Faculty

Margit Legler

Lektorin for historical scenic-gestural performance practice⋅Department Opera & Musical Theatre

Margit Leglers completed an extensive dance education and specialized in historical performance practices (dance, singing, acting). She has staged baroque operas for the Tokyo College of Music, the Hallische Händel-Festspiele, the Schlosstheater Ballenstedt and the Barocktheater Stift Lambach, among others.She has taught historical dance at the Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien since 2006 and at the Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera since 2010. She is professor of historical dance and period acting techniques at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien and has been active at the University of Mozartem since 2011.She also performs as a singer and dancer in the spirit of historical performance practices and gives workshops in Austria and throughout Europe.

Training for stage dance (stage maturity examination in Vienna): Classical ballet with Violanta Stromeyer de Raulino (Vienna), Solange Golovin (Paris), Maggie Black (New York); modern dance with Louis Gonzales - Horton technique (Laban Center London), Julio Enrique Rivera - Horton technique (New York), Jeanne Ruddy - Graham technique (Alvin Ailey Dance Company, New York); flamenco with José de Udaeta, Maria Mercedes León, Nina Corti; historical dance with Eva Campianu - baroque dance (Vienna). Specialisation in historical performance practice (dance, singing, acting): Vocal training with Susan Dennis Gabriel (Vienna), Baroque singing with Inger Wierød (Denmark), among others. International studies in historical dance: Baroque dance in France (Francine Lancelot, Béatrice Massin, Ana Yepes,Christine Bayle and with the Companie Ris et Danceries), Renaissance dance in Italy (Andrea Francalanci and Barbara Sparti); studies in historical acting techniques (Period acting techniques) in England (Dene Barnett and Ian Caddy) and France (Béatrice Cramoix). Studied speech therapy at Vienna General Hospital (diploma thesis 2006: "Musical performance in different aphasia syndromes"), specialising in breathing techniques and voice therapy.

Engagements: 1985-1987 dancer at the Vienna State Opera. Piece contracts with the choreographer Bernd Roger Bienert, Vienna, and Alvin Ailey Dance Company, New York. Appearances as a dancer with historical dance (e.g.: Danze Antiche, Vienna; Passo Ostinato, Ghent; Hortus Musicus, Tallinn; BarockTanzTheaterBremen; Cantus Thuringia & Capella, Weimar; I Confidenti, Berlin) and as a singer in concerts and opera productions.
Foundation of the ensembles L'Azione Teatrale (for historical drama, together with Reinhold Kubik, 1997) and Les plaisirs de la danse (for historical dance, 2005) for the performance of musical stage works in the style of the time (e.g. Il parnaso confuso by Gluck , Il trionfo d'Amore by Gassmann).
Pedagogical activities: Since 1992, together with Reinhold Kubik, numerous workshops for "Gestures and Dramatic Art of the 17th and 18th Century for Singers" in Germany and abroad, including in Vienna, Innsbruck, Graz, Salzburg, Karlsruhe, Michaelstein im Harz, Weimar, Leipzig, Berlin, Potsdam, Basel, Utrecht, Krumau (Cesky Krumlov), Antwerp, London, Oxford, Montpellier, Tokyo and Aarhus.
Lectureships for historical dance at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (1989 to 2009), at the Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera (2010 to 2020) and at the University Mozarteum Salzburg (since 2013); Lectureship for historical acting & gestures (period acting techniques) at the Mozart Opera Institute (MOI) of the University Mozarteum Salzburg (since 2011).
Since 2006 lecturer for historical dance in the dance course at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna; since 2015 professorship for historical dance and period acting techniques (historical acting and gestures) in the dance and early music courses, as well as stage dance for singers in the singing and opera courses.
Productions: 1994 The Magic Flute (Mozart, Tokyo, with Josef Wallnig), 1998 Il parnaso confuso (Gluck, Budapest, with Reinhold Kubik), 2000 Il trionfo d'Amore (Gassmann, Schlosstheater Ballenstedt, with Reinhold Kubik), 2001 Dido & Aeneas ( Purcell, Weimar, with Bernhard Klapprott), 2008 Dido & Aeneas (Purcell, Handel Festival Halle/Saale, Goethetheater Bad Lauchstädt, with Bernhard Klapprott), 2009 Il parnaso confuso (Gluck, Salzburg, Schönbrunn Palace Vienna, courtyard, with Josef Wallnig), 2012 INO (Telemann, Budapest, with Reinhard Goebel), 2012 Il Parnaso confuso (Gluck, Aarhus, Grenå, Give in Denmark, with Reinhold Kubik), 2013 Il Giuoco del Quadriglio (Caldara, Salzburg, with Josef Wallnig), 2014 La Corona (Gluck, Salzburg, with Josef Wallnig).
2017/18 Lucio Cornelio Silla (Handel; Handel Festival Göttingen / Schlosstheater Ludwigsburg, with Dorothee Oberlinger), 2018 Bach BWV 66a (Baroque Days Köthen, with Alexander Grychtolik), 2019 Polifemo (Bononcini; Music Festival Potsdam Sanssouci / Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, with Dorothee Oberlinger). 2022 L´Etearco (Giovanni Bononcini; "Resonances" Konzerthaus Wien, with Alexandra Helldorff).