AN INSIGHT INTO THE HISTORY OF MODERN DANCE IN LATVIA: ANNA KERRÈ’S SCHOOL OF PLASTIC DANCE (1924 –1937)

Abstract

In the 1920s, features of modernism were visible also in the Latvian dance scene. In the first decades of the 20th century, the term ‘modern dance’ was not in active use in Latvia nor elsewhere in Europe. In the first decades of the 20th century, the more common terms used by dance professionals and critics in Latvia were ‘plastic dance’ and ‘rhythm- plastic dance’. But, at the end of 1920, the term ‘artistic dance’ also appeared. As in the first decades of the 20th century, the term ‘modern dance’ was not yet settled in Latvia. In the 1920s and 1930s, ‘plastic’ and ‘rhythm-plastic’ dance schools worked very intensively, and these can be seen as pioneers of new modern dance traditions in Latvia.

At that time, new dance schools and studios, which followed innovative dance trends in Europe, were formed one after another. Anna Kerrè’s School of Plastic Dances was one of the largest dance schools in Riga. Kerrè began her creative work in Latvia in 1922 as a solo dance interpreter, but, after two years, she founded a plastic dance school. This research paper traces Kerrè’s creative and pedagogical work principles, characterizing the specifics of the work of her school, searching for influences, as well as comparing her school with other dance schools in Latvia.