Olga Desmond

Olga Desmond (born Olga Antonie Sellin; 2 November 1890 – 2 August 1964) was a German dancer, actress, art model and living statue. Olga Antonie Sellin was born on 2 November 1890 in Allenstein, East Prussia (now Olsztyn, Poland), and shared a home with thirteen brothers and sisters. At the age of fifteen, she left her family and joined a theatre act in London. In 1906, she attended the Marie Seebach School of the Königliches Schauspielhaus Berlin. In 1906/7, she joined a group of artists including Lovis Corinth and appeared as Venus during the group's nine-month tour at the London Pavilion where they put on "plastic representations." They were permitted to perform nearly nude provided they kept still, and used a curtain to hide them when they moved between scenes.In Berlin, she co-founded the Association for Ideal Culture and gave shows called "living pictures" in which she posed after the manner of ancient classical works of art. Upon returning to Berlin, she changed her name to Olga Desmond, working with Adolf Salge. She began to create her own show, and would dance with a veil. Eventually she switched to a long mediaeval-style belt. The more she posed, the more she realized that she wanted to move on stage. She wanted to bring nudity to life. These so-called "Evenings of Beauty" (Schönheitsabende) were prohibited on more than one occasion starting from 1908, because the actors usually posed nude or wearing only bodypaint. She defended them by comparing them with the classical Greek ideal of nudity. Variety reported in 1909 that she had been ordered to cover up when performing at the Crystal Palace, Leipzig, where she was earning $200 per night, but the police in Frankfurt did not stop her performing there. She also introduced solo dances between the tableaux and a new performance piece, Der Schwertertanz [Sword Dance] performed between two upward pointed spearheads set on the stage floor. This led to invitations to appear around Germany and in St Petersburg.