Breathing Back the History of German Modern Dance through the Horror Film Genre in Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria (2018)

Wesley Lim

doi:10.1017/S0149767723000177

Breathing Back the History of German Modern Dance through the Horror Film Genre in Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria (2018)

Wesley Lim^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Director Luca Guadagnino's film Suspiria (2018) depicts the dancer Susie Bannion joining a dance academy secretly run by a coven of witches in Berlin during the German Autumn of 1977. This article analyzes how Mary Wigman's Hexentanz II, contemporary dance, and horror film practices inform Susie's neo-expressionist movement form, which is also steeped in the discourse surrounding the RAF (Red Army Faction), the West German far-left militant organization, and fascism. I argue that historical breathing-breaths and sighs-takes on a sensorial mode by surveying the past and current situation of the dance school. By inhaling, Susie embodies the dance Volk (1948) and can feel its vexed choreographic history-its occult origins and Ausdruckstanz practices. Furthermore, her dance futilely attempts to comes to terms with the Nazi past but inevitably replicates the violence of the RAF.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	81-97
Number of pages	17
Journal	Dance Research Journal
Volume	55
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0149767723000177
Publication status	Published - 17 Apr 2023

Access to Document

10.1017/S0149767723000177

Cite this

@article{d8a7582572a940b48e95727acd4f1c35,

title = "Breathing Back the History of German Modern Dance through the Horror Film Genre in Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria (2018)",

abstract = "Director Luca Guadagnino's film Suspiria (2018) depicts the dancer Susie Bannion joining a dance academy secretly run by a coven of witches in Berlin during the German Autumn of 1977. This article analyzes how Mary Wigman's Hexentanz II, contemporary dance, and horror film practices inform Susie's neo-expressionist movement form, which is also steeped in the discourse surrounding the RAF (Red Army Faction), the West German far-left militant organization, and fascism. I argue that historical breathing-breaths and sighs-takes on a sensorial mode by surveying the past and current situation of the dance school. By inhaling, Susie embodies the dance Volk (1948) and can feel its vexed choreographic history-its occult origins and Ausdruckstanz practices. Furthermore, her dance futilely attempts to comes to terms with the Nazi past but inevitably replicates the violence of the RAF.",

keywords = "Ausdruckstanz, Luca Guadagnino, Mary Wigman, Nazi, RAF, Suspiria, Vergangenheitsbew{\"a}ltigung, breath, contemporary dance",

author = "Wesley Lim",

note = "Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Dance Studies Association.",

year = "2023",

month = apr,

day = "17",

doi = "10.1017/S0149767723000177",

language = "English",

volume = "55",

pages = "81--97",

journal = "Dance Research Journal",

issn = "0149-7677",

publisher = "Cambridge University Press",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Breathing Back the History of German Modern Dance through the Horror Film Genre in Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria (2018)

AU - Lim, Wesley

PY - 2023/4/17

Y1 - 2023/4/17

N2 - Director Luca Guadagnino's film Suspiria (2018) depicts the dancer Susie Bannion joining a dance academy secretly run by a coven of witches in Berlin during the German Autumn of 1977. This article analyzes how Mary Wigman's Hexentanz II, contemporary dance, and horror film practices inform Susie's neo-expressionist movement form, which is also steeped in the discourse surrounding the RAF (Red Army Faction), the West German far-left militant organization, and fascism. I argue that historical breathing-breaths and sighs-takes on a sensorial mode by surveying the past and current situation of the dance school. By inhaling, Susie embodies the dance Volk (1948) and can feel its vexed choreographic history-its occult origins and Ausdruckstanz practices. Furthermore, her dance futilely attempts to comes to terms with the Nazi past but inevitably replicates the violence of the RAF.

AB - Director Luca Guadagnino's film Suspiria (2018) depicts the dancer Susie Bannion joining a dance academy secretly run by a coven of witches in Berlin during the German Autumn of 1977. This article analyzes how Mary Wigman's Hexentanz II, contemporary dance, and horror film practices inform Susie's neo-expressionist movement form, which is also steeped in the discourse surrounding the RAF (Red Army Faction), the West German far-left militant organization, and fascism. I argue that historical breathing-breaths and sighs-takes on a sensorial mode by surveying the past and current situation of the dance school. By inhaling, Susie embodies the dance Volk (1948) and can feel its vexed choreographic history-its occult origins and Ausdruckstanz practices. Furthermore, her dance futilely attempts to comes to terms with the Nazi past but inevitably replicates the violence of the RAF.

KW - Ausdruckstanz

KW - Luca Guadagnino

KW - Mary Wigman

KW - Nazi

KW - RAF

KW - Suspiria

KW - Vergangenheitsbewältigung

KW - breath

KW - contemporary dance

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85168002793&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/S0149767723000177

DO - 10.1017/S0149767723000177

M3 - Article

SN - 0149-7677

VL - 55

SP - 81

EP - 97

JO - Dance Research Journal

JF - Dance Research Journal

IS - 1

ER -

Breathing Back the History of German Modern Dance through the Horror Film Genre in Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria (2018)

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this