ABSTRACT
Laban called this reflection on German Dance Theatre a Denkschrift – literally, a thought script. Richard Ellis translated the word as ‘Statement,’ but I feel that ‘Thoughts’ at least retains part of the original sense. Of his five books in German, this long essay has most in common with Die Welt des Tänzers (1920): it addresses questions about dance that range from the practical to the philosophical. The tone is reflective, but unlike A Life for Dance (published in German in 1935),itdoes not consist of reflections on his past choreographies; rather, it is a forward-looking piece about the future of dance theatre. Several practical questions could be asked about the writing of this essay. Given his state of disgrace in Germany, why spend so much time and effort writing/thinking about setting up a dance theatre there? And who did he think would publish such a long essay? Clearly his stay in Schloss Banz in Winter 1936/1937 prompted him to think about dance since he also wrote a new version of Gaukelei. Could it be that he actually thought that he could still be part of the dance world of Germany?
