Queer Orientalism and Modernism in Dance Photographs of Harald Kreutzberg and Yvonne Georgi

Abstract

this striking photograph features a bald individual with a large round dot on their forehead and a long tassel hanging from the left ear: both elements relay an Orientalist flair (see figure 1). 1 averting their gaze from the camera, the strongjawed figure looks introspectively to our left. the waving and swirling patterns on their feminine costume correspond to the undulating and voluminous draping on the body, while the dancer's wrists, hands, and fingers seem to twist unnaturally. the individual's position suggests dynamism, as if caught in the midst of movement or during a momentary pose to allow for a photograph to be taken. the curious figure does not necessarily exude specifically masculine or feminine qualities but rather a decidedly queer indeterminacy.this image, taken in 1929 by Ortéga in Berlin, features the cisgendered, male, gay, German expressionist dancer Harald Kreutzberg playing the Zeremonienmeister in a staging of Turandot (1929) by the austrian theater director Max reinhardt. in this article, i analyze the following image and a photograph of Kreutzberg and his later dance partner yvonne Georgi, also a highly regarded expressionist dancer, in their duet Persisches lied. While previous scholarship has focused on the style and characteristics of their dances as reflected in reviews, less work has been done in closely analyzing their representation in photographs. yet images like these are crucial to understanding the ways in which dance shaped and disseminated a modernist project in the years before World War ii. certainly these images were intended primarily for promotional material and programs in order to create definitive and indelible images of the dancers for a wider audience and to drum up attendance at performances (including for three tours in the Us from [1929][1930]. But they are also skillfully crafted representations. during photo shoots, dancers and photographers collaboratively staged key moments and exercised their agencies in presenting the moving body. i take a dance studies and cultural studies approach to shed light on the numerous influences of choreography, set design, makeup, and costuming, which filter into these complex images.This is an open access article under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Open access publishing facilitated by australian national University, as part of the Wiley -australian national University agreement via the council of australian University librarians.

Editors' Note: Speculations on the Queerness of Dance Modernism

“…4.See Wesley Lim (2022, 174), who quotes from the diary that dancer Yvonne Georgi wrote during one of her tours to the United States with Harald Kreutzberg, commenting on the performance world there: “Everyone's gay in New York” (our translation).…”

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