SYDNEY UNIVERSITY POST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24833, 5 February 1942, Page 7

SYDNEY UNIVERSITY POST

VIENNESE WOMAN APPOINTED New Zealand people, especially those who are admirers of classical dancing-; will be interested to hear of l the recognition that has recently been accorded Professor Gertrud Bodenwieser, creator of the modern expressive form of dancing, from Vienna, who made her home in Wellington for a period in 1939. She has been appointed to the board, of studies of the Physical Education Department of the University of Sydney, which means that she is fully recognised at the university. Professor Bodenwieser taught dancing in Wellington with the idea of forming a group of young New Zealand dancers, similar to her Viennese group which was famous for its precision and high standard of performance. She came to the Dominion through the suggestion made by a Dunedin girl, Shona Dunlop, who had gone to Vienna to study under her. On going to Sydney to live she formed a dance group there, one of its members being a Wellington girl, Stella Zahara.

Professor Bodenwieser is the creator of the modern expressive school of dancing, and formerly professor of choreography at the State Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in Vienna. She has created; many ballets, and has worked out a comprehensive educational plan for teachers of expressive dancing, including the history of the art of pedagogics and physical culture. In 1934 her group of dancers from Vienna was inyited to go to Japan as being the perfect exponents of creative dancing. Professor Bodenwieser has also conducted visiting courses in England at Chelesa College, Birmingham College, and Bedford College, and gave lectures and demonstrations for the Imperial Society; of Teachers of Dancing in London.