Kazuko Hirabayashi, 82

Kazuko Hirabayashi, Choreographer and Dancers’ Mentor, Dies at 82
by Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times, April 5, 2016

Carole Johnson: Journeys in dance and culture

Carole Johnson: Dance: A Legend's Journey

Published on Dec 22, 2014 by Dr. Tracie O'Keefe, DCH

Carole Johnson is a legend in the Australian Contemporary Dance history. The African-American Juilliard graduate is the founding director of the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Council (NAISDA) Dance College and founder of the world-famous Bangarra Dance Theatre.

In this interview with Dr Tracie O’Keefe DCH, Carole Johnson, choreographer, dancer and dance administrator takes us on a journey from her beginnings in the 1950s where black dancers were not allowed to attend white ballet schools, through to her groundbreaking work in black dance history.

Carole was inducted into the Australian Dance Awards Hall of Fame in 1999 and in 2003 was awarded the Australian Government Centenary medal in recognition of the contribution she has made to the Australian Indigenous community.

"Miss Hill: Making Dance Matter" opens January 23

Modern dance is not a system. It's a point of view. -- Martha Hill

Greg Vander Veer's 80-minute documentary, Miss Hill: Making Dance Matter, explores the visionary path of dance educator Martha Hill, from her Bible Belt upbringing and first sight of a Graham dance through her poignant final years at the Juilliard Dance Division. Bursting with archival footage, photographs and interviews, the film traces dance history through the many lives and careers influenced by Hill. It notes the significance of her support for America's early modern dance pioneers and her prescient insistence on building the total dancer, one grounded in both modern and balletic training.

Vander Veer gives Hill her due as an insightful, nurturing and inspiring leader, tough when she needed to be. He has not shied away from addressing the professional struggles she faced--a society that, when not damning dance as a sinful pursuit, considered dance training to be little better than Phys Ed and for girls only. And then there was Lincoln Kirstein's aggressive move to poach Hill's Juilliard studios for Balanchine and New York City Ballet. The going gets a little heavy here--moneyed, privileged, well-connected NYCB once again pulling focus--but you soon see this ugly episode's relevance to a narrative about fighting for what matters. It takes a strong woman, but it takes a village, too.

See Miss Hill: Making Dance Matter, starting Friday, January 23, at Quad Cinemas. A Q & A with Vander Veer and Coordinating Producer Vernon Scott will follow Friday and Saturday (7pm) and Saturday and Sunday (4:30pm) shows. 

Future public screenings are scheduled for Spokane, WA, Columbus, OH, and Boston.

Distributed by First Run Features. For more information on future screenings or purchase, click here.

Quad Cinema

34 West 13th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues), Manhattan

(directions)

New film on dance educator Martha Hill

MISS HILL: MAKING DANCE MATTER

a documentary film 

by Greg Vander Veer

opens Friday, January 23

at New York City's Quad Cinema

Martha Hill
(1900-1995)

Miss Hill: Making Dance Matter reveals the little known story of Martha Hill, a visionary who fought against great odds to make contemporary and modern dance a legitimate art form in America. In a career spanning most of the 20th century, Hill became a behind the scenes leader of the field and the founding director of The Juilliard Dance Division. Stylistically weaving together over 90 years of archival footage, the film is a celebration of dance and an examination of the passion required to keep it alive.

Showtimes: 1pm, 2:45pm, 4:30pm, 7pm, 9:15pm

Running Time: 1:20

Q+As with filmmaker Greg Vander Veer and Martha Hill Dance Fund president Vernon Scott will follow the Friday and Saturday 7pm shows, and the Saturday and Sunday 4:30pm shows.

For additional information on this film and the Martha Hill Dance Fund--including the November 24 gala honoring Martha Myers and Mary Hinkson--click here.

