 Born in Berlin in 1907, Lisa Ullmann's first ambition was to become a painter but after hearing Rudolf Laban speak she was inspired to make dance her career. After four years of professional training at the Laban school of Lotte Wedekind Lisa gained her diploma and in 1930 was invited by Kurt Jooss to join his teaching staff. Lisa came to England with the Ballet Jooss and was based with them at Dartington Hall from 1934 to 1940.
During the war years Lisa began to work in the community and started classes in Plymouth and Exeter. Laban had joined Jooss at Dartington and she resumed her studies with him gradually becoming more and more interested in the psychological and educational aspects of dance and movement. In 1946 she founded the Art of Movement Studio in Manchester. This moved eventually to Addlestone in Surrey and she continued as founder-director until 1973. An exceptionally demanding teacher, Lisa Ullmann challenged students to master the full range of rhythmic and dynamic qualities combined with spatial accuracy as well as technical skill.
Lisa was a tireless worker whose knowledge, insight, integrity and inspiration meant that she was in constant demand internationally. She was deceptively demanding and her understanding of the deeper significance of the expressive qualities of movement permeated all her work. Lisa had a way of introducing pupils to the syntax of movement that made the simplest movement phrase come alive with dynamic energy of which the student had previously been unaware. Always generous with her help and advice, Lisa will be remembered not only for her vitality and courage, patience and determination, but also for her gaiety and humour and the love of dance that she brought to so many people. Lisa Ullmann died in 1985. |
Lisa was a prime mover in the formation of the Laban Guild and the International Council of Kinetography Laban serving both organisations for considerable periods as both Chairman and President. A prolific writer of articles and booklets, Lisa was also responsible for the posthumous publication of Laban's Choreutics, revised editions of Mastery of Movement and Modern Educational Dance, and the English translation of Laban's pre-war autobiographical reminiscences, A Life for Dance. Her crowning achievement was the publication of A Vision of Dynamic Space, which gives a glimpse of unique material from the Laban Archive which, as custodian, she spent many of her final years arranging.