Prof. Henrietta Horn visited TNUA in September working with students on a project to reconstruct Mary Wigman's "Dance of Death."

Prof. Horn and Prof. Susan Barnett conducted intensive discussions and rehearsals with the students in a two-week session preparing for staging "Dance of Death II" at TNUA in May 2017.

They are also reconstructing "Dance of Death I," which students in Germany are expected to perform there in February 2017.

No video or film recordings of either versions of Wigman's dance exist. For "Dance of Death I" (1917), there is a dance notation for reference. But there is almost nothing left for "Dance of Death II" (1926).

Although the principal goal of the project is to reconstruct the dance based on the limited information available, both Prof. Horn and Prof. Barnett stressed that they are not aiming to merely replicate and re-present the original. They said they are working to recreate the dance in the spirit of the original.

Although extant documents show that only women dancers were featured in the original productions of "Dance of Death," the professors believe that Wigman would not limit her choice of dancers if she were to stage it now. The TNUA production will feature both male and female dancers.

Prof. Horn and Prof. Barnett have already worked on the project for almost a year. Prof. Horn hopes that the results to be achieved in Taiwan will enhance her research back in Germany.