Gertrud Leistikow was a German dancer and choreographer.
11 Facts About Gertrud Leistikow
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Gertrud Leistikow is primarily associated with nude and Grotesque dance.
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Gertrud Leistikow was born on 12 September 1885 in Buckeburg, Lower Saxony.
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Gertrud Leistikow attended girls' schools in Metz and Spa, and studied graphic design and painting in the class of Max Frey at the Academy of Applied Arts in Dresden, where in 1904 she experienced a performance of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze.
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Gertrud Leistikow learned the basics of the Delsarte system from Hedwig Kallmeyer in Berlin.
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Gertrud Leistikow was rarely photographed but drawings by Dora Brandenburg-Polster in 1911 show her as a nude dancer.
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Gertrud Leistikow directed three dance schools in Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam.
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Gertrud Leistikow gave farewell tours through the Netherlands in the years 1929,1930 and 1937.
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At the outbreak of the Second World War, Gertrud Leistikow returned to the Netherlands and opened another dance school.
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Gertrud Leistikow distanced herself from the Nazi-friendly Dutch dance culture of the time.
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Gertrud Leistikow kept her face expressionless, and often hid it behind scarves, veils and masks to draw the attention of the viewer to the rest of her body.