In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

DANCING 73
seriousness of Ausdruckstanz. The premiere on Tuesday, December 14,
of Arnold Fanck's film Der Heilige Berg, which marks Leni Riefenstahl's
screen debut, is inaugurated by a young actress dancing to the music of
Schubert's Unfinished Symphony (Riefenstahl, 59). [see Mountaineering]
Next to the daily ad for the Nelson Theater, where Josephine Baker's
German career has begun, the 8 Uhr-Abendblatt announces, on October
19, a performance by Katjana Barbakoff, conjuring various ancient and
exotic worlds: "Among the new dance styles: Majeftas Asiatika back to
nature, a treasure preserved from the No Period" (October 19). The
organizers of a ballroom event try to appeal to the older generation by
launching, in Gothic letters, the "Senior Competition of the Berlin Blue­
Orange Club, followed by a show under the auspices of the National
Ballroom Dancing Association"; yet they also view children as potential
customers of the dance palaces: "Parents who love their children take
them to the world's first children's revue: 'All Puppets Dance.' A fairytale
play in thirty scenes. Admiral Palace Theater" (October 22). The
blurring of boundaries between the genders and among the various
forms of participation in the dance world is epitomized by an advertisement
for an establishment called Steinmeier am Bahnhof, FriedrichstraBe
96, in the heart of Berlin's lesbian district (von Soden and Schmidt, 160).
Under the heading "Taglich Tanz der schonen Frauen" ("Daily Dance
of Beautiful Women"), it shows two women with haircuts ala garr;onne
dancing in a close embrace-with two smiling men gazing at them
(October 2). [see Male = Female (Gender Trouble)]
Related Entries
Assembly Lines, Bars, Bullfighting, Employees, Endurance, Gomina,
Gramophones, Jazz, Mountaineering, Mummies, Revues, Roof Gardens,
Authenticity vs. Artificiality, Center vs. Periphery, Present vs. Past, Uncertainty
vs. Reality, Authenticity = Artificiality (Life), Male = Female
(Gender Trouble)
References
8 Uhr-Abendblatt.
Johannes R. Becher, Maschinenrhythmen. Berlin.
Monika Elsner and Thomas Miiller, "Das Ich und sein Korper: Europa im