Anne von Bibra
Assistant Professor of Dance
Office: 308 Dittmann Center Phone: 507-786-3663
vonbibra@stolaf.edu
B.A., Louisiana State
M.A., UCLA
- International dance
- Ballroom
- Dance companies
Anne Louise von Bibra joined the St. Olaf dance faculty in 1987 after completing her Masters in Dance with a specialization in Ethnology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She has conducted field work in Germany, specifically in the region known as Franconia, located in the northern half of the state of Bavaria. Her master's thesis, entitled "Continuity and Change in the Dance Events of Two Lower-Franconia Villages in the Twentieth Century," was based on this research. Anne also has a special interst in Hungarian, Scandinavian, Balkan and Javanese dance, although she is interested in dance from all cultures. Anne's current research project concerns dance and ideology, particularly the use and abuse of "folk dance" under the National Socialist regime in Germany during the 1930s-40s. Before moving to Minnesota, Anne performed with Avaz International Dance Theatre and Karpathok Hungarian Folk Dance Ensemble in Los Angeles. She has been a dancer with the Minneapolis-based Ethnic Dance Theater since 1988, and is currently working on a large group choreography for the company. She has also taught classes through Ethnic Dance Theater's School. At St. Olaf College, Anne teaches technique classes in Ballroom Dance, International Dance and American Dance Traditions as well as a theory class which combines classroom and studio experiences entitled World Dance Traditions. In 1989 she founded Veselica, an international dance ensemble at St. Olaf College. The company performs dances from a variety of dance cultures, a sampling of which includes Armenia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Mexico, Norway, Romania, and Sumatra, Indonesia. Anne is a member of the Dance Study Group of the International Council for Traditional Music, the Congress on Research in Dance, the Bayerische Verein fur Heimatpflege, and the American Alliance for Heatlth, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance.
