Olga Desmond; Fritz Bohme
Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1919.

Desmond’s method of choreographic transcription intended as a basis for the self-study of dance, edited by Fritz Bohme. Desmond began performing as a living statue in 1906 and went on to broadly promote performing nude on stage, progressing from posed representations of classical figures to dance. Her early career attracted considerable controversy and debate, though she always defended her performances as high art. This dedication to the form remained evident throughout her later career as a dance teacher in Berlin, and the present work is an early example of her methods. One of 150 numbered copies, signed by Desmond at the end of the preface, with nude photographic portrait frontispiece, and 8 plates of dance notation in a rear pocket.