Hilde Holger

Hilde Boman-Behram (née Hilde Sofer, stage name Hilde Holger; 18 October 1905 – 22 September 2001) was an expressionist dancer, choreographer and dance teacher whose pioneering work in integrated dance transformed modern dance.

Family Holger came from a liberal Jewish family. She was born in 1905, the daughter of Alfred and Elise Sofer Schreiber. Her father wrote poetry, and had died by 1908. Her grandfather made shoes for the Austrian court.

After Nazi Germany invaded Austria, Holger fled Vienna in 1939 to India. In Mumbai, she met the Parsi homeopath and art loving Dr. Ardershir Kavasji Boman-Behram, they married in 1940. Her mother, step-father Heinrich Wohl, and fourteen other relatives all perished in the Holocaust.

Hilde Holger had two children. The first was born 1946 in India, her daughter Primavera Boman-Behram. In 1948, Holger's family emigrated to Britain. then a professor at the Vienna State Academy. They were admirers of the work of Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis, as well as the artists of the Secession. Holger soon rose to be Bodenwieser's principal dancer and friend, and toured with Bodenwieser's company all over Western and Eastern Europe. She toured with her own Hilde Holger Dance Group as well. At age eighteen she had her first solo performance in the Viennese Secession. Later in the Viennese Hagenbund and theaters in Vienna, Paris and Berlin, her much-lauded expressionist dance caused quite a stir. Because of her passion for dance, in 1926 she formed the New School for Movement Arts in Palais Ratibor, right in the heart of Vienna. Her children's performances were danced in parks and in front of monuments there.

On 12 March 1938, Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany sent troops into Austria, and adopted a law to unify Germany with Austria. Holger was considered a degenerate artist because she was a Jew, so she continued her work underground. But when she received last minute help from her friend Charles Petrach in India to flee Austria, she left, as she always had a huge interest in Eastern Art. She received help to flee Austria from her friend Charles Petrach.

In India, she had the opportunity to incorporate new experiences into her work, especially the hand movements of Indian dance. Classical Indian dance has over three hundred of them, used to express life and nature. In 1941, Holger founded a new school of dance in Bombay, she took students of all race, religion and nationality without prejudice. Like when she was in Vienna, Holger again took part in the artistic community. Amongst her friends with whom she collaborated with were the Indian dancers Rukmini Devi Arundale, Ram Gopal, Gopal also danced in Holger's school in Bombay. In 1948 because of the partition of India and the growing violence between Muslims and Hindus she emigrated again, this time to Britain.

Once in England, her Holger Modern Ballet Group performed in parks, churches and theaters. She again opened a new dance school, The Hilde Holger School of Contemporary Dance and remained faithful to the adage that a dancer must unite the mind with the body to achieve meaningful art. Her breakthrough in London, 1951, celebrated Holger with the premiere of "Under the Sea", inspired by the composition by Camille Saint-Saens.

In 1972, she performed a piece titled "Man against flood", it was based on the book of the same name written by Chinese Communist Party member Rewi Alley. It was performed at the Commonwealth Institute with music by Chinese composer Yin Chengzong, and included dancers forming a human wall against a flood of water.

Her performance "Apsaras" (1983) explored her experiences in India. In the summer of 1983 she went back to India, where she had been last in the year 1948. There she worked as a choreographer for a large dance group directed by Sachin Shankar.

Holger was particularly proud of her work with the mentally handicapped. She created a form of dance therapy for children who, like her son Darius, have Down syndrome. Holger was the first choreographer who mixed professional dancers with young adults with severe learning disabilities. In 1968 at the Sadler's Wells, Holger orchestrated "Towards the Light", with music by Edvard Grieg. It was pioneering, innovative, and one of the first integrated dance pieces to be seen on a professional stage.

In October 1979 a film of “Inspirations” was shown at the Viennese Theatre Museum as part of “Dance of the Twentieth Century". In 1992, Holger revived four dances from her early repertoire for her student Liz Aggiss, who first performed them, as Vier Tanze, at the Manchester Festival of Expressionism. The pieces were Die Forelle (1923), Le Martyre de San Sebastien (1923), Mechaniches Ballett (1926), and Golem (1937). In the Guardian review, Sophie Constanti wrote that 'Hilde Holger's choreography reaches the British stage at last and triumphs....Together all four pieces danced with great sensitivity and aplomb by Aggiss accompanied by (Billy) Cowie on piano provided a fascinating insight into the lost Ausdruckstanz of central Europe.' In June 1993 the same four solo reconstructions (Golem, Le Martyr de Saint Sebastian, Mechanical Ballet, Die Forelle) were performed at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) by Liz Aggiss accompanied by Cowie with Holger in the audience.

