The Concept
The Centenary Project, without limiting itself to a narrow dance perspective, emphasizes Hilde Holger’s historical importance while linking it to the breadth of her cultural experience. The Centenary Project, commemorating Hilde Holger’s life and work, while preserving her legacy, has been in development since her death in 2001.
The Project was realized in three stages.
The first stage encompassed basic archiving and listing of Hilde Holger’s artefacts that she left behind in her London house. It is basically accomplished, and just needs some qualified expertise to shape it into its final form.
For the second stage, a Legacy team comprising primarily of professional artists who studied and worked with Hilde Holger was formed to celebrate the centennial of her birth; the goal being to plan events that would heighten public awareness of her legacy. The team—later to become the Hilde Holger Company– set about promoting an understanding of Holger’s contributions to a new generation of dance teachers, therapists, artists and dancers. Not forgetting her pioneering work in the latter half of her life with the learning disabled, its educational efforts continue to focus on this community as well. To this end, the website is being expanded.
Looking into the future, the third stage of the Centenary Project was designed to reach a less specialized and more popular audience. In this stage of the project, through filming a feature movie of her life, and creating a museum show within a wider historical context, Holger will be recognised as the avant-guard artist who, throughout her life, crossed many illicit boundaries.
