Bauhaus Dances

    Debra McCall will discuss her reconstruction of the 1920s Bauhaus dances of Oskar Schlemmer, explain the philosophy and work of Bauhaus artists, and screen a film of her reconstructions on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., at the Watermill Center.

    The Bauhaus, a school of art, crafts, and technology founded in 1919 by the architect Walter Gropius, had a profound influence upon subsequent developments in art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and typography. Its faculty included Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, and Wassily Kandinsky.

    Ms. McCall, a certified movement analyst, teacher of world dance, and former dean of cultural history and director for curriculum at the Ross School, began her research into Schlemmer’s Bauhaus dances in the late ’70s. Her investigations took her to museums and archives in West Germany and to the restored Bauhaus in East Germany. Her reconstructions are considered the definitive interpretations of Schlemmer’s Bauhaus work, and the film of them, which she directed with Robert Leacock, was selected for the American Dance Festival’s first annual International Festival of Film and Video Dance.