Legacy Hilde Holger left a lasting impression on three generations of dancers and choreographers. While teaching her standards were high and she was not afraid of risk. Anneliese Monika Koch, Royston Maldoom OBE, Juliet Miangay-Cooper, Anna Niman, David Niman, Litz Pisk, Kristina Rihanoff, Kelvin Rotardier, Feroza Seervai, Rebecca Skelton, Marion Stein, Sheila Styles, Jacqueline Waltz and Vally Wieselthier.

Archive After Holger's death in 2001, her daughter Primavera began a journey of discovering the truth about her own mother's life as a famous dance artist and innovator. She started to collate an archive, with the initial help of Christine Stratford. Sadly, to date, the archive is not on permanent display, although there have been numerous shows that included many of Holger's artifacts.

MoveABOUT In 2010, six of Holger's students, Boman, Campbell, Kampe, Maldoom, Stange, and Waltz, reunited together to put on a series of talks and dance workshops at The InterChange Studios in Hampstead Town Hall Centre in north London to commemorate Holger's pioneering work in Inclusive Dance, entitled MoveABOUT: Transformation through movement. Each former student led an inclusive dance workshop to celebrate their own unique style of dance therapy, which Holger helped foster in them. These workshops introduced her work to yet another generation of dancers and interested individuals to her pioneering methods and beliefs in the power of dance, which in her own life crossed many boundaries, cultures, and religions.

Literature At the age of twenty-nine in 1934, Holger was mentioned in the prestigious Art in Austria almanac Kunst in Österreich: Österreichischer Almanach und Künstleradressbuch which listed all the established names in the Austrian arts scene of that year. Afterwards, she became exiled to India in 1939 but it was not until she had relocated again to settle in London a decade later that she started to be mentioned in many books which included her work and photos of herself as a young dancer.

In 1990 a documentation of her entire life and work, across the borders of Austria, India and Britain entitled Die Kraft des Tanzes, Hilde Holger: Wien – Bombay – London: über das Leben und Werk der Tänzeerin, Choreographin und Tanzpädagogin was published by Zeichen und Spuren Verlag publishers in Bremen.

The three photographers, Anton Josef Trčka, Edward Weston and Helmut Newton explored nature, the body and the artificial, in SCALO's first edition of The Artificial and the Real. She was a frequent model and close personal friend of Trčka.

The Century of Dance, published by the Akademie der Künste in 2019, is a collection of influential pioneers of dance from the twentieth century, like Holger. This volume's scope ranges from Vienna to Berlin between the world wars, from Japanese to American Modern Dance, to New York's Judson minimalist group. It explores the dance art form from various points of view. Dance being ephemeral has no monuments, therefore leading it to be historically weakened in its social recognition in the world.

Alys X. George gives a supplemental and alternative genealogy of Viennese Modernism in The Naked Truth – Viennese Modernism and the Body as demonstrated by Egon Schiele, Arthur Schnitzler, Joseph Roth, Hugo Von Hofmannsthal, and to long overlooked ones like dancers, Grete Wiesenthal, Gertrude Bodenwieser, and Holger herself. It was published in 2019 by the University of Chicago Press.

The Hilde Holger Archive, which is run by founding member Primavera (Holger's daughter), has collated an ever growing list of collected works by Holger or on Holger, as well as visual images of her by photographers.

