Gertrud Bodenwieser's Philosophy of Dance Movements in the Context of the Development of Expressive Dance

The purpose of the article is to characterise the dance and pedagogical activities of G. Bodenwieser and to identify the features of the development of expressive dance of the first half of the twentieth century. Methods. The biographical method is applied to study the "history" of the formation of the personality of G. Bodenwieser, the phenomenon of expressive dance is studied by the method of system analysis; the typological method helped to identify the attributive characteristics of the Viennese school of Ausdruckstanz; the analytical method, the method of logical and theoretical analysis are used for the study of scientific literature, etc. Results. G. Bodenwieser was a part of European modernist movements and belonged to the first generation of expressive dancers in Vienna. Modernist dance sought to explore social, emotional, and political issues by focusing on body movements rather than elaborate props or costumes. The features of G. Bodenwieser’s ideas and philosophy of the dance movements are introduced into the domestic scientific circulation, little-known and unknown materials on the history of Austrian free dance are described, as well as new historiographic sources. The principles of improvisation of an outstanding dancer are considered, in particular the approach to the speed and dynamics of the dance movement "game in the game. The article outlines the prospects for applying G. Bodenwieser’s philosophy of movement in the context of the evolution of modern dance at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century. It is found that in the philosophical vision of Bodenwieser, the movement of dance should be full of smoothness and rhythmic subtlety, showing a perfect sense of music and the body's delicate reaction to it — the movement is strong in pulse, subtle in rhythm and full in its connection with the dance text. The principles of improvisation, set out by Gertrud Bodenwieser and her followers, are relevant to modern choreographic theories and practices. Scientific novelty. The article examines the dance and pedagogical activities of G. Bodenwieser, one of the leading representatives of the Austrian dance Ausdruckstanz.