Akesson, Birgit

▪ 2002

      Swedish dancer and choreographer (b. March 24, 1908, Malmö, Swed.—d. March 24, 2001, Stockholm, Swed.), sought to replace conventional expressionistic modern dance techniques with a new idiom of dance as pure nonrepresentational form. As a dancer she created stark solos that relied on slow movement and almost sculptural abstract shapes, often performed without music. In 1963 she founded the Choreographic Institute in Stockholm (later the State Dance School), where she headed the choreography department after her retirement as a dancer in 1965. Akesson, who later studied dance forms in Africa and East Asia, was awarded the title of professor by the Swedish government in 1992.

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