Lilian Harmel
Encyclopedia
Lilian Harmel was an Austrian
dancer, choreographer and pedagogue.
on May 5, 1908. Her childhood was spent in Alexandria
, Egypt
, where she first began to dance. She was trained in classical ballet
(in the Preobrajenska method) in Vienna
. In Vienna, she subsequently became a pupil of Bodenwieser at the State Academy. She later studied choreography from Kurt Jooss
and, in the style of German Expressionism
, under Mary Wigman
. By the beginning of the 1930s, she had performed to critical acclaim in the major artistic centres of continental Europe. She wrote choreographic compositions for a soloist to works by Scriabin, Prokofiev, Karl Orff, Hindemith, Bartok, and Mompou. The Wiener Zeitung
described her as an "artist of genius and soul"; the Neues Wiener Tagblatt as "a very remarkable talent" with "perfect technical mastery"; and the Neues Wiener Journal stated that she possessed "perfect domination in the art of movement". In her twenties, she received critical acclaim on the continent, including Paris, Florence, Rome, Milan, Turin, Budapest, Nice, Warsaw, Bratislava, Amsterdam, Venice, Prague, Saltzburg, Geneva and Zurich. The Nuovo Gionale wrote of "this refined and elegant dancer", while Il Giornale d'Italia stated: "Lilian Harmel is a true artist, who expresses with her perfect technique the pictures of her fantasy, the sentiments of her soul and the spirit of ballet." La Nazione
wrote: "the technique of this dancer is perfect, there is true precision of form, absolute ability of means, sureness in balance, the gifts of musicality and a complete power of expression." She moved to Paris
in 1936, where she was filmed for an early French television broadcast. She subsequently moved to England with her fiancé in 1938. On her arrival in England, The Daily Telegraph
wrote "she has a very personable appearance and possesses imagination and intelligence... she is both interesting and striking", while the Daily Mail
described her as "an original and gifted exponent of pure dancing both in technique and interpretation", and The Sketch
welcomed her as "a brilliant young dancer".
After the war, she opened a dance studio inside her house in Hampstead
. By 1957, her classes had over 25 young children and 25 teenage and adult students. She had originally intended to teach children temporarily, but was persuaded to continue after Hampstead parents had told her "they think it is most necessary in Hampstead." Many Moons, her children's ballet, was performed on ITV
on Christmas Day 1967. Harmel was an early pioneer in the setting of electronic and contemporary music to dance, choreographing performances to Edgard Varèse
, Karlheinz Stockhausen
, Pierre Boulez
, and Cesar Bresgen
. In her teaching, she came to conceive of dance as a process of personal discovery, rather than mere performance. To this end, in the tradition of the Tanztheater
, her Hampstead classes accepted students of all abilities, both amateurs and professionals, so long as they shared her passion for individual development. To celebrate her forty years of teaching, in 1978, at the age of 70, she performed a final solo dance at the Hampstead Theatre
. On her death, The Times wrote: "she enriched generations of children and dance students through her concern for the artistic development of the individual... she and her work were a beacon".
Friends and collaborators included Rudolf Laban
, Cesar Bresgen
, Marie-Louise von Motesiczky
, Mary Wigman
, Charles Philips Trevelyan
, Georges-Emmanuel Clancier
, Felix Albrecht Harta, Adrian Stokes
, Hilde Holger.
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
dancer, choreographer and pedagogue.
Life and career
Lilian Harmel was born in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
on May 5, 1908. Her childhood was spent in Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, where she first began to dance. She was trained in classical ballet
Classical ballet
Classical Ballet is the most formal of the ballet styles, it adheres to traditional ballet technique. There are variations relating to area of origin, such as Russian ballet, French ballet, British ballet and Italian ballet...
(in the Preobrajenska method) in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. In Vienna, she subsequently became a pupil of Bodenwieser at the State Academy. She later studied choreography from Kurt Jooss
Kurt Jooss
Kurt Jooss was a famous ballet dancer and choreographer mixing classical ballet with theatre; he is also widely regarded as the founder of dance theatre or tanztheater...
and, in the style of German Expressionism
German Expressionism
German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...
, under Mary Wigman
Mary Wigman
Mary Wigman was a German dancer, choreographer, and dance instructor.A pioneer of expressionist dance, her work was hailed for bringing the deepest of existential experiences to the stage...
. By the beginning of the 1930s, she had performed to critical acclaim in the major artistic centres of continental Europe. She wrote choreographic compositions for a soloist to works by Scriabin, Prokofiev, Karl Orff, Hindemith, Bartok, and Mompou. The Wiener Zeitung
Wiener Zeitung
Wiener Zeitung is an Austrian newspaper. It is one of the most famous newspapers in Europe and one of the oldest, still published newspapers in the world. It is the official publication used by the Government of the Republic of Austria for its formal announcements. It was founded in 1703 under the...
