Imagine it is 1945…The Second World War has come to an end, leaving the streets in ruins, people selling the last of their belongings to survive. Theaters are closed, books are burned, and music is overpowered by the silence of desolation. Forty years pass, and an Iron Curtain is drawn, shutting the citizens of former East Germany out from the rest of the world. Propaganda is a systematic part of everyday life, serving as the sole source of information for the people. Only one point of view is given and accepted. Newspaper articles, television shows, and other means of media are filtered through the German Democratic Republic. Educational and professional structures are regulated by the government, proving that East Germany is not only geographically compartmentalized, but administratively also. How did contemporary dance fit into these cultural and political divisions?

Through the eyes of the State, institutions were the only way for dance to be practiced and performed. It took many years for the government to realize the importance of dance as an integral part of culture, for the Nazis had forbid Gret Palucca to teach, and closed her school located in Dresden in 1939. As soon as the war ended, she fought for her rights, and did everything she could to save herself and her school from the ruins. Soviet culture officers began to view her as an ally, and recognized Palucca’s intention to educate young people for the future. Later, she received grants, ‘hard worker’s food tickets for the students’, and rooms for it to become a boarding school again. Gradually, the transition occurred for it to become a state-run school, bringing conflicting views on the directional instruction and curriculum material. Palucca used the powerful strategy of ultimatums to teach what she wanted, the way she wanted. She launched ‘The New Artistic Dance’; the harmonic blend of classic academic and modern languages of movement to create the courage to express emotions sincerely through dance. Prior to these renovations, the government encouraged the importance of ballet over modern, but Palucca continuously incessantly argued to establish an equal duality between the two.

Because the work system stood on specific social presets, choreographers struggled with survival. They had two options: to sneak around the system, or abide by it. Many worked on implementing new experimental forms of expression to break away from the cultural boundaries between the acceptable and the unacceptable. The problem arose with lack of venues, and thus audience appearances. Small playhouses, youth clubs, and culture houses mainly allowed ballet performances, and churches acted as ‘safe ground’ for experimental work to be shown. Funding for cultural purposes was scarce because the money was needed to restore the destroyed cities. Audiences were not interested in emotional investments, numbing themselves to life’s reality. They looked for entertainment, leaving hardly any room for expressionism of the people’s hardships. The experimental choreographic network eventually dissolved as a result of the economic and societal destitutions. As time progressed to the anti-imperialist thematic era (1950-1960), many modern choreographers emerged with passionate political messages depicted through their creations. Dance theater was a new style initiated in West Germany, and became a trend borrowed by the East. It incorporated a plot line with underlying psychological implications through the blending of fantasy and reality. “It avoided the crudely simplified prescribed approach, achieving a microcosm of the human experience and pleasurability” (Nietschmann 22). Additionally, ‘free groups’ were launched by young dancers and choreographers, generating an increase in creativity. However, “impatience became the perogative of the youth and the prerequisite for development” (Nietschmann 22). This idea of ‘end-gaining’, or solely concerning oneself with the final product and not with the process of how it is accomplished, can be seen in various aspects of the societal development in the GDR. On one side, the result of their eagerness to create positively translated dance “as a call to experience life in a joyful way” (Nietschmann 22). On the other hand, ignorance led to the future consequence: no new freely artistic production structures or models to build off of.

Now it is 1989, radical changes occur when the Berlin Wall is opened along with the eyes and hearts of the citizens that survived living behind the Iron Curtain. The majority of the former East German population, including artists, fled to the outside world in search of new possibilities and inspiration to develop a comprehension of the status of dance beyond their previous boundaries. Choreographers and teachers from around the world traveled to the East to assist in the communication and eventual creative progress of their culture. Despite the positive growth beginning in former East Germany, the difficulties to become a dancer increase due to the competition arriving from many different places. Likewise, the challenge of the dance institutions such as the Palucca School struggle with maintaining a consistent enrollment from local students. “You have to adjust to the changes…to the separation and the unification. It’s tiring, but life isn’t always easy” (Vereint im Pas De Deux).

The division created by the Berlin Wall presented the field of dance with the challenge to continue its development despite its lack of connection with outside sources. Unfortunately, former East German artistic initiatives focused only on a final product through the pressure of catching up with the rest of the world. No perspectives within the dance community were conversed prior to the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Such a proceeding would have further developed the art form, increased support from the public and those in the profession. The work would have been seen more, and thus remembered. However, when the Wall came down, people were not concerned with sharing their past, but with preparing for the future. The media recordings of dance during the separation portray a single point of view, one that most likely is not of the original choreographers and/or performers. Propaganda is an additional language in need of translation so that the historical void of the development of dance in former East Germany can be filled and recognized by outsiders. Although the separating line between East and West no longer tangibly exists, the people have somehow inherited a wall within, inhibiting them from communicating the past, yet concurrently preventing them from letting go of it.