Niels Bukh's gymnastics school in Denmark, 1912–1933: Gymnastics, erotics, and male bonding

TY - JOUR

T1 - Niels Bukh's gymnastics school in Denmark, 1912–1933

T2 - Gymnastics, erotics, and male bonding

AU - Bonde, Hans

N1 - CURIS 2015 NEXS 132

PY - 2015/4/13

Y1 - 2015/4/13

N2 - Around 1916–1917 the Danish gymnastics pedagogue Niels Bukh (1880–1950) created, in an international sense, a revolutionary men's gymnastics, and in 1920 he established Denmark's and the world's first folk high school of physical education and sport. During the 1930s, Niels Bukh and his team of gymnasts first became a symbol for the dynamic Danish farming community, and then for the face of Denmark both at home and abroad. Bukh changed the stereotypical male expression of bodily dynamics, which in Danish rural gymnastics had been almost military. He made it legitimate for the young lads to get in close physical contact and to work in pairs in order to create beautiful masculine gymnastic choreographies. Within the aesthetic history of masculinity, it has often been male homosexual aestheticians, designers, musicians, dancers, and so on who have opened new avenues for the expression of male emotion, which was a trademark of Bukh's achievements, too.

AB - Around 1916–1917 the Danish gymnastics pedagogue Niels Bukh (1880–1950) created, in an international sense, a revolutionary men's gymnastics, and in 1920 he established Denmark's and the world's first folk high school of physical education and sport. During the 1930s, Niels Bukh and his team of gymnasts first became a symbol for the dynamic Danish farming community, and then for the face of Denmark both at home and abroad. Bukh changed the stereotypical male expression of bodily dynamics, which in Danish rural gymnastics had been almost military. He made it legitimate for the young lads to get in close physical contact and to work in pairs in order to create beautiful masculine gymnastic choreographies. Within the aesthetic history of masculinity, it has often been male homosexual aestheticians, designers, musicians, dancers, and so on who have opened new avenues for the expression of male emotion, which was a trademark of Bukh's achievements, too.

KW - aesthetics

KW - femininity

KW - gymnastics

KW - masculinity

KW - national identity

U2 - 10.1080/09523367.2015.1018027

DO - 10.1080/09523367.2015.1018027

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0952-3367

VL - 32

SP - 800

EP - 814

JO - International Journal of the History of Sport

JF - International Journal of the History of Sport

IS - 6

ER -