Lecture in English language.

Dancing, acting, directing, performance, writing, poetry, screenwriting... Valeska Gert’s diverse work across genres is linked by a common thread: criticism. Whether parody, satire or accusation, her creations always arise from the impulse of a reflective practice that gauges the boundaries of art. Although her colleagues may have been proven representatives of the avant- garde in the Weimar era, Valeska Gert's keen sense for conservative, gender-stereotypical or racist traits in even the most advanced productions or processes was, so to speak, her trademark. Her critical practice is both corporeal and medial, for example in her ironic or exaggerated ‘replications’ of famous dancers of her time. The lecture will illustrate and contextualise Gert's procedures using numerous examples and ask whether and how such an approach could be transferred to our contemporary situation.

Prof. Dr. Susanne Foellmer is Full Professor in Dance Studies at the Centre for Dance Research, Coventry University, UK. From April 2026, she will head the German Dance Archive Cologne. Relevant monographs include Valeska Gert. Fragmente einer Avantgardistin in Tanz und Schauspiel der 1920er Jahre (Fragments of an Avant-Gardist in Dance and Theatre of the 1920s; 2006) and Am Rand der Körper. Inventuren des Unabgeschlossenen im zeitgenössischen Tanz (At the Edge of the Bodies. Inventories of the Unfinished in Contemporary Dance; 2009).

This lecture is a part of the series Valeska Gert and her Afterlives. FU Berlin / AdK / DAAD: Celebrating 20 years of the Valeska Gert Professorship.