QUAD CINEMA
34 West 13th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues), Manhattan
(directions)

Ethel Winter, 87 [UPDATE]

Ethel Winter in Martha Graham's Seraphic Dialogue

(Photo by Noyes)

Ethel Winter, former dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company and Juilliard teacher, passed away on March 10th. Born June 18, 1924 in Wrentham, Massachusetts, Ethel Winter earned a BA and MA from Bennington College under the direction of Martha Hill, who was her first contemporary dance teacher and lifelong mentor. Ms. Winter was a soloist with the Sophie Maslow Company, appeared in summerstock, TV, Broadway productions, and directed and choreographed for her own company. She guest taught in colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and abroad, and was a founder of the London School of Contemporary Dance in Britain and the Batsheva School in Israel. Ms. Winter was a permanent faculty member of The Martha Graham School from 1946 to 2006, and at The Juilliard School from 1953 to 2003.

UPDATE

The New York Times obituary, March 17, 2012

Not your typical song and dance...

NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG (NYFOS)

& the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts

present

 INVITATION TO THE DANCE

Wednesday, January 18, 8pm

Peter Jay Sharp Theater at The Juilliard School

Juilliard singers perform songs about dancing (Brahms, James Sellars, Sondheim) and songs with dancing (Gershwin, Berlin, Carlos Gardel, and others)!

STEVEN BLIER, piano & arrangements

JEANNE SLATER, choreography
MICHAEL BARRETT, piano
ANDREW STENVALL, percussion

Featuring nine Juilliard singers:

sopranos Simone Easthope and Karen Vuong

mezzo-sopranos Elizabeth Sutphen and Rachael Wilson

tenors Kyle Bielfield, Nathan Haller, Miles Mykkanen

baritone Tobias Greenhalgh; bass-baritone Leo Radosavljevic

“These young people are classic triple threat entertainers—singers, dancers, and actors of startling individuality.” -- Steven Blier

Tickets: FREE by reservation

Call 212-769-7406 after January 4 to reserve your place.

For more information, click here.

Directions to Juilliard

Swanning around at Juilliard

Choreographer Henning Rübsam of SENSEDANCE offers to tell you everything you always wanted to know about Swan Lake but--particularly after seeing Black Swan--were afraid to ask!

Rübsam promises "a deeper and more detailed examination and discussion of this particular masterwork" in his 10-week, Thursday evening course at the Juilliard School.

To learn more and to register, click here.

What makes a muse? [UPDATED]

THE JUILLIARD SCHOOL EVENING DIVISION
presents

WHAT MAKES A MUSE?

Ballet choreographers discuss who and what inspires them

Host: Henning Rübsam
with Robert Garland, Matthew Neenan and Luca Veggetti


UPDATE: Due to a death in her family, Jessica Lang will not be able to join the panel. Mr. Garland is a resident choreographer at Dance Theater of Harlem and a Juilliard alumnus.

Thursday, December 2
6pm-7:30pm
free admission

Event Room - First Floor
The Juilliard School
60 Lincoln Center Plaza (entrance 65th Street), Manhattan

Juilliard faculty member Henning Rübsam opens up his evening division class "TERPSICHORE: The Muse of Dance" to the public on Thursday, December 2 by inviting fellow choreographers to discuss the role of the muse in their creative lives.

Rübsam asks his fellow choreographers Robert Garland, Matthew Neenan and Luca Veggetti: "What makes a Muse?" 

Choreographer/dancer Henning Rübsam directs SENSEDANCE, a New York City-based dance company, presenting annual NYC seasons since 1992. Since he began to choreograph in 1984, Rübsam created over seventy works, staging and performing them in Australasia, Central and South America, Europe and the U.S. Most recently he and the company performed at the festival Fiesta Iberoamericana de las Artes at Teatro Tapia in San Juan, Puerto Rico, represented the U.S.A. at the Danza Nueva Festival in Lima and toured through Peru. A documentary film about the SENSEDANCE Peru tour by director Greg Vander Veer is forthcoming.

An advocate for his art form, Rübsam introduced dance and dance history to the evening division at Juilliard in 2006, gave a lecture on modern dance for the Young Patrons Program at Lincoln Center in 2009, was the first dance artist to speak at the annual international GEL conference in 2007 and is invited back to lecture in 2011. (www.gelconference.com)