Mary Wigman (1886-1973):

Mary Wigman born in Hanover, Germany. Her father is a businessman. With a superior family, and adventurous from childhood, she went to Switzerland, and Netherland to chasing her dreams after graduating from high school. Finally, Mary heard a school, which is founded by a Swiss musician Dacromet and aimed to reconcile the rhythm of the music and the rhythm of the body.

In this school, Mary found her desire of wanted to move. She also understood the possibility that dance according to rhythm from heart rather than external music rhythm. In 1913 Mary joined Pradesh’s dance school. From the exploration of movement, Mary showed a more distinctive improvisational dance.

She believed that dancers should start with the action itself, then it is able to directly result the purest forms of dance. And it is better for dancer to listen their inner rhythm instead of existing music, and manifest the nature of the action.
 Collaborating with Pradesh, Mary also explored her own side of the road.  After World War I, her thrilling dance attracted the profound attention of audience. Moreover, she was also known for the famous German modern dancer. In 1920, Mary founded her first dance school. In 1928, she brought students to do the tour in places such as Britain and America, spread out the German modern dance, and established branch schools in many countries as well.  The basic law “tension-relaxation”, which is presented by her, also affected the American modern dance master Martha Graham.

After Hitler came to power in 1933, Mary’s career was affected, and she could not carry out the teaching activities. Then the dance school was forfeited. In 1945, she rebuilt a dance school in Leipzig. Four years later she moved the school to West Berlin, then it became the place where modern dancers from all over the world meet. Mary created over one hundred works in her life. Among these works, some reflected the need of substance, some reflected the mood, and the rest of works reflected the spirit of the world. In addition, there are three monographs left by her.

In 1973, Mary died at the age of 87. In order to collect, preserve and do the research on the Wigman dance system, Germany set up a "Mary Wigman Association".

My point of view:

Wigman do not agree with identity secularization of modern dance, for her, dance is not entertainment, but the faith and sermons, and she was the pastor.

In order to fully express the extreme emotions, Wigman not fear for use some "ugly" actions, her work is never lack of passion and energy. On the other hand, her dance was known for masculine, tough, solemn, abstract and dark, which can be shown from the names of her works.