Mary Wigman was among the best dancer and choreographer in Germany as she used her talent well and helped other dancers exceed their expectations. She began as a solo dancer while still at a young age, which helped her grow and be the best in Germany; additionally, solo dancing proved to her that she was capable of handling even the most difficult tasks. Mary Wigman believed so much in dancing and took it seriously all her life until the time she died. Therefore, any criticism she experienced would affect her emotionally as this talent enabled her to gain more confidence and meet new influential people in Germany. She was an open-minded person who sought new artistic movements while rejecting traditional or outdated style dances, especially classical ballet (Funkenstein, 2005). Being a modernist, she was always willing to accept change within her work environment, anything that could positively impact her perspective of dance. She believed subjective feeling should bring out the passion of dance from an individual and that dance should be more personal than an act that does not take any individual expressions.
Apart from being a dancer, Mary Wigman was also a choreographer who helped dancers become professionals in this form of art. During the Nazi years in Germany, her choreography career peeked as she becomes more popular in the region. Although before Nazi Germany, Wigman officially started a Dresden-based dance school where she taught her students and other people who wanted to know more about dancing. This center was the focal point for modern dance in Europe. This was the point where she started being popular across the world, and even people from far would come to see what she was capable of doing back in Germany. Wigman used her body to express what she truly wanted to her family and the society in which she grew up, as one could see her passion deeply while performing through the expression-filled movements (Back, 1997). Germany was well-known for delivering the best form of art, which was dancing. Wigman's school produced innovative artistic activity that computed the creation of sexual freedom in the dance movements brought out by feminism. She served people with an ecstasy which brought forth inspiration to her audiences.
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Mary Wigman was better than Von Laban and Kurt Jooss because she was so passionate about her dancing and did all her best to deliver satisfaction. However, this placed her in a darker light because she was a female, and people see her as a threat to society, especially people from the government. Wigman was part of the Nazi regime, and people did not like this idea. However, she mentioned that Germany was home to her since that was her birthplace, and therefore she had all the right to share what life gave her (Kattner, 2018). Her choreographies did not involve any official perspective; however, due to her relationship with the Nazi regime, the government ordered that she remove the Jewish students from her dance school, which she did not rebel against. The government was using her for personal gain since she was famous across countries. However, the citizens of Germany were not pleased with Wigman getting involved in the Nazi regime. After all the usage, the Nazi party leaders decided to close all of Wigman's schools due to one of her performances which did not satisfy the former (Manning, 2006). Therefore, people lost respect for Mary Wigman, and this was one of the grievous aftermaths. One of the characters in United States' history who has been on the 'wrong side of history' was Benedict Arnold, who betrayed Americans by giving the British people the seizure in exchange for ten thousand pounds; however, it was suggested that Arnold had a disorder which involved his character as some people also indicated that he was bipolar. Therefore, this made him look like the bad one before the American government, although he was blamed for the incident. The mistake was, however, tragic for the people of America.
I think that this modern dance pioneer is better known had she not fallen in step with the Nazis because she had so much passion for dancing, and it came from a place of self at the very beginning until when the Nazis took advantage of her abilities. Today, people have forgotten about her skills and interests; additionally, the various aspects that she kept on fighting for through her ability to dance. If she had not involved herself with the Nazi regime, she would become a legend today, and much of her influencing would still be remembered today. Our memories affected since the conflict between the Nazi and Mary Wigman was always papered for years; additionally, the latter also faced discrimination (Wigman, 1973). Therefore, most of the positive things she did in Germany before engaging with the Nazi regime has been forgotten since most people are only focusing on the wrong that she did. Instead of appreciating and celebrating her good works in Germany and across the countries world, people only recall her mistake of building a relationship with the Nazis. Additionally, I also think that people were disappointed in her because they believed that Wigman would keep up with her passion for dancing and only focus on it due to the noticeable inspiration. They knew that she would continue with her self-driven spirit and not let anything interfere with her work. Therefore, when things took a different turn, people lost respect for her and her passion for dancing.
References
Wigman, M. (1973). The Mary Wigman Book . Wesleyan University Press.
Manning, S. (2006). Ecstasy and the Demon: The Dances of Mary Wigman . U of Minnesota Press.
Back, L. (1997). Nazism and the Call of the Jitterbug. In Dance in the City (pp. 175-197). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Funkenstein, S. L. (2005). There's Something about Mary Wigman: The Woman Dancer as Subject in German Expressionist Art. Gender & History , 17 (3), 826-859.
Kattner, E. (2018). From Totenmal to Trend: Wigman, Holm, and Theatricality in Modern Dance. Dance Research Journal , 50 (3), 19-37.
