Fascism And The Tiller Girls Summary

Terri K. Gordon’s article “Fascism and the Female Form: Performance Art in the Third Reich” adds to the description of the “Tiller Girls.” Gordon speaks about Fascism during the Weimar period specifically the Nazi regime in Germany. The Nazi culture and regime were known as being strict and repressive. Fosse eludes to this by showing the flashes of Germany outside of the club within the piece. This, however, was the opposite when it came to the arts. Within the arts women were sexualized and thought of as nothing more than an object. During the Third Reich “Hitler Girls” (Gordon, 165) served as the equivalent to the “British Tiller Girls” (Gordon, 165), where both possessed the qualities of unison based movement. During the Third Reich, the arts brought about desire.
“Nazi ideology was driven as much by seduction as by separation” (Gordon, 166). Nazi regime believed that the female body through cabaret or “Ausdruckstanz” (Gordon, 165) provided an outlet where females could be indulgent with their bodies as opposed to the stringent rules and codes in place outside. Once the artist stepped off of the stage the “expectations and desires were redirected to the larger community” (Gordon, 166). Within Fosse’s piece although the dancers’ movement was expressive and indulgent with their bodies the contrasting element of strictness and repressive ideals of Nazi Germany were still present. This strictness is seen within the linear formations, the tight unison, and the control the music had over the dancers’ movements. Although the club was thought of as a place of freedom and desire for men, it was anything but that for