The history of contemporary dance has gaps. Manja Chmièl (1922-2006) slipped into oblivion because dance scholarship forgot her. Contemporary witness Irene Sieben, with her book, brings into the spotlight her once most important teacher at the Mary Wigman Studio and places her alongside Dore Hoyer as a striking inventor of a specific dance language.
In 1962 Chmièl broke away from Ausdruckstanz. She wanted to position herself on equal footing with New Music, literature and abstract arts. Her group Neuer Tanz Berlin was the first independent dance company in Germany. In 1968 the Czech-born artist received the Kritikerpreis für Tanz. If there was a catalyst between Expressionism and the contemporary dance of the 1980s, it was her. Manja Chmièl's rigorous dances, stripped of pathos, prove it.
The reconstruction of Dresden dancer Anna Till makes this visible in a wonderful way. She will show it as a film and comment on it.