As a child Eugene von Grona (born in Berlin, 1908) was fascinated with "cakewalk" music (ragtime) and dreamed about traveling to the country that spawned the new music. In the 1920s von Grona and his wife, Leni, came to the U.S. with a very open mind for modern music. He and his wife, also a dancer, were especially fascinated by the music heard in Harlem, such as the compositions of Duke Ellington.
Some critics remarked that his style of dance composition relied heavily on German modernism, but that he had acquired for himself a remarkable, physical suppleness that he conveyed to his twelve girls. Their contortions proved to be extremely difficult feats of balance and strength, including back bends.
It was in 1934 that von Grona and his wife (billed as Leni Bouvier) appeared as themselves in a film short for the V i t aphone Company in Brooklyn. The film starred Lillian Roth and was released April 7, 1934 as "Story Conference." Since von Grona's career was focused on the stage and recital hall, it is fortunate that this film exists of him and his wife. Had the times been different, his Negro troupe might have made an appearance in films.
In 1934 he placed an advertisement in a Harlem newspaper offering scholarships. 150 people responded. After many days of auditions, he selected 22 dancers to train. He resisted offers from Hollywood, preferring his exciting life full of discovery. Three years later, on November 21, 1937, they gave their first public performance at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem. Dances were choreographed to the music as W.C. Handy, Reginald Forsythe, J.S. Bach, Ellington and Stravinsky. The first night audience was more enthusiastic than the downtown newspaper reviewers. Their applause convinced Leni and Eugene that their Negro ballet had a future.
Von Grona accepted an offer to help Erwin Piscator form a dance school in Houston, Texas. This led to the staging of dance numbers in early American television. His life and career are quite hazy after his first work in Harlem. Although it is known that The Negro Art Theatre Dance Group was founded in the 1920s by Helmsley Winfield, von Grona's attempt at mixing ballet and Harlem blazed a trail for others who would become more successful.
Evidently von Grona returned to Berlin in 1965 to work on a film with Erwin Piscator. Sadly, Piscator died before his project could begin. von Grona subsequently created a jazz school, wrote a musical show and faded into obscurity in a Berlin sanitarium. If any reader has more information, I would be most pleased to hear it.
Tags: Choreography 1930s modern dance jewels black ballet
