Sonja Bragowa (Stuttgart, 3 August 1903 – Stuttgart, 16 March 1998), born Gertrud Elsa Knieser, was a german expressionist dancer, revue dancer and solo dancer.
Origin
editHer father Oskar, doctor in theology and philosophy, was headmaster of the municipal secondary school, and her mother Berthe Julie, born Bräuchle, was housewife. Gertrud attended conservatory in Stuttgart, but interrupted her studies to devote herself to her passion; dance. At the age of 16 she left home. It is not clear how she could manage to toil for her living in the next years, but soon she danced for the regional theatre of Württemberg to begin with.
Career
editAs chance would have it, one of the main representatives of modern dance, Mary Wigman, who had her dance school in Dresden, was seeking for a dancer to join her dance team. After two intensive years with the dance group of Wigman, Gertrud could start performing solo on international stages as Sonja Bragowa. Later on she decided for another genre: the big revue, which made headlines in those days – a musical festival with extravagant costumes. She performed amongst others in the “Winter garden” in the programme of Teddy Stauffer, which was on the schedule for a whole year in the famous Berlin Theatre. Together with Teddy Stauffer she went on a big tour in Italy, where she also had the opportunity to work with Wanda Osiris, the most popular Italian actress and showgirl of those times. That is how the name Sonja Bragowa, former student of Mary Wigman, made its appearance in those days on the programme of international stages and in newspaper reviews. Actually Sonja Bragowa had planned to go back to Germany and start a dance school together with a colleague. However, at the occasion of a guest performance in Locarno (Ticino, Switzerland) she met the Swiss entrepreneur Pierino Ambrosoli, whom she married in 1932. She renounced to her career as a dancer for the benefit of her marriage and family, and was since then known as Sonja Ambrosoli. The couple settled down in Ascona, where their daughter Daniela was born. Daniela Ambrosoli founded the Pierino Ambrosoli Foundation in 1990 in Zurich in memory of her parents.[1]
Literature
edit• Ursina Fasani, Veronica Provenzale, Michela Zucconi-Poncini: Il cimitero comunale di Ascona: storia e arte di uno spazio identitario, Municipal Museum of Modern Art Ascona 2015, S.84-86
References
edit- ^ References Sonja Bragowa: photos, theatre bulletins, newspaper critics 1925-1929