Anmut und Disziplin

Dance is an important form of expression for mankind, and as such is a very popular theme in the fine arts. Depictions of dancing figures have appeared in all epochs, from Ancient Egypt to the present day. From countless examples, author Helga Thalhofer has put together a representative selection for this book, pursuing an interdisciplinary approach to the fine arts and literature. Informative commentaries accompany the large-format illustrations which demonstrate the diversity of motifs in this traditional theme. Whether Salome or Carmen, Alexander Sacharoff or Vaslav Nijinsky, the book looks both at important dancers and at artists who preoccupied themselves so intensively with the iconography of dance. The focus is on the dance craze in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, when avant-garde artists, in particular, discovered modern free dance as a source of inspiration.