, which at that stage was known as the Bodenwieser Modern Expressive Ballet. The Bodenwies...

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.002)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.002)

  3. Demon Machine (Australian context)
    Demon Machine (Australian context)
    Created by NLAdance, 10 items.

    Gertrud Bodenwieser's Demon Machine was first performed in Vienna in 1924. It was a work for five dancers and dealt with the effects on man of the machine age. It was danced to specially c...

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.002)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.002)

  1. Website: Australia dancing
    www.australiadancing.org
    Matching pages:
    View 229 matching archived pages
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 0.275)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 0.275)

  2. Website: National Library of Australia news
    www.nla.gov.au
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    View 17 matching archived pages
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.032)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.032)

  3. Website: Simon Ellis
    skellis.net
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    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.028)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.028)

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  1. AHC Interview with Ruth Rodgers Altmann 1911-1999
    Altmann, Ruth Rogers (nee Karplus), 1911-; Geisler, Thomas; Raggam-Blesch, Michaela
    [ Unpublished, Sound : 1999 ]
    View online
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  2. Papers of Hanny Exiner
    Exiner, Johanna, 1918-2006
    [ Unpublished : 1939-1995 ]
    Languages: English, German
    At National Library
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    Galene, Ruth, 1929-
    [ Unpublished : 2006 ]
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  1. Gertrud Bodenwieser
    Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Radio National
    [ Sound : 2006 ]
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    At ABC Radio National
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  2. AHC Interview with Ruth Rodgers Altmann 1911-1999
    Altmann, Ruth Rogers (nee Karplus), 1911-; Geisler, Thomas; Raggam-Blesch, Michaela
    [ Unpublished, Sound : 1999 ]
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  3. Keith Bain interviewed by Hazel de Berg in the Hazel de Berg collection
    Bain, Keith
    [ Sound : 1974 ]
    At National Library
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  4. Interview with Colin Peasley, ballet dancer and choreographer, foundation member of the Australian Ballet / interviewer, Bill Stephens
    Peasley, Colin, 1934-
    [ Sound : 2000 ]
    At National Library
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    Bittman, Karl
    [ Book : 1988 ]
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  4. An Australian woman's diary 1987 / compiled by Maribelle de Vera
    De Vera, Maribelle
    [ Book : 1986 ]
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  1. Portrait of Gertrud Bodenwieser / C...
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    [ Art work : 1950 ]
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  1. Season of ballet
    Sunday Mail (Brisbane) (Qld. : 1926 - 1954) Sunday 11 July 1948 p 5 Article
    ... Season of ballet The Bodenwieser Viennese Ballet will open a short Brisbane bane season in the Albert Hall on Thursday night. Emphasis will be on modern expressive dancing, described as 'a new vocabulary of move ment.' Gertrud Bodenwieser, director of the ballet, has given recitals in England, ... 51 words
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  2. BALLET ON FRIDAY NIGHT
    Nepean Times (Penrith, NSW : 1882 - 1962) Thursday 3 December 1959 p 1 Article
    ... BALLET ON FRIDAY NIGHT At W. E. Cuckson and Son Pty. Ltd. Social Centre, St. Marys, will be presented tomorrow row (Friday) night, an evening of ballet. It will be the laS ballet which the latei Madam Gertrud Bodenwieser directed. Students' of the Bodenwciser Ballet School, St. Marys, will take ... 51 words
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  3. BODENWIESER BALLET.
    The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) Saturday 25 November 1939 p 11 Article
    ... BODENWIESER BALLET. A dance recital will be given by the Bodenwieser Ballet at the Conservatorium next Wednesday, at 8.15 p.m. The ballet will be under the direction of Madam Gertrud Bodenwieser, and the programme will include "The Masks of Lucifer," a dance drama dealing with world ... 66 words
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  1. Gertrud Bodenwieser returns
    Carsaniga, Pamela
    Melbourne Report
    [ Article : 1991 ]
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  2. The Bodenwieser legacy
    Borsay, Andrea
    Dance Australia
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  3. An Errand into Two Minds: The Music of Gian Carlo Menotti in the Choreography of Martha Graham and Gertrud Bodenwieser
    Vincent, Jordan Beth
    Brolga: An Australian Journal about Dance
    [ Article : 1006-2012 ]
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    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.191)

  4. Prominence in obscurity: Sonia Revid in Melbourne 1932-1945
    Card, Amanda
    Brolga
    [ Article : 1999 ]
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