A black and white photograph of a woman in a dress twirling around with her eyes closed.

Join Dr Wesley Lim as he presents a lecture on his 2023 National Library Fellowship research into the papers of dancer and choreographer Gertrud Bodenwieser.

Entry is free to this event but bookings are essential.

The talk will be available to view live online via the Library's Facebook and YouTube pages. You do not need to book a ticket to watch the event online.

Dr Wesley Lim is a 2023 National Library of Australia Fellow.

About Dr Wesley Lim's Fellowship research

Dancer and choreographer Gertrud Bodenwieser fled Austria in 1938, arriving in Australia in the following year. She brought European modern dance to her new homeland and established her own modernist movement form, which drew influence from her intersectional identities as a Jewish, Austrian, and Australian woman.

2023 National Library of Australia Fellow, Dr Wesley Lim, has delved into the papers and photographs of Gertrud Bodenweiser, with a focus on selecting and creating a narrative around the photographs, programs and posters of Bodenwieser and her company, most of which have not been digitised. He will reveal how the collaborative interaction between the photographer and dancers during photoshoots plays a significant role in (self)representation and agency and in determining how the images would be used in promotional print material. 

About Dr Wesley Lim

Dr Wesley Lim is a German Studies scholar with expertise in Dance Studies, Performance Studies, and Screen Studies. He received his PhD in German Literature from Vanderbilt University in 2012 and is a former dancer. He is currently a Lecturer in German Studies at the Australian National University. His research analyses representations of and discourses on dance and the moving body in primarily modern Germanic culture, screen dance and figure skating. Dr Lim's first book, Dancing with the Modernist City: Metropolitan Dance Texts around 1900, forthcoming with the University of Michigan Press, deals with interpenetrating representations of dance and city space in modernist texts. His second book project addresses East German figure skating culture. Dr Lim is also working with his collaborator Dr. Michelle Ho on Asian sporting masculinities in contemporary figure skating. 

About National Library of Australia Fellowships

The National Library of Australia Fellowships program offers researchers an opportunity to undertake a 12-week residency at the Library. This program is supported by generous donors and bequests.

Image credit: Margaret Michaelis, Bodenwieser Ballet open air performance featuring Hilary Napier, 1940, nla.obj-234841729

Type Fellowship presentation