Eike Wittrock: Intermediary Stages of Art and Sexuality. The Queerness of Modern Dance

Body images in modern dance oscillate between nature and culture, society and individuality, equality and diversity, otherness and familiarity. But how are these bodies connected to the history of sexuality and queer liberation movements?

This lecture assembles historic archive materials on dance, sexuality and pop culture and traces the developments of modern dance, with a special focus on Magnus Hirschfeld, sexologist and pioneer of the homosexual movement in Germany. The material will also give insight into the performances by Voo-doo, Joachim von Seewitz and Julius Hans Spiegel, which were presented on professional stages, in variety theatres and at visual art institutions. These characters and their oeuvre blur the lines between artistic dance and travesty/drag and question the role of transgender identity in modern dance, while their use of exotic imagery is also embedded in colonial and racist discourses. They represent an alternative reading of modern dance that centers around queerness – even if it’s only a partial liberation.