The Triadic Ballet

ballet by Schlemmer

Also known as: “Das triadisches Ballett”

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July 23, 2026

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The Triadic Ballet, created by Oskar Schlemmer in 1922, is an avant-garde production known for its abstract yet precise approach to dance and costume. Schlemmer, a painter, sculptor, choreographer, and designer, developed this ballet while at the Bauhaus school.1

The ballet is named "Triadic" to reflect its structure: three acts, three dancers, and three colors, with each color assigned to an act. Schlemmer's costumes were revolutionary, utilizing geometric shapes such as cylinders, spheres, cones, and spirals. Premiering in Stuttgart, the ballet was performed internationally throughout the 1920s. Although the music and choreography were lost, the original costumes have been revived.12

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Oskar Schlemmer
…Das triadisches Ballett (1922; “The Triadic Ballet”)—a ballet that he choreographed and for which he designed costumes. He named it “Triadic” to reflect the three acts, three dancers, and three colours (one for each act). The costumes he designed—based on cylinder, sphere, cone, and spiral shapes—were revolutionary. That ballet…
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…Das triadisches Ballett (1922; “The Triadic Ballet”)—a ballet that he choreographed and for which he designed costumes. He named it “Triadic” to reflect the three acts, three dancers, and three colours (one for each act). The costumes he designed—based on cylinder, sphere, cone, and spiral shapes—were revolutionary. That ballet…
Read More

Western dance
Experiments
…pure, geometric form in the Triadisches Ballet performed in Stuttgart in 1922. In 1926 a sound vision of the technological ages, Ballet mécanique (Mechanical Ballet), by the American composer George Antheil (1900–59), was scored for mechanical pianos, automobile horns, electric bells, and airplane propellers. It was written not for the…
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…pure, geometric form in the Triadisches Ballet performed in Stuttgart in 1922. In 1926 a sound vision of the technological ages, Ballet mécanique (Mechanical Ballet), by the American composer George Antheil (1900–59), was scored for mechanical pianos, automobile horns, electric bells, and airplane propellers. It was written not for the…
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theatre
Influence of the fine arts
…under the title of The Triadic Ballet. This work was a fantasy in which the dancers’ costumes transformed them into “metaphysical anatomy.” The ballet achieved the dematerialization of the stage as contrasting shapes in contrasting colours appeared to propel themselves along a variety of paths in three-dimensional space. Experiments were…
Read More
…under the title of The Triadic Ballet. This work was a fantasy in which the dancers’ costumes transformed them into “metaphysical anatomy.” The ballet achieved the dematerialization of the stage as contrasting shapes in contrasting colours appeared to propel themselves along a variety of paths in three-dimensional space. Experiments were…
Read More