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John Bubbles revolutionized tap dance as the first tapper to drop his heels. By using his entire foot (heel and toe), he created rhythmically complex and syncopated footwork while maintaining a relaxed upper body. Today, we call this style rhythm tap. Born John William Sublett in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1902, Bubbles started performing at age […]
During a time when universities were just beginning to offer dance degrees, Bessie