Laban schools in 1927

Laban moved from Switzerland to Germany after the First World War. At first he had difficulty getting permission to work since he was stateless: he was born in Bratislava and was therefore a citizen of the Austro-Hungarian Empire,which ceased to exist after 1918.

This programme for the Verband der Labanschulen E.V. (Federation of Laban Schools) shows the incredibly rapid spread of his ideas about dance education. Within ten years, his teaching had become a pan-European phenomenon with schools throughout Germany, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia.

Four of the teachers' names in the programme are of interest:

• Suzy Perrottet, who continued to run a school in Zurich.
• Martin Gleisner (Jena) was a major collaborator in the organisation of amateur dance events.
• Albrecht Knust (Hamburg) was Laban’s chief collaborator in developing his form of dance notation (there are over 300 hundred lettersbetween them in the archive).
• Sylvia Bodmer (Frankfurt) was to prove an invaluable teacher when Laban opened operations in the Art of Movement studio in Manchester in 1946.

In 1927, Laban opened the Choreographic Institute in Wurtzburg and in 1928 organised the first Dancer's Congress in Magdeburg. Here he premiered three new works including Titan, a piece for both professional and amateur dancers.

Only in 1933 did he finally receive a German passport.

Dick McCaw

Image credit Leeds University Library