Expressionist dance (German “Ausdruckstanz” or “Neuer Tanz”, Swedish “Fridans”) is a term for a movement that arose in 1900 as a protest against the artistic stagnation of classical ballet and towards maturity in the future of art in general. Traditional ballet was perceived as the austere, mechanical and tightly held in fixed and conventional forms. This new dance was freer, natural and less rule-governed. It was strongly influenced by the passage of the expressionistic visual arts. Expressionist dance flourished until World War II, when it disappeared almost completely in Central Europe.