Živa Kraigher: Ko se zgodi ples. Zapisi, dokumenti, spomini

Živa Kraigher (1920–2011) was predominately marked by contemporary dance and her active involvement in the national liberation movement. She began dancing when she was 15 years old and joined the Meta Vidmar School of Contemporary Art Dance in Ljubljana. In 1940, the school organised a production in the Ljubljana Opera House, where she performed an original dance study Pajek (Spider), warning against the spread of Nazism.

In 1943–1953, she developed the dance solo Upor (Revolt), which is considered one of the peaks of contemporary dance in Slovenia. In 1956, she began her independent pedagogical career in Pionirska knjižnica. She attended courses in Paris, Berlin, and Dresden.

Today, she is considered one of the founders of Slovenian contemporary dance. After 2002, she took to gathering and interpreting notes, files, and dance materials that she kept collecting through entire life. This led to a tale of her expressionist dance, her performances, and her students. She left behind a collection of over 900 typed pages and over 2000 documents and photos. We edited them into a publication that brings numerous previously unknow information and data on the history of contemporary dance in Slovenia.