Trudi Schoop

Trudi Schoop (October 9, 1904 – July 14, 1999) was a Swiss dancer, mime, Broadway performer, and book writer born in Zurich, Switzerland, who became a pioneering figure in the use of dance as a therapeutic treatment for mental illness. Her father was the editor of the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and her younger sister was Hedi Schoop. Though largely self-taught, Schoop did pursue some study of ballet and modern dance after she had already established herself as a performer.

Throughout the 1930s, Schoop built an international performance career, making multiple tours of the United States under the management of impresario Sol Hurok. She frequently toured under the name "Trudi Schoop and her Dancing Comedians" and was widely compared to Charlie Chaplin for her comic performance style. Her Broadway work during this period included starring roles in Want Ads and Fridolin On the Road, as well as an appearance in Barbara. Her Broadway activity spanned from 1935 to 1947, and she also contributed as a book writer to productions during that time.

During World War II, Schoop remained in Switzerland and performed in anti-Fascist cabaret productions. The American Journal of Dance Therapy later documented one notable act of protest in which she danced a portrayal of Hitler as the Dying Swan, wearing a black tutu to suggest an SS uniform and a drawn-on mustache. The performance provoked outrage from the German consul and unease within the Swiss government.

After the war, Schoop resumed touring before disbanding her dance company in 1947 and relocating to Los Angeles, California. There she began working with schizophrenic patients, exploring movement as a form of treatment. She worked at several California medical institutions, including Camarillo State Mental Hospital, where UCLA neuropsychiatrists who had evaluated her theories recommended her as a therapist. Schoop developed what she termed body-ego technique, an approach using movement to help patients emerge from isolation and engage with human contact rather than withdraw from it. In Los Angeles she also worked alongside Tina Keller-Jenny, and in the 1960s she collaborated with Dr. Joan Chodorow, a dance therapist and pioneer of Authentic Movement.

Schoop is recognized as one of the founders of dance/movement therapy. She died on July 14, 1999, in Van Nuys, California.