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History

MOTION Berlin was founded in 1962 by Brigitta Herrmann, Hellmut Gottschild and Katharine Sehnert as a modern dance company evolving from the Mary Wigman* School of Dance.

 

1967,  for the creation of Countdown for Orpheus, their first multi-media production, Manfred Fischbeck joined the company as collaborator, filmmaker and dramaturge. 

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1968 Herrmann, Gottschild, and Fischbeck relocated to Philadelphia.

 

1969 Group Motion receives critical recognition with performances in Philadelphia,  NYC at Judson Church Dance Theater, and at Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival leading to reestablish the company in the US, now incorporated as Group Motion Multi Media Dance Theater.

 

1970, they joined the National Endowment for the Arts touring program.  In 1971, Gottschild left the company to found Zero Moving Dance Company. Fischbeck and Herrmann continued as co-directors and created the Group Motion Workshop, touring nationally and abroad.

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*Mary Wigman, (1886 – 1973) was a German dancerchoreographer, notable as the pioneer of expressionist dancedance therapy,  She is considered one of the most important figures in the history of European dance. She became an iconic figure of Weimar German culture and her work was hailed for bringing the deepest of existential experiences to the stage.

41HF Group Motion Company performance of Beyond the Eastern Standard Time picturing Brigit
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Group Motion is one of Philadelphia’s longest running contemporary dance organizations.

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They have held their place in the forefront of contemporary dance creating a substantial body of over 50 works that have toured nationally and internationally, in countries such as France, Argentina, Germany, Japan, Cyprus, Taiwan, Poland, and Lithuania. 

 

After the death of Manfred Fischbeck in 2021, Group Motion continues under the artistic direction of Brigitta Herrmann.

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