History

1902
8th January: Margarethe Paluka born in Munich
Family stays in California, USA

1906-1909
Palucca attends Margarete Balsat’s School for Upper-Class Girls in Dresden (again 1917-1918)

1912-1914
Ballet lessons with Heinrich Köller in Dresden, then in Munich from 1918

1914-1917
High School for girls in Plauen/Vogtland

1920-1923
Student of Mary Wigman in Dresden, from 1921 performances as member of the Wigman Chamber Dance Group

1921
Margarethe Paluka changes her name to Gret Palucca

1924-1930
Married to Friedrich Bienert, contact to Bauhaus artists through the Bienert family

1924
Soloist dance evening at Vereinshaus Dresden: beginning of Palucca’s career as a soloist dancer

1925
Opening of Palucca School Dresden; opening of local branches in Berlin (1928) and Stuttgart (1931)

1939
Palucca is barred from teaching in the Third Reich because of her Jewish ancestry

1945
13th February: Air raid on Dresden, Palucca loses all her possessions
15th July: Re-opening of Palucca School Dresden
31st July: First dance evening after the war at Tonhalle Dresden
until 1950: Palucca tours again through Germany

1949
Nationalisation of Palucca School Dresden

1950
Final tour, end of on-stage career
Founding member of the (East) German Academy of Arts

1952
July: Beginning of the construction work on the School’s new building at Basteiplatz
October: Palucca resigns as Head of School due to the Government Commission for Arts Affairs’ interference with the School’s work

1954
January: Johannes R. Becher, First Minister for Culture of the GDR, appoints Palucca as Artistic Director of Palucca School Dresden

1955
Completion of the School’s new building

1959
Renewed dissensions with GDR culture policy officials, who want to see the School transformed into a Soviet-style socialist professional school of dance
To gain support for her demands, Palucca briefly goes to West Germany

1962
Palucca appointed as professor

1965-1970
Vice-President of the (East) German Academy of Arts

1970-1974
Guest Professor at the Statens Dansskola in Stockholm (Sweden)

1972
Golden Order of Merit for the Fatherland of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany)

1979
Honorary Citizen of the City of Dresden

1981
National Prize of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) 1st Class

1983
German Dance Prize of the German Professional Association of Dance Teacher Training

1991
Final lessons as a teacher at Palucca School Dresden

1992
Great Cross of Merit with Star and Shoulder Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany

1993
22nd March: Palucca dies in Dresden
1st April: Burial at the island cemetery in Kloster on the Isle of Hiddensee