THE CONSTANT SCANDAL Valeska Gert

20th century / Dancers / Europe / Germany / North America / Performers / United States
Valeska Gert striking a pose from "Dance in Orange." She is wearing a "jumpsuit" with a camisole-like top and very full "harem pants" gathered at the knee and ballet shoes. She stands with one leg raised, toe to her other knee, hands in stylized gestures and her head thrown back and to the side, eyes closed.
Valeska Gert in her “Dance in Orange,” 1918
Daguerreotype photo by Leopold München

Even in the wildly eccentric cabaret culture of 1920s Berlin,Valeska Gert stood out. And though it would take nearly fifty years for society to “catch up” with Valeska’s vision – this unique and irrepressible dancer would eventually (and against all odds) become revered as the “Mother of Punk”!

 

Olivia interviews dancer and dance historian Janet Collard. Watch Janet Collard’s show Performing Valeska here, and see newly-discovered footage of Valeska Gert performing “Tanz in Orange” here.

Janet Collard (she/her/hers) is a dancer, actor, singer, and choreographer from the San Francisco Bay Area. She has a BFA in dance from CalArts and an MFA in dance performance and choreography from Mills College, and is currently pursuing an MA in Dance Philosophy and History at Roehampton University in London. As a dancer, Janet has performed for many choreographers and companies in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Janet was a member of AXIS Dance Company from 2008-2011 where she toured the country performing in the works of many renowned choreographers. As a choreographer, Janet has created dance works for youth through adults, and choreographs for theatrical productions. Janet Collard Dance Theater is interested in highlighting historical feminist themes and the performance of lost history through re-creation and re-interpretation.

 

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