Author Description

Pioneering study of dance in the Belgian art world Dance in Belgium tells the fascinating story of fifty years of dance history. Long before there was talk of De Keersmaeker or Béjart, people in Brussels and Antwerp were already thinking about the place of dance between the arts. While dance suffered from a bad reputation in the late nineteenth century, the art form conquered an important place in the Belgian artistic landscape in the period 1890-1940. Staf Vos shows how foreign dancers, from Isadora Duncan and Les Ballets Russes to Rudolf von Laban, served as examples for domestic initiatives. In addition, this book tells about philosophers, artists, educators and politicians who were affected by the power of dance. This gives the reader an original view of Belgian artistic and intellectual life in the early twentieth century.