New book on OD, Danish gymnastics, academies, politics and cultural history on the occasion of the 100\u2019th anniversary of Academy of Physical Education, Ollerup.<\/p>\n
No state, organization, private company or school can be established or developed by individuals, regardless of their knowledge, capabilities, passion or ability to act. But personal leadership is nevertheless one of the decisive factors for the inner strength and coherence of states, organizations, private companies and schools. And, in particular, competent and committed personal leadership has great significance and value for states, organizations, companies and schools\u2019 relationships with the outside world. Personal leadership is a central thema in professor, Ph.D. and Dr. Phil. in history Hans Bonde\u2019s new book: \u201cFrom the outskirt to the frontskirt. The fight of gymnastics for a century\u201d (University Press of Southern Denmark, 2020), which was published on the occasion of the Academy of Physical Education, Ollerup 100\u2019th anniversary. And let it be said right away: The book is excellent storytelling, both in words and pictures.<\/p>\n
An amazing journey in words and pictures<\/strong><\/p>\n The book brings the reader on an exciting continuous journey in which events \u2013 gymnastics performances, international and domestic tours of gymnastics and events, buildings and artworks, democracy festivals and much, much more \u2013 are described in 100 entries by one or more sources. The sources are central actors \u2013 as via Bonde\u2019s interpretation \u2013 appearing with views, attitudes and memories based on a string of images from past and present. The historical witnesses are wide ranging from former students, teachers, principals, gymnastics instructors, journalists, architects, professors, diplomats, ministers to King Christian X., creates a coherent process based on extremely comprehensive documentation.<\/p>\n The book contains an in-march and an out-march, like any popular gymnastics performance, seven chapters and written references. The in-march sets the stage for the book\u2019s structure and main themes, as well as describes Bonde\u2019s personal relationship with the Academy of Physical Education, Ollerup from the early 1990\u2019s, when then the former principal Gunnar B. Hansen assigned Bonde the responsibility of preparing an impartial doctoral dissertation based on Niels Bukh\u2019s private archives, which had been \u201d hidden \u201cknowledge of the public since Bukh\u2019s death in 1950.<\/p>\n Niels Bukh \u2013 A charismatic gymnastics educator with naive political visions<\/strong><\/p>\n Each chapter describes a historical period in which gymnastics such as cultural, physical, political, social and aesthetic phenomena are closely linked to concrete events, which have for decades left deep traces and crucial inspiration for the lives of many young people, both from Denmark and abroad. The motto of the academy: \u201cWord and deed\u201d (OD) has been far more than three small words for a century. The OD has also been the term for \u201cOllerup Gymnastics Instructor\u201d, which more than 20,000 has achieved through an academy education of at least 12 weeks. However, Bonde emphasizes that \u201c\u2026 words alone do not move very much. There must be action (deed) for \u201cand\u201d However, the cultivation of \u201caction\u201d rather than thought can also lead to an anti-intellectualism that renounces critical reflection and dialogue \u201c(p. 18). With this in mind, the book\u2019s first two chapters \u201cA New Man Type\u201d (1920-1932) and \u201cThe German Draw\u201d (1933-1943) are fascinating reading. The chapters focus on at Bukh\u2019s start-up of the Academy of Physical Education, which compared to the traditional Danish college with a focus on \u201cthe living word\u201d and the song, used the body and specifically the gymnastics as a central language and tool. Niels Bukh and the Academy of Physical Education were a natural part of a Danish national revival, where the rural population, through the cooperative movement and, not least, gymnastics and shooting clubs, developed a cultural and political commitment, both locally in the parishes and nationally in the party Left. In the first half of the 20\u2019th century, gymnastics was not a sport such as football, athletics and swimming, but \u201c\u2026 an active cultural force that, in the countryside, partly shapes entire