Choreography Year Performance Music Venue Notes 1923 Bouree Johann Sebastian Bach Vienna Secession 1923 Eine Seifenblase Claude Debussy Vienna Secession 1923 Forelle Franz Schubert Vienna Secession 1923 Humoreske Max Reger Vienna Secession 1923 Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien Claude Debussy Vienna Secession 1923 Reiter im Sturm Siegfried Frederick Nadel Vienna Secession 1923 Sarabande Johann Sebastian Bach Vienna Secession 1923 Trout 1923 Vogel als Prophet Franz Schubert Vienna Secession 1926 Funeral March for a Canary Lord Berners 1926 Mechanical Ballet 1929 Chaconne & Variations George Frideric Handel 1929 Englischer Schafertanz Percy Aldridge Grainger 1929 Hebraischer Tanz solo Alexander Veprik 1929 Lebenswende Karel Boleslav Jirák 1929 Marsch Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev 1929 The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastien Claude-Achille Debussy 1929 Mutter Erde Heinz Graupner 1929 Sarabande und Bourree Johann Sebastian Bach 1929 Tanz nach Rumaischene Motive Béla Viktor János Bartók 1931 Javanische Impression Heinz Graupner 1933 Kabbalistischer Tanz Vittorio Rieti 1936 Ahasver Marcel Rubin Volkshochschule, Vienna 1936 Barbarasong Weill Volkshochschule, Vienna 1936 Engel der Verkündigung Händel Volkshochschule, Vienna 1937 Flämischer Bilderboden nach Breughel Volksbildungshaus, Stöbergasse, Vienna 1937 Golem Wilckens Volksbildungshaus, Stöbergasse, Vienna 1937 Mystischer Kreis Reti Volksbildungshaus, Stöbergasse, Vienna 1937 Orientalischer Tanz Graupner Volksbildungshaus, Stöbergasse, Vienna 1937 Passacaglia Händel Volksbildungshaus, Stöbergasse, Vienna 1937 Tango Benatzky Volksbildungshaus, Stöbergasse, Vienna 1948 Annunciation 1948 Emperors new Clothes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1948 Pavane Maurice Ravel 1948 Russian Fairy Tales Alexander Borodine, Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky 1948 Selfish Giant 1948 Tales and Legends in Modern Ballet 1948 Viennese Waltz Johann Strauss II 1952 Dance with Cymbals on the Indian Ocean 1952 Dance with Tambourines Fritz Dietrich 1952 Nocturne Heinz Graupner 1952 Slavic Dance Antonín Dvořák 1954 Aztec Cult (Sacrifice) 1954 Barbar the Elephant 1954 Old Vienna 1954 Orchid 1954 Rhythm of the East 1954 Selfish Giant 1954 Tibetan Prayer Songs 1955 Angels 1955 Dance Etudes 1955 Galliarde-Siciliano Ottorino Respighi 1955 Hoops Georges Bizet 1955 Jazz Heinz Graupner 1955 Men & Horses John S. Beckett 1955 Toccata Paradies 1955 Under the Sea Camille Saint-Saëns Sadler's Wells Theatre 1955 Valse Caprice Aram Khachaturian 1956 Etude 1956 Prelude Johann Sebastian Bach 1956 Theme and Variations George Frideric Handel 1957 Allegro Vivaci Johann Sebastian Bach 1957 Bird 1957 Café Dansant George Gershwin 1957 Egypt 1957 The Hunter and the Geese 1957 Madonna 1957 March Lev Knipper 1957 Nativity George Frideric Handel, Franz Schubert, Johann Sebastian Bach 1957 Sale Johann Strauss II 1957 The Toyshop Aram Khachaturian 1957 Stranger Aaron Copland 1957 Witches Kitchen and Walpurgisnight Paul Dukas 1958 Dance Divertissement 1958 Dance for four Women Joaquín Turina 1958 Dance with Bells John S. Beckett 1958 Ritual Fire Dance Manuel de Falla 1958 Song of the Earth Antonín Dvořák 1960 Allegro Arcangelo Corelli 1960 Dawn of Life 1960 The Farmer's Curst Wife Peter Warlock 1960 Frankie and Johannie Peter Warlock 1960 Imaginary Invalid Gioachino Antonio Rossini 1960 Secret Annexe 1960 West Indian Spiritual 1961 Dance for Two Germaine Tailleferre 1961 Egypt 1961 The House of Bernarda Alba (The Sisters) Joaquín Turinawritten by Federico Lorca 1961 Metamorphoses Ovid 1961 Pierrot Johann Sebastian Bach 1963 Dance for Men 1963 Dream Wilckens 1963 Lady Isobel and the Elf Knight Peter Warlock 1963 Narcissus (The Image) Heinz Graupner 1965 Ballad of the Hanged (Villons