Gertrud Kraus

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Gertrud Kraus (5 May 1901 – 13 November 1977) was an Israeli pioneer of modern dance. She was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, to Leopold Kraus and Olga Neubauer, in a family with four children. She studied piano at the Vienna State Academy but later chose dance. She trained in modern dance under Gertrud Bodenwieser, joined Bodenwieser’s company, then opened her own studio and began performing solos. Her early work was known as expressionist or German dance.

In 1929 she was the chief assistant to Rudolf von Laban for a parade at the Vienna Festival. In 1930 a promoter invited her to perform in Mandate Palestine, and the tour was very successful. In 1933 her company staged Die Stadt wartet (The City Waits), a piece about the modern city. That year, as Hitler rose to power, she performed in Vienna.

While in Prague in 1933 for the Zionist Congress, she was approached by communist recruiters. The next day she asked to immigrate to Palestine, and by 1935 she moved there, settling in Tel Aviv. She started a modern dance company connected with the Palestine Folk Opera, probably the only one of its kind.

In 1949 she won a scholarship to the United States to learn new dance trends. In 1950–1951 she founded the Israel Ballet Theatre and served as its artistic director, but it closed after a year due to money problems. Kraus spent the rest of her life teaching dance and also painting and sculpting. She received the Israel Prize in dance in 1968. Her legacy is preserved by the Yad Gertrud Kraus in Ein Hod.