The movement educator and filmmaker Gerburg Fuchs (Berlin) visited the mdw at the end of January 2026 as an incoming expert to present her documentary film Rhythmische Räume – Hellerau, ein Ort der Moderne at the Arthouse Cinema. Beginning in 1909, Hellerau/Dresden was a centre for a new kind of design and a new architectural style, a new form of interior design, for a reform of musical education and cultural participation, and for an avant-garde performance art.Today’s rhythmics—formerly referred to as “rhythmic gymnastics”—also had its beginnings there in 1910–1911, then finding its way from Hellerau/Dresden to Laxenburg, near Vienna. Since 1959, it has been an independent course of study at the mdw: Music and Movement Education/Rhythmics.

In addition to the film screening and subsequent conversation, Gerburg Fuchs attended teaching sessions held by mdw instructor Christoph Falschlunger in the area of “Rhythmics in inclusive and therapeutic education”.

Work was also done on their current project “Lauschen in Bewegung – Spurensuche Inklusion”, based on historical sources from the rhythmists Dore Jacobs (1894–1979) and Mimi Scheiblauer (1891–1968) and the movement educator Elfriede Hengstenberg (1892–1992).

Gerburg Fuchs writes: “Showing the documentary film ‘Rhythmische Räume’ at the Arthouse Cinema was an inspirational event, and experiencing the professional exchange for a new cooperation in a dialogue there was greatly enriching. Many thanks—I am very much looking forward to further collaborative work!”

“Lauschen in Bewegung – Spurensuche Inklusion” (Essen, Cologne, Berlin)

Report by Christoph Falschlunger

Following up on Gerburg Fuchs’s visit and the professional exchange that took place there, at the beginning of March 2026, I was able to use a PhD short-term mobility for my research and explore Mimi Scheiblauer’s work in the area of therapeutic education in the Tanzarchiv Köln. I had already taken advantage of my visits to Cologne in 2016 and 2018 to obtain a rough overview of the estate. During my most recent visit, I had time to delve even deeper into the subject and to view material related to my specific research topic. I was able to unearth a number of “treasures” for my dissertation, but the amount of material in some areas is so large that a more in-depth examination is necessary.

I utilised the subsequent teacher exchange through Erasmus+ to join Gerburg Fuchs in designing and presenting two workshop weekends in the series “Lauschen in Bewegung”. At the Dore-Jacobs-Haus in Essen and at the Tanz-Atelier in Berlin—the latter in cooperation with the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK)—a small group of interested educators, rhythmists, and caregivers both young and old attended the workshop to explore the topic of “Spurensuche Inklusion” on the basis of historical sources from Jacobs, Scheiblauer, and Hengstenberg. Both workshops were characterised by intensive work phases, profound conversations, and visions for new inclusive projects.

The courses left all of us mutually enriched and with the idea of working together in the future as well and maintaining our exchange.

The announcement of our workshops has had further repercussions: We have been invited to a continuing-education day on rhythmics in Lucerne in autumn 2026, and we have also received enquiries about the workshop from Vienna. This “new” format of approaching source material in movement and to explore its relevance for today in exchange showed Gerburg Fuchs and me that the young generation has an interest in history as well, and that the influence of the pioneers of the past century, with their texts, pictures, and films, is still felt today. Our collaboration was wonderful and very fruitful!

Photo credits: Klaus Göhr, Ruth Vanhommerig, Christoph Falschlunger