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4. Rudolf Laban’s Dance Film Projects Susanne Franco Rudolf Laban was one of the leaders of Ausdruckstanz, and he has been studied as a thoughtful writer and theoretician, a talented choreographer, an inspired teacher, and a tireless organizer of schools, associations, and festivals. Less known are his mostly unrealized film projects, conceptualized for different purposes on different occasions. Our only access to these today is through their scenarios, written between the 1910s and early 1930s, because it seems that no footage has survived. Analysis of this limited material, however, can reveal important aspects of Laban’s visions of a new dance and open up new perspectives in our knowledge of his way of thinking about movement. How do Laban’s film scenarios relate to his larger artistic production and educational activities? To what extent can we study Laban’s film projects as a springboard for, or as a consequence of, his theories about dance? Can his film projects shed light on the ideological and aesthetic trends within Weimar cinema? Laban was interested in using cinema as a tool to disseminate his ideas and to expand the potential audience for modern dance, ensuring its position as a respectable social practice, as a form of high art, and as a professional field. He also understood the great economic potential that cinema, as a popular medium, could give to dance in supporting his enterprises. The first trace of his interest in cinema dates back to World War I, during his residence in Zurich, where he established a Labanschule (Laban school). Here, beside the courses in music, eurhythmics, acting, declamation, costume, and stage design, Laban introduced a class in Filmdarstellung (film acting)1 as part of Bewegungskunst (art of movement), which also included dance and pantomime. This class is mentioned in only one of the many versions of the school brochures, which he changed quite frequently as he did his ideas and ideals about the “perfect” dance education. The “Filmpantomime,” whose i-xii_1-284_Mann.indd 63 4/5/12 3:29 PM 64 susanne franco incomplete scenario has been called after the main character, “Gualdi Fragment ,”2 was probably written as a pedagogical tool for this class. The subject, a short tale about a vampire, was useful for building up a series of scenes about hypnotization, magic rites, and dreamlike atmospheres. These themes were familiar from his theater productions of the time and similar to trends in early German film.3 The lack of other documents induces us to believe that Laban wrote most of his film projects toward the end of the 1920s. After leaving Zurich, he became one of the most well-known artists and dance advocates in Germany, with an impressive ability to constantly initiate new projects and new relationships. He moved in and out of several German towns, attempting to create art that would appeal to his society. Laban’s career in public institutions reached a peak first in 1930, when he was appointed as ballet director at the Berlin State Opera Unter der Linden, and then in 1934, after the Nazis took power, when he was nominated director of the Deutsche Tanzbühne (German Dance Stage). As director he became responsible for the arrangement of the entire German dance scene. Over the last few decades, scholars have debated whether Laban’s involvement with the Third Reich resulted from his commitment to the regime or from his dedication to keep working without fully agreeing with the regime’s political agenda.4 What is certain is that his involvement lasted for about four years, a period that provided him with remarkable professional opportunities and allowed him to play a crucial role in the transformation of German dance and body culture into a powerful tool for the diffusion of Nazi ideology. The materials related to Laban’s dance film projects consist mostly of incomplete files (scenarios, letters, reviews, and notes) in German and/or English and are housed in different archives and countries.5 The incompleteness of these files, as with other documentation of his activities, is partly due to his working habits. Laban was more an inspired and enthusiastic pathfinder than a rigorous scholar, and he often didn’t elaborate his seminal ideas but simply gave the initial impetus to his pupils and collaborators, who developed them further. In addition, the incompleteness of the documentation of his film projects, as well as his oeuvre overall, reflects the complicated legacies of his personal belongings after his definitive departure from Germany in...

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