 thumb|right|jooss in 1971 kurt jooss (12 january 1901 in wasseralfingen, germany â 22 may 1979 in heilbronn, west germany) was a famous ballet dancer and choreographer mixing classical ballet with theatre; he is also widely regarded as the founder of dance theatre or tanztheater. jooss is noted for establishing several dance companies, including most notably, the folkwang tanztheater, in essen. from a young age jooss was interested in singing, drama and visual arts, he also played the piano and was a keen photographer. he began his career in the 1920s and from 1920 to 1924 studied under and danced lead roles in the choreography of rudolf von laban (who was a trained visual artist and developer of dance theory) and the movement named ausdruckstanz. jooss used narratives and modern theatre styles to make performable works of dance theatre, further developing the work of laban and his system of notation. within a year of leaving laban, jooss took the opportunity to establish his own dance company called, die neue tanzbÃ¼hne. it was here jooss met fritz a. cohen, the jewish composer who worked with jooss on many of his famous pieces. jooss and fritz (or frederick) cohen shared the belief that choreography and musical composition should evolve together to give expression of the dramatic idea in unified style and form. in 1925 jooss and sigurd leeder joined a group of artists and opened a new dance school called "westfÃ¤lische akademie fÃ¼r bewegung, sprache und musik". jooss and leeder went to paris in 1926 to study classical ballet with russian ballerina lubov egorova. in 1927 jooss and leederâs work dance of death was criticised for being too avant-garde; this resulted in the theatre of mÃ¼nster changing personnel and programs. because of this, many of joossâs colleagues left. the same year jooss moved the "westfÃ¤lische akademie" to essen, and it became the folkwang schule. jooss disliked plotless dances and preferred themes that addressed moral issues. naturalistic movement, large-scale unison and characterisation were used by jooss to address political concerns of the time. his most important choreographic work, the green table (1932), had won first prize at an international competition for new choreography held by the archives internationales de la danse in paris in 1932. it was a strong anti-war statement, and was made a year before adolf hitler became the chancellor of germany. "the green table" is considered his most popular piece. in 1933 jooss was forced to flee germany when the nazis asked him to dismiss the jews from his company and he refused. jooss and leeder (and doubtless fritz cohen and other members of his original company) took refuge in the netherlands before resettling in england. after touring in europe and america, jooss and 
1901_births 1979_deaths Ballet_choreographers Ballets_by_Kurt_Jooss German_choreographers German_male_ballet_dancers Jews_who_emigrated_to_the_United_Kingdom_to_escape_Nazism Modern_dancers