THE WIESENTHAL SISTERS

Together with her sisters Elsa and Bertha in Vienna, Grete Wiesenthal (1885-1970) developed a dynamic new dance technique accompanied by the music of Viennese waltzes. This extraordinary photo was taken on a sunny tennis court: as a “sharp” snapshot, it captures five of the six legs in the air and in motion. When the Wiesenthal sisters gave a guest performance in Munich in 1908, the young poet Hans Brandenburg bought the entire series of photographs, attended all the performances and became a fan of the new dance form.

The Wiesenthal sisters (Berta, Elsa & Grete) dancing the “Lanner-Schubert Waltz” | photo: Rudolf Jobst, Vienna, 1908 | picture postcard, published by Dr. Trenkler & Co., Leipzig | © Deutsches Theatermuseum, inv. no. II 26666