Live Gym Classes At Home

Abstract

Abstract The Covid-19 pandemic has forced people worldwide to stay home for long periods. Dance schools and sports clubs have organized online courses. Homes have thus become a stage for body movements. Although online gym classes seem like a new phenomenon, they had a predecessor in the radio gym classes of the 1930s. Belgian dancer Lea Daan (1906–1995), schooled in modern dance by German choreographer Rudolf von Laban, gave gym classes in Dutch for the newly founded National Radio Institute and succeeded in creating a sense of community without any visual means. This paper investigates how Daan organized these live classes and how they fitted within the broader framework of home culture during the economic crisis. We also reflect on the relation between the private and public spheres, a relation reinforced by the modern home through specific architectural elements intended to reform all household members.