The Modern Dance: Seven Statements of Belief

CONTRIBUTORS

CONTRIBUTORS JOSE LIMON "A man of dignity," said his citation for the Capezio Award in 1964, "whose years of intense struggle have culminated in his position as indisputably the foremost male dancer in the field of the American modern dance." Born in Mexico, Jose Limon knew many years of struggle before he became a leading dancer for Doris Humphrey and eventually had his own company, with Miss Humphrey as artistic director. With his group, he has toured Europe, South America, and the Orient under the auspices of the United States State Department. For many years Mr. Limon has headed the faculty of the Connecticut College School of Dance. He holds an honorary doctorate from Wesleyan University. In 1964 he was named artistic director of the American Dance Theatre, a company sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts to serve as a repository for the repertory of the American modern dance. ANNA SOKOLOW Known as one of the most dynamic and uncompromising of the modern dance choreographers, Anna Sokolow began her career as a member of the Martha Graham company, forming her own group in 1937. She has worked in Mexico for the government's Ministry of Fine Arts, and in Israel, both with the Yemenite company Imbal and with her own ensemble of actor-dancers. In addition to choreographing for her New York company, Miss Sokolow has created dances for the Broadway theatre and for the Robert Jeffrey Ballet. She has been in charge of training in movement for actors for the 104 Lincoln Center Repertory Theatre since its inception. In 1962 she received the Dance Magazine Award for a career "distinguished by integrity and creative boldness" and for her recent works, which "have opened the road to a penetratingly human approach to the jazz idiom." ERICK HAWKINS A graduate of Harvard (Greek literature and art), Erick Hawkins was a member of the American Ballet before 1938, when he joined the Martha Graham company and became its leading male dancer. Since 1957 he has had his own group, for which he creates dances in close collaboration with musician Lucia Dlugoszewski and designer Ralph Dorazio. The company has toured extensively in the United States and has appeared in Paris. The philosopher F. S. C. Northrop has described the dances of Erick Hawkins as evoking "the proud pleasure of being splendidly justified in living." The dancing of them he calls "unique butterfly poetry." DONALD McKAYLE In 1963 the Capezio Award cited Donald McKayle "for his translation of deeply rooted American folk materials . . . into theatre dances of interracial cast which faithfully reflect life in our land." A student of Martha Graham, he danced also in the companies ofAnnaSokolow and Merce Cunningham. Since 1951 he has created works for his own company, as well as for television and the Broadway stage. His most recent contribution to the latter was Golden Boy. ALWIN NIKOLAIS The Director of the Henry Street Playhouse Dance Company not only choreographs his own theatre pieces but composes their musical (usually electronic) scores as well. In addition to showing his company on their own stage at the Playhouse, Mr. Nikolais has presented them at festivals in Montreal and Spoleto. His works have been seen on television films made in Canada, England, and Italy, and are known to a large public (tremendous for modern dance) through 105 seven appearances on the Steve Allen Show. Mr. Nikolais has received commissions for new theatre works from the University of Illinois, the American Dance Festival, and the Montreal Arts Festival . In 1964 he held a Guggenheim Fellowship, and in 1965 he was commissioned by the Walker Art Foundation to create a new piece for the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. PAULINE KONER When she was thirteen, Michel Fokine said, "In her, the soul dances." Her career has ever since inspired similar phrases. At first a concert soloist, Miss Koner joined the company of Jose Limon in 1946, creating leading roles in many of the finest works of Limon and of Doris Humphrey. She has choreographed for her own group since 1949, and has become known also as a teacher, especially for her course in the art of performing, which she has given at Jacob's Pillow as well as at the Connecticut College School of Dance. In 1965 Pauline Koner spent six months in Japan, teaching and performing, as the recipient of a Fulbright-Hayes Lecturers' Grant. She is now...