The Green Table (German Der Grüne Tisch), is Kurt Jooss’ breakthrough ballet from 1932 and “a turning point in the history of modern dance drama” (Erik Näslund, Birgit Cullberg, pg. 34). Set during the interwar period of the 1930s, the green table is the meeting place for diplomats and statesmen who discuss, argue, and mock one another all while a war rages and death takes its victims. In expressive scenes, the shortcomings of these ten statesmen is depicted. Wearing elaborate masks they make unsuccessful attempts to mediate peace.
The Green Table was created a year before Hitler came to power and Jooss wanted to show in his work how much he disliked war. The Green Table was first presented by Folkwang Tanzbuhne at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris on July 3, 1932, as part of the “Concours international de chorégraphie en souvenir de Jean Börlin” (International Choreography Competition in Jean Börlin’s memory) where the ballet won first prize. It was the Swedish’s Dance Museum’s patron Rolf de Maré and his Archives Internationales de la Danse who arranged the competition. Despite Jooss making an early international breakthrough, he was forced in 1933 to flee Nazi Germany with his entire dance troupe after refusing to stop collaborating with the Jewish composer Fritz Cohen and likewise refusing to fire the Jewish dancers in the troupe. The company moved to Dartington in the UK and took the name Ballets Jooss. After that, they toured in Europe and America until the 1950s. Jooss returned to Essen in 1949, where he worked until 1968. Birgit Cullberg studied for a period with Jooss.