Luise "Niddy" Impekoven (2 November 1904 – 20 November 2002) was a German dancer of the Golden Twenties.
Career
Impekoven took up dancing at a young age and first performed publicly in 1910. She was considered a child prodigy and received intense dance training from Heinrich Kröller and others.[1]
She danced almost exclusively to classical music. Her performances were expressionistic and sometimes humorous. Her well-known choreographies included Der gefangene Vogel, Münchner Kaffeewärmer, and Schalk. Impekoven became famous outside Germany during the 1920s, performing in Vienna and Prague.[2] By the 1930s she had toured in the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Java and Ceylon.[1]
She appeared in three 1920s films, most notably Ways to Strength and Beauty.[1]
She retired from professional dancing in 1934, in part due to the Nazi seizure of power, and went on to live in Switzerland,[2] where she published her memoirs in 1955.[1]
Personal life
Impekoven was born in 1904 in Berlin to Toni and Frieda Impekoven. The family later moved to Frankfurt and then Munich. In 1919 she experienced a personal crisis, suffering from depression and anorexia nervosa; her parents brought her to Bad Ragaz, Switzerland, where she recovered under the care of Reinhard Goering.[2]
She married Hans Killian in 1923 but they divorced in 1929. She died in 2002 in Bad Ragaz.[1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Andresen, Geertje. "Niddy Impekoven — Einst die dritte Prominente neben Mary Wigman und Valeska Gert" (in German). Deutsches Tankzarchiv Köln. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
- 1 2 3 "Impekoven, Niddy (1904—)". encyclopedia.com. Cengage. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
Further reading
- Frentz, Hans (1930). Niddy Impekoven und ihre Tänze (in German). Freiburg im Breisgau: Urban-Verlag.
- Impekoven, Niddy (1955). Die Geschichte eines Wunderkindes (in German). Zürich: Rotapfel-Verlag.
- Toepfer, Karl (1997). Empire of Ecstasy: Nudity and Movement in German Body Culture, 1910–1935. Los Angeles: University of California Press. pp. 182–186. ISBN 9780520206632.
External links