Die Tänzerin Lotte Berk und das Kabarett Kolibri

In the organizer's words:

In the 1920s, Chinita Ulmann ran a dance and gymnastics school on Hohenstaufenring - today it is home to the disco "Das Ding". Ulmann taught contemporary dance in the style of Mary Wigman.
students were Ernest Berk and Lieselotte Heymansohn - later Lotte Berk. Lotte Berk, who was Jewish, danced and taught in Cologne and performed regularly at the political cabaret Kolibri in the Alter Posthof.
Lotte and Ernest emigrated to London in 1934. But Lotte Berk was unable to build on her success as a dancer in London. In 1959, she opened an institute for physical training. Dance fitness to pop music - the Lotte Berk Method of Exercise - is as frivolous and strenuous as high-performance sport. Sweating in a cellar for the body ideal. Lotte Berk became a star and started a worldwide boom that is still followed by millions today. Barbara Streisand and Joan Collins trained with her.

Expert: Asja Bölke
Category: on foot
Duration of the tour: 1.5 hours

Meeting point: Das Ding, student club since 1968 in Cologne, Hohenstaufenring 30 - 32

Note: While preparing a documentary about Lotte Berk, filmmaker Kai Christiansen found numerous reports from newspapers and magazines. He contacted Lotte's daughter Esther Fairfax, who continues to run Lotte Berk's dance studio in London. More about the background to the film at www.schlichtundergreifendfrankfurt.de. The German Dance Archive in Cologne has a collection on Chinita Ullmann, who taught Lotte and Ernest Berk. Apropo: In keeping with the theme of "Dance and Cologne", you are cordially invited to visit the current exhibition at the Tanzmuseum: Golden Years. Cologne dance dreams - new beginnings in the 1960s www.deutsches-tanzarchiv.de

Vacation in Cologne - Discover your city!
July 5 to 21, 2024
All information & tours at: www.urlaubinkoeln.de!