Beer, Egon

dance teacher

born: 23.10.1902 in Wiesbaden

died: 24.02.1996 in Wiesbaden

After Bier, son of the founder of the Bier dance school, left school, he first signed on to a ship at the age of 16 and worked as a drummer. On his return, the former Oranienschule pupil joined his father Julius' dance school and began teaching himself.

In 1921, for example, he taught the tango milonga in Berlin, which he had learned in Wiesbaden during the French occupation. During a stay as a ballet student in Hamburg, he met his first wife, Ria Schwormstädt - a solo dancer and daughter of a Hamburg dance school teacher - whom he married in 1926. Together with her, he also worked as a dance teacher on cruise ships for some time.

In 1926, Bier took over the management of the Wiesbaden Kurhaus balls from his father, a position he had held since 1908. Two years later, he also ran the dance school, which was still located in the former Plato Lodge in Friedrichstraße. In 1930, the Bier tournament dance group was founded, from which the Blau-Orange e.V. dance club emerged in 1934.

Bier traveled extensively to learn new dances and trends, which he passed on to his colleagues and students. In the USA, for example, he studied tap dancing with Fred Astaire. Together with his son Udo, who had also been working as a dance teacher since 1946, he traveled to the USA and the Caribbean again in the 1950s, from where they brought the cha-cha-cha, which originated in Cuba, back to Europe.

During this time, Bier had frequent contact with the film industry, as numerous productions were made in Wiesbaden. For the 1953 film "Käpt'n Bay Bay" with Hans Albers, he was hired as the actor for a mambo.

Bier taught at his dance school until he was very old. He was still giving tap dance lessons at the age of 87, making him the oldest active dance teacher in Germany.

Bier was buried in the Südfriedhof c emetery.