Beatrice Loeb Collection

Original drawings, photographs and letters belonging to Beatrice Mazzoni Loeb, including drawings by Fritz Krämer, artist, as well as notes by Rudolf Laban.

Beatrice Mazzoni first met Rudolf Laban at a performance of the Tanzbuhne Laban in Constance in the 1920s when she was only 14 years of age and became a Labanite thereafter. She enrolled as a student of Dussia Bereska at the short-lived Rome Laban school in 1924. Dussia Bereska formed the Balletto Laban but it proved a difficult task introducing German dance to reluctant Italians. In 1925 Bereska returned to Hamburg with the Kammertanz group which included Beatrice Mazzoni. In 1927 Beatrice joined the Choreographisches Institut in Gillstrasse, Berlin and continued her dance studies under the direction of Laban who became her life-long mentor. She gave several performances and on one of these occasions in Constance she met Edwin Loeb, a Jewish businessman from Stuttgart; they married in the early 1930s but were unable to remain in Germany due to anti-Jewish propaganda. Edwin Loeb left for England in search of work and the necessary entry permits to allow his wife to join him at a later stage. Meanwhile Beatrice opened a children's home in Rapallo, Italy for displaced Jewish children and their relatives who were also escaping Nazi Germany and seeking refuge elsewhere. In 1934 Beatrice gave birth to a daughter in Rapallo and, in 1936, the family of three settled in England to start a new life.

Laban fled Paris to 1937, having been put under house arrest in Germany. In 1938 he arrived in Totnes on a temporary visa on the strength of a personal invitation from his ex-pupil Kurt Jooss. Laban was already well known in England for his unique work as a dance theorist and choreographer. In 1934 the Jooss/Leeder School opened at Dartington Hall; teaching was based on Laban's concepts and dance notation. Lisa Ullmann was a member of the Jooss/Leeder establishment and when Laban arrived in England she became his life-long supporter and partner.

Beatrice Loeb taught dancing at the preparatory school attended by her daughters in Chesham during the war years until 1945, when the family settled in Beckenham, Kent. Beatrice continued to give dance and movement lessons, both privately and at her daughters' school. By this time she became increasingly interested in dance studies; twelve of the original drawings still exist [now in the Laban Archive], others unfortunately have been lost. During the 1950s Beatrice assisted Laban and Ullmann when they ran Modern Dance Holiday courses at Dartington Hall. In the early fifties when the Art of Movement Studio moved from Manchester to Addlestone, Weybridge and funds were badly needed to improve the buildings for additional teaching and performance space, Edwin and Beatrice Loeb donated £5,000, together with £600 by the Laban Guild. Addlestone was bought for £15,000 in 1953 and was the gift of Bill Elmhirst. In the following 13 years grants from the Ministry of Education and Local Education Authorities provided 72% of the centre's income. On 1 March 1955 a list of possible members of an Advisory Committee was discussed, Edwin Loeb's name was included but the Committee was never formed. Beatrice continued to support Laban and Ullmann throughout the 1950s and Laban visited the Loeb family home in Beckenham on several occasions. Edwin, who was a keen photographer, took several photographs of Laban which have been used for the frontispiece for the book 'In just order move' by F.M.G. Wilson and also for the book 'The Mastery of Movement' by Rudolf Laban.

Laban died in 1958 and Beatrice's husband in 1959. This double loss affected her health and she eventually retired to her beloved Rome where she led a quiet life in a religious house well into old age. In 1959 she was made an honorary member of the Laban Guild in recognition of her association with Laban and for her contribution to the furtherance of his work through the means she herself had developed and practised. Her ambition to write a book on dance therapy in collaboration with Laban was unfortunately never fulfilled.

By Melita A. Rowe (nee Loeb)

Open

No restrictions on access apply.

Description compiled by Jane Fowler, Archivist, Laban.

Photocopying and photography is allowed for private research only and due acknowledgement of the author must be made. A 'Copyright Declaration' form must be filled out before any photocopying of archival material can take place. Photographs can only be copied where Laban owns the copyright, a copy is to be included in a final year dissertation or is for personal research. Copying of audiovisual material is not permitted without the permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the Archivist if you would like to copy any material.

This collection has not yet been appraised.

There is a portrait of Fritz Krämer in the Tate Archive collections. One of his oil paintings is held by the London Borough of Camden.