(Lecture in English)

In 1926 Valeska Gert published an essay titled “Mary Wigman und Valeska Gert,” which opposed her aesthetics and politics to Mary Wigman’s, and scholars since have largely agreed. Reexamining the two artists, this lecture finds surprising parallels in their careers, despite their apparent differences. From their renown during the Weimar years to their near erasure in the immediate postwar era, from their guest performances in the US to their rediscovery over the last forty years, the afterlives of Wigman and Gert reveal affinities not evident during their lifetimes.

Susan Manning is an internationally recognized historian of modern dance whose writings have been translated into German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Polish. Her most recent book is Dancing on the Fault Lines of History: Selected Essays (2025). She is the Bergen Evans Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University.

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.