Trudi Schoop

Trudi Schoop (b. 1904, Switzerland – d. July 14, 1999, Van Nuys, California) was a comedic dancer who pioneered the treatment of mental illness with dance therapy. [cite news | first=Jack | last=Anderson | coauthors= | title=Trudi Schoop, 95, Pioneer In Therapy Using Dance | date=1999-07-23 | publisher= | url =http://www.proquest..umi.com | work =New York Times | pages = | accessdate = 2008-08-07 | language = ]

The Performer

The daughter of the editor of the Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung [cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Comic Dancer | date=1936-01-06 | publisher= | url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,755583,00.html?iid=chix-sphere | work =TIME Magazine | pages = | accessdate = 2008-08-07 | language = ] , Schoop was mostly self-taught, though she did study some ballet and modern dance after she was an established performer. She performed throughout the 1930s and made several tours of the United States, arranged by the impresario Sol Hurok. [cite news | first=Jack | last=Anderson | coauthors= | title=Trudi Schoop, 95, Pioneer In Therapy Using Dance | date=1999-07-23 | publisher= | url =http://www.proquest..umi.com | work =New York Times | pages = | accessdate = 2008-08-07 | language = ] Schoop, the performer, was often referred to as a female Charlie Chaplin. She often toured often under the moniker, "Trudi Schoop and her Dancing Comedians."

Schoop stayed in Switzerland during World War II, and often performed in anti-Fascist cabaret shows. She resumed touring after the war, but disbanded her dance company in 1947 and moved to Los Angeles, California [cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Trudi Schoop | date=1999-08-03 | publisher= | url =http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117883112.html?categoryid=25&cs=1 | work =Variety | pages = | accessdate = 2008-08-07 | language = ] to undertake an exploration of dance as therapy for schizophrenic patients.

The Therapist

Among the several California medical institutions where Schoop worked was the Camarillo State Mental Hospital, where she was recommended as a therapist by UCLA neuropsychiatrists who had reviewed her theories. [cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Trudi Schoop | date=1999-08-03 | publisher= | url =http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117883112.html?categoryid=25&cs=1 | work =Variety | pages = | accessdate = 2008-08-07 | language = ] Schoop developed what she called "body-ego technique," which used movement to help draw patients out of isolation and help them to respond to, rather than shrink from, human contact.

References

Further reading

* Dance Magazine, article, "Trudi's Here Again," (mime Trudi Schoop), February 1938.

* Levy, Fran. 1988. "Trudi Schoop, Dance Movement Therapy: A Healing Art."Reston, Virginia: The American Alliance for Health, Physical Education and Recreation.

* Mitchell, Peggy and Schoop, Trudi, "Won't You Join the Dance: A Dancer's Essay into the Treatment of Psychosis," National Press Books, ISBN 0874842298/9780874842296/0-87484-229-8.

* Young, Therese Adams. "From Dance Mime to Dance Therapy," Thesis (M.A.)--Texas Woman's University, 1986. Microfiche.|bEugene :|cMicroform Publications, College of Human Development and Performance, University of Oregon, |d1988.|e2 microfiches : negative.