Vernissage / EinBlick #9: Jean Weidt/Masken des Widerstands

In the organizer's words:

Jean Weidt (1904-1988), also known as the "red dancer", had several masks made for his choreography Under the Bridges of Paris in 1931, which are now in the dance archive at Leipzig University Library. The expressive face masks by the Jewish artist Erich Goldstaub (murdered in Auschwitz concentration camp in 1943/44) convey the suffering of the homeless.

Weidt performed several versions of this choreography over the course of his life, both during his exile in France and later in the GDR. As an expressive dancer and homosexual, however, he was confronted with hostility from cultural policy there, which accused his dance of formalism and consequently severely restricted his work opportunities. Nevertheless, he was able to pass on important impulses of expressive dance to the next generation with his group of young dancers at the Komische Oper in Berlin.

The exhibition is part of the research project "Cultural Heritage Dance in the GDR" at the Institute of Theater Studies.

Opening with a lecture on "Jean Weidt, the masks and dance in the GDR" followed by a tour.