Influences of Hanya Holm
One of Alwin Nikolais's biggest influences in his learnings came from the great dancer and choreographer Hanya Holm. Holm was the student of Mary Wigman, who, coincidentally, was the first dance performer that Nikolais saw and peaked his interest in the world of dance.
Holm opened her own modern dance school that was based off the German expressionist ideas taught by Wigman. They believed that dance was the expression of human emotion. Holm was invited by Wigman to open her own Mary Wigman school in New York, but after the rise of Hitler and Wigman's continued association with Nazi Germany, Holm decided to go her own way with the school.
Hanya Holm's modern dance ideas were the first to break the realm of Broadway, and along with this distinction she also taught at various dance schools and inspired a new generation of dancers/choreographers. Alwin Nikolais taught under her and later became her assistant. Her schools taught gave more to her students than just technical training. She taught composition, pedagogy, anatomy, improvisation, and notation, setting the curriculum standard for dance schools that followed.
Here is an excerpt from Hanya Holm's performance, Ratatat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_872Y_oiIF4
Sources:
https://www.dance-teacher.com/hanya-holm-2392349020.html
Images:
http://digital.library.du.edu/librariespresents/files/fullsize/b76bed8b9cccdb09749c6b7104268369.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/90/bb/67/90bb677c87dc23bd0045ce2d7a4b2521--the-dance-dance-dance-dance.jpg
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