Of Lights and Shadows: South Asian Dancers in German Photography

Public lecture by PD Dr. Isabella Schwaderer: At the beginning of the 20th century, two relatively young arts developed in parallel and cross-fertilised each other - photography and expressive dance.
In Germany in particular, photography was a welcome means for dancers to achieve a broad impact beyond the stage. A particular interest in art forms understood as "primordial" led to an exchange with with non-European dancers, whose art was perceived as superior because of its ancient tradition. From the 1920s, South Asian artists were increasingly present on European stages and in the studios of star photographers.
An analysis of images of Indian dancers from the Weimar Republic to the Nazi era explores the origins of stereotypes and the interaction of dance movements and poses in front of the camera. This reveals a broad commercialisation of the media of dance, photography and film, but also how artists visually interacted and collaborated.