In 1920s Germany, audiences were entranced by Valeska Gert, a tiny, raven-haired dancer and actress who inspired generations of creatives, from German Expressionists to 70s punk rockers. She worked with legends like Federico Fellini, Bertolt Brecht and Greta Garbo. Jackson Pollack and Tennessee Williams worked for her. Her dance performances ranged from pantomimed sex to an enactment of her own death, and included one recital where she stood stock still. “I danced all of the people that the upright citizen despised: whores, pimps, depraved souls—the ones who slipped through the cracks,” she said, declaring modern dance bourgeois.
After touring in dance and theater productions all over Europe, the Jewish artist was banned from performing in Germany once the Nazis took power. Gert emigrated to the U.S., where she posed as a nude model and washed dishes while planning her return to performance. In 1941, she opened a bar, where Pollack and Williams worked as bus boys. She returned to Berlin after the war and opened Witch’s Kitchen and Goat Shed. She acted in Fellini’s Juliet of the Spirits and was cast in Herzog’s remake of Nosferatu, but died before filming began.
We like her and think she’d be a fascinating major or minor character in a period novel, or inspiration for one in any setting.
