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

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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.

Original languageEnglish
JournalInternational Journal of the History of Sport
Volume32
Issue number6
Pages (from-to)800-814
Number of pages15
ISSN0952-3367
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

    Research areas

  • aesthetics, femininity, gymnastics, masculinity, national identity

ID: 135482537