Succession and Development of Bauhaus Theater Theories

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to reveal a role that theater theories might play for dancers and performers by discussing Oskar Schlemmer’s theories after the Bauhaus school and making a comparative research of theater theories developed in Bauhaus Stage Workshop. In the 1930s, Xanti Schawinsky, one of the Bauhaus students, an assistant to Schlemmer, taught the performance method by discussion and rehearsal, and represented the essence of Bauhaus Stage with students in Black Mountain Collage, North Carolina. In the 1970s and 1980s, Gerhard Bohner, a dancer and choreographer, focusing on his own body as theater materials, created original works based on Schlemmer’s theories at the Akademie der Künste Berlin. This article will illustrate that the succession of theater theories is not only to help dancers or performers to master performance techniques and concepts but also to be their opportunity of new creation.