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Liebe Hanya Mary Wigman's Letters to Hanya Holm Compiled and edited by Claudia Gitelman Introduction by Hedwig Müller Letters translated by Marianne Forster and Catherine T. Klingler Studies in Dance History Published under the auspices of the Society of Dance History Scholars Revealing letters about modern dance in Germany and the United States, and a friendship tested by heartbreak, fascism, war, and politics These vividly written letters document the lives of two remarkable women artists who were at the center of twentieth-century dance modernism. Mary Wigman's groundbreaking choreography and inspired performing in Germany during the 1910s and 1920s brought the emerging art of modern dance into dialogue with modern painting, theater, and film. Her disciple Hanya Holm took Wigman's aesthetic philosophy to the United States in 1931, effectively adapting it to the American temperament, and ultimately became a celebrated choreographer of Broadway musicals such as Kiss Me, Kate and My Fair Lady. Written between 1920 and 1971, Wigman's letters are a treasury of fascinating detail about artistry, friendships of women, and the stamina of two artists who refused to capitulate to personal, political, and cultural forces that confronted them. They inject immediacy into discussions of Wigman's work within the Third Reich and cast light on Holm's construction of an American identity. With her extensive annotation Gitelman contributes context to the domestic and social spheres within which the women worked on two continents. Never before published in any language, these letters are untapped resources for historians of twentieth-century culture, German-American relations, as well as dance. Claudia Gitelman is professor emerita of dance in the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. A dancer and choreographer trained in the Wigman/Holm tradition, she appeared on Broadway and the concert stage and taught with the Nikolais/Louis Dance Theatre Lab in New York City. She is the author of Dancing with Principle: Hanya Holm in Colorado, 1941–1983. Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.)

November 2003 LC: 2003005657 GV 272 pp. 6 x 9 14 b/w photos Paper $29.95 s ISBN 978-0-299-19074-3 ADD TO CART

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