generations of young men and women, partly as an alternative to urban competition and finally through innumerable displays become the landmark of Danish abroad \u201d(p. 17). The first two chapters come very close to the charismatic, gay and politically naive Niels Bukh, who over a very short period \u2013 together with students, staff and locals \u2013 is building a cultural center in South of Funen with an impressive main building, the country\u2019s first indoor swimming pools (1926) and one of Europe\u2019s largest sports halls (1932). Bukh\u2019s sympathy, admiration and desire for cooperation with other strong men in dictatorships \u2013 such as Hitler in Nazi Germany and Mussolini in Italy \u2013 is also more long-lasting and powerful than many other Danes who only \u201cswitched\u201d towards the end of World War II. Today it is a well-known case that many Danish business owners earned huge sums, both before and during World War II, on working with or working for the German war machine. But Bukh never seriously distanced himself from his political views and attitudes after the end of World War II in 1945. Therefore, Bukh\u2019s last year of life until his death as a 70-year-old in 1950 became a personal decline of dimensions. These years are described in the book\u2019s third chapter \u201cA new direction\u201d (1944-1950), which also shows that a large loan from the Left government in 1948, loyal staff and former OD\u2019s support surprisingly quickly reduced the student numbers at the rebuilt adecamy to the time before the Occupation.<\/p>\n The hard way out of Bukh\u2019s \u201cshadow\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The book\u2019s fourth chapter \u201cIn the Footsteps of the Master\u201d (1951-1967) covers a long-standing and tiring internal power struggle between Arne Mortensen and J\u00f8rgen A. Broegaard, who shared the position of principal of the Academy of Physical Education, Ollerup after Bukh\u2019s death. After hiring as a gymnastics teacher in 1936, Arne Mortensen was the principal of the academy\u2019s elite team and his closest friend Bukh\u2019s obvious replacement as the head of the academy, but \u201cMorten\u201d was without a qualifying education. That criterion met J\u00f8rgen A. Broegaard, who had been a student at the academy in the 1930\u2019s and subsequently trained as a theologian and thereby qualified to be responsible for the academy\u2019s historical, cultural and spiritual subjects. However, the two \u201cco-proprietors\u201d disagreed with the management of the \u201clegacy of Bukh\u201d. Arne Mortensen wanted to continue the academy\u2019s \u201cspirit, soul and gymnastics\u201d as the model Bukh, while Broegaard preferred a critical overlook of Bukh\u2019s homosexuality and political attitudes, especially during the Occupation. Bukh\u2019s faithful arms \u2013 Arne Mortensen \u2013 won the power struggle in 1966, when the board of the Academy of Physical Education, Ollerup elected by resignation J\u00f8rgen A. Broegaard. And thus, the \u201cBukh cult\u201d, which also includes extreme conservatism, both politically and gymnastic, could be continued until the next change of principal in 1976.<\/p>\n The youth uprising, which \u201cpassed\u201d the Academy of Physical Education, Ollerup<\/strong><\/p>\n Prior to this change, however, there were major changes, both nationally and internationally, outside the walls of the Academy of Physical Education, Ollerup. These changes in the form of rebellion against authorities, sexual emancipation, gender equality, barbed wire music and free hash are described in the book\u2019s fifth chapter \u201cYouth rebellion and Ollerup\u201d (1968-1975). The youth rebellion cultural release, however, moved far beyond the Academy of Physicial Educaton, Ollerup to the principal Arne Mortensen undivided satisfaction. He stated the following to the media in 1970: \u201cThere is no breeding ground for a youth rebellion here at the Academy. Young people cannot be trained without the use of authority. The foundation on which Niels Bukh created the Academy is still the Academy\u2019s \u201d. It was therefore both an external pressure and an inner \u201cnecessity\u201d \u2013 far rather than the wishes or needs of the Board of the Academy and many former OD\u2019s \u2013 that in the early 1990s, ie. more than 40 years after the death of founder Niels Bukh, a \u201cSettlement with the Past\u201d (1976-1998). Gunnar B. Hansen, who had been a student at the Academy, the headcoach of the elite team, the vice-chancellor, found it crucial for the academy\u2019s current reputation and not least the forward-looking credibility to illuminate Bukh as a master and human being \u2013 with his strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n Inspiration for some gymnastics and sports colleges \u2013 and a counter parts to others<\/strong><\/p>\n Calculated with the \u201cfather figure\u201d Niels Bukh is the main topic of the book\u2019s sixth chapter, which also deals with the description of the new principal Gunnar B.