described her as an "artist of genius and soul"; the Neues Wiener Tagblatt as "a very remarkable talent" with "perfect technical mastery"; and the Neues Wiener Journal stated that she possessed "perfect domination in the art of movement". In her twenties, she received critical acclaim on the continent, including Paris, Florence, Rome, Milan, Turin, Budapest, Nice, Warsaw, Bratislava, Amsterdam, Venice, Prague, Saltzburg, Geneva and Zurich. The Nuovo Gionale wrote of "this refined and elegant dancer", while Il Giornale d'Italia stated: "Lilian Harmel is a true artist, who expresses with her perfect technique the pictures of her fantasy, the sentiments of her soul and the spirit of ballet." La Nazione
La Nazione
La Nazione is one of the oldest regional newspapers in Italy. It merged with Cavour's famous political newspaper, Il Risorgimento, in 1849. Based in Florence, Italy, it is published in numerous local editions for the regions of Tuscany, Umbria and for the Province of La Spezia in Liguria.-...
wrote: "the technique of this dancer is perfect, there is true precision of form, absolute ability of means, sureness in balance, the gifts of musicality and a complete power of expression." She moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1936, where she was filmed for an early French television broadcast. She subsequently moved to England with her fiancé in 1938. On her arrival in England, The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
wrote "she has a very personable appearance and possesses imagination and intelligence... she is both interesting and striking", while the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
described her as "an original and gifted exponent of pure dancing both in technique and interpretation", and The Sketch
The Sketch
The Sketch was a British illustrated newspaper weekly, which focused on high society and the aristocracy. It ran for 2,989 issues between February 1, 1893 and June 17, 1959. It was published by the Illustrated London News Company and was primarily a society magazine with regular features on royalty...
welcomed her as "a brilliant young dancer".
After the war, she opened a dance studio inside her house in Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
. By 1957, her classes had over 25 young children and 25 teenage and adult students. She had originally intended to teach children temporarily, but was persuaded to continue after Hampstead parents had told her "they think it is most necessary in Hampstead." Many Moons, her children's ballet, was performed on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
on Christmas Day 1967. Harmel was an early pioneer in the setting of electronic and contemporary music to dance, choreographing performances to Edgard Varèse
Edgard Varèse
Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, , whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
, Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
, Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
, and Cesar Bresgen
Cesar Bresgen
Cesar Bresgen was an Austrian composer.-Biography:He was born in Florence to Maria and August Bresgen, both artists. He spent his childhood in Zell am See, Munich, Prague, and Salzburg....
. In her teaching, she came to conceive of dance as a process of personal discovery, rather than mere performance. To this end, in the tradition of the Tanztheater
Tanztheater
The German Tanztheater grew out of German expressionist dance in Weimar Germany and 1920s Vienna. The term first appears around 1927 to identify a particular style of dance emerging from within the new forms of 'expressionist dance' developing in Central Europe since 1917. Its main exponents...
, her Hampstead classes accepted students of all abilities, both amateurs and professionals, so long as they shared her passion for individual development. To celebrate her forty years of teaching, in 1978, at the age of 70, she performed a final solo dance at the Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...
. On her death, The Times wrote: "she enriched generations of children and dance students through her concern for the artistic development of the individual... she and her work were a beacon".
Friends and collaborators included Rudolf Laban
Rudolf Laban
Rudolf von Laban aka Rudolf Laban was a dance artist and theorist whose work laid the foundations for Laban Movement Analysis and other more specific developments in dance notation...
, Cesar Bresgen
Cesar Bresgen
Cesar Bresgen was an Austrian composer.-Biography:He was born in Florence to Maria and August Bresgen, both artists. He spent his childhood in Zell am See, Munich, Prague, and Salzburg....
, Marie-Louise von Motesiczky
Marie-Louise Von Motesiczky
Marie-Louise von Motesiczky was an Austrian painter.- Life and work :She was born in Vienna in 1906 to an aristocratic family. Her father Edmund von Motesiczky was a talented cellist and keen huntsman. Her mother Henriette von Lieben, came from one of the most wealthy and cultured families in the...
, Mary Wigman
Mary Wigman
Mary Wigman was a German dancer, choreographer, and dance instructor.A pioneer of expressionist dance, her work was hailed for bringing the deepest of existential experiences to the stage...
, Charles Philips Trevelyan
Sir Charles Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet
Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet PC , the Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland, was a British Liberal, and later Labour, politician and landowner...
, Georges-Emmanuel Clancier
Georges-Emmanuel Clancier
Georges-Emmanuel Clancier is a French poet, novelist, and journalist. He has won the Prix Goncourt , the Grand Prize of the Académie française, and the grand prize of the Société des gens de lettres.-Life:...
, Felix Albrecht Harta, Adrian Stokes
Adrian Stokes (critic)
Adrian Stokes was a British writer and painter, known principally as an influential art critic. He was also a published poet.- Background :...
, Hilde Holger.
See also
- Contemporary danceContemporary danceContemporary dance is a genre of concert dance that employs compositional philosophy, rather than choreography, to guide unchoreographed movement...
- ExpressionismExpressionismExpressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
- Mary WigmanMary WigmanMary Wigman was a German dancer, choreographer, and dance instructor.A pioneer of expressionist dance, her work was hailed for bringing the deepest of existential experiences to the stage...
- Rudolf LabanRudolf LabanRudolf von Laban aka Rudolf Laban was a dance artist and theorist whose work laid the foundations for Laban Movement Analysis and other more specific developments in dance notation...
- TanztheaterTanztheaterThe German Tanztheater grew out of German expressionist dance in Weimar Germany and 1920s Vienna. The term first appears around 1927 to identify a particular style of dance emerging from within the new forms of 'expressionist dance' developing in Central Europe since 1917. Its main exponents...
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