Epitaph) 1965 Cain's Morning 1965 Canticle of the Sun Johann Pachebel 1965 Creation of Adam & Eve Olivier Messiaen 1965 Nightwalkers Olivier Messiaen 1965 Saint Francis and his sermon to the birds 1968 Angelic Prelude – Inspirations Giuseppe Torelli 1968 Salome Philip Croot 1968 Towards the Light Edvard Greig Sadlers Wells Theatre 1968 The Wise & Foolish Virgins Philip Croot 1970 The Scarecrow 1971 Snowchild 1972 Bamboo Khatshaturian Commonwealth Institute 1972 Bauhaus Erik Satie Commonwealth Institute 1972 Embrace Erik Satie Commonwealth Institute 1972 Flight Commonwealth Institute 1972 Hieronymus Bosch Roger Cutts Commonwealth Institute 1972 Honoré Daumier Commonwealth Institute 1972 The Hypopatic Doctor Gioachino Antonio Rossini, Franz Schubert Commonwealth Institute 1972 Inspirations Sergei Rachmaninoff, Claude Debussy Commonwealth Institute 1972 Man against Flood Yin Chengzong Commonwealth Institute based on book by Rewi Alley 1972 Prelude 1972 Renaissance, Scene on Earth, Scene on Heaven Mompou, Gordon Langford, Banchieri Commonwealth Institute 1972 Shiva and the Grasshopper Gordon Langford Commonwealth Institute based on the poem by Kipling 1972 Suspension Maurice Ravel Commonwealth Institute 1972 Tranquillity Alan Hovhaness Commonwealth Institute 1972 Tribal Nocturne Béla Viktor János Bartók Commonwealth Institute 1974 Archaic 1974 Bamboo Aram Khachaturian 1974 Egypt Giuseppe Verdi 1974 Hieronymus Bosch Roger Cutts 1974 The Hunter and the Hunted 1974 Paul Klee Spring Awakening Béla Viktor János Bartók 1974 Renaissance Federico Mompou 1974 Spring Awakening 1975 Inspirations Sergei Rachmaninoff, Claude Debussy The Hampstead Theatre 1975 Mobiles Alfredo Casella The Hampstead Theatre 1975 Paul Klee Spring Awakening Belá Bartók The Hampstead Theatre 1975 Rockpaintings Roger Cutts The Hampstead Theatre 1975 Toulouse Lautrec Erik Satie The Hampstead Theatre 1976 The Park 1977 Prelude and Chorale César Franck 1977 Sacred and Profane Dance 1979 African Poetry 1979 Apsaras 1979 Homage to Barbara Hepworth Heitor Villa-Lobos 1979 Prelude Giuseppe Torelli 1979 Tower of Mothers Carl Orff 1979 Tradisches Ballet choreographed by Oskar Schlemmer 1979 We are Dancing Johann Sebastian Bach 1983 The Bow and Arrow David Sutton-Anderson The Hampstead Theatre 1983 Fishes David Sutton-Anderson The Hampstead Theatre 1983 The Letter Coleridge The Hampstead Theatre 1983 The Manikin Coleridge The Hampstead Theatre 1983 The Penguin Story David Sutton-Anderson The Hampstead Theatre 1983 Pick a Back Coleridge The Hampstead Theatre 1983 Poems on a Boy's Painting David Sutton-Anderson The Hampstead Theatre poems by Ke Yan, pictures by Bu Di 1983 Sea and Sand The Hampstead Theatre poems by Rewi Alley 1983 Sea, Clouds, Sparkling Lighthouse, Flames The Hampstead Theatre 1983 Umbrellas The Hampstead Theatre poems by Bu Di and Ke Yan 1983 What is a Poem David Sutton-Anderson The Hampstead Theatre 1984 The City Marcel Rubin The Hampstead Theatre 1984 Don Quixote David Sutton-Anderson The Hampstead Theatre 1984 Ritual David Sutton-Anderson The Hampstead Theatre 1984 Scherzo Frédéric Chopin 1988 Children of the Vorstadt Franz Lehár The Hampstead Theatre 1988 Children's Games 1988 Death and the Maiden Franz Schubert The Hampstead Theatre 1988 Egon Schiele in Memoriam, The Dying Empire Strauss The Hampstead Theatre 1988 The Family Hugo Wolf The Hampstead Theatre 1988 Flemish Picture Sheet 1988 Fluteplayers 1988 Four Seasons Antonio Vivaldi The Hampstead Theatre 1988 Golem Wilckens 1988 Hands David Sutton-Anderson The Hampstead Theatre 1988 The Least is the Most Percussion: David Sutton-Anderson The Hampstead Theatre 1988 Mechanical Ballet Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack 1988 Models Schubert, Schönberg The Hampstead Theatre 1995 Whales 2000 Rhythms of the Unconscious Mind

Filmography

Film