\u2019s introduction of Beatles music to primitive gymnastics, student democracy and international students\u2019 courses in democracy and sports life. This chapter also describes the role of the Academy of Physical Education, Ollerup for role models or counterparts for other of the country\u2019s academies and sports colleges. At many academies and sports colleges, including \u201cGerlev Idr\u00e6tsh\u00f8jskole\u201d (1935), \u201cViborg Gymnastikh\u00f8jskole\u201d (1951), \u201cIdr\u00e6tsh\u00f8jskolen i S\u00f8nderborg\u201d (1952), Idr\u00e6tsh\u00f8jskolen i Aarhus (1971) and Nordjyllands Idr\u00e6tsh\u00f8jskole (1986) were principals and by far the majority teachers were former students or teachers from Academy of Physical Education, Ollerup. But there were also sports colleges, \u201cDen Jyske Idr\u00e6tsh\u00f8jskole\u201d (1943) and \u201cIdr\u00e6tsskolerne i Oure\u201d (1987), which was established on the basis of competitive sports with coach-education in football, athletics, sailing, golf or modern dance. And with professional profiles, rules of order and living, which lay far from the Academy of Physical Education, Ollerup.<\/p>\n The balance between tradition and renewal \u2013 the folk high schools\u2019 most important task<\/strong><\/p>\n The book\u2019s seventh chapter, \u201cCulminated Jumping Series \u2013 Flagship for Democracy\u201d (1998-2020), focuses on the past two decades with the current principal Uffe Strandby, former student of the Academy of Physical Education, as front figure. The chapter has two central themes: Renovation and new construction as well as the introduction of new forms of \u201cgymnastics\u201d. The \u201cbite tradition\u201d, introduced by Niels Bukh in 1922 and still practicing today, has created impressive buildings at the Academy. But daily wear and building materials of varying quality have also, in recent years, caused a great need for renovations and more modern facilities, such as a state-of-the-art spring center, which was inaugurated in 2002. And most recently, the old sports hall has been transformed into a modern multifunctional arena with mobile spectator stands for gymnastics performances, sports events, exhibitions, concerts and congresses. The renovation of the sports hall, indoor and outdoor swimming pool as well as works of art around the school area has been provided through donations from private foundations such as \u201cRealdania\u201d, \u201cNy Carlsberg Foundation\u201d and \u201cA.P. M\u00f8ller Fonden\u201d. The renovation and the new facilities have also meant that the academy\u2019s professional profile in gymnastics has changed radically. Today, modern dance, fitness, parkour, crossfit, team gym, tumbling, zumba, yoga and performance are weighted on the same level as earlier \u201ccore disciplines\u201d: jumping gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics. With the extension of the academic profile, the Academy of Physical Education, Ollerup has managed to balance tradition and renewal, which is one of the most important tasks of the academies and colleges.<\/p>\n Out-march brings together the seven chapters into a clear and precise synthesis. But most importantly, Bonde sets out a number of choices and clues for the development of the Academy of Physical Education, Ollerup, which everyone with heart and brain for the Academy has the right and duty to relate to. Anniversary book \u201cFrom the outskirt to the frontskirt. The fight of gymnastics for a century \u201cdeserves a standing ovation for several minutes \u2013 and the Academy of Physical Education, Ollerup deserves thanks for\u201d words and deeds \u201cas well as good luck with the next 100 years.<\/p>\n You can read more at the Acedemy of Physical Education, Ollerup here: https:\/\/ollerup.dk\/<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"