Körperbilder der Berliner Revue

Naked girls adorned only with pearls and feathers, athletic girl troupes, and exotic-looking black dancers like Josephine Baker in banana skirts: the 1920s offered audiences in revue theaters shows of extremes that caused a sensation, especially in formerly prudish Berlin. "Dancing on the Volcano" is a symbol of the time.

Historian Julia Preißer examines the body images used by journalists and theater makers to characterize dancers and actresses. There is more to the "wild" jazz dancer, the optimistic, athletic "girl," the woman as sex object, the aloof, mystical "exotic," and the emancipated "new woman" than meets the eye.

Dozens of newspaper articles, old programs, photographs, billboards, and popular books from the 1920s offer interesting insights into an era that remains fascinating to this day.

"Julia Preißer offers an interpretation of the role of women in the revues examined, which balances the racist, cultural essentialist influences of the time with the genre's own dynamics and the specific expectations of a particular urban milieu." Prof. Jürgen G. Nagel (historian)

The book was awarded the "Hagen History Prize" in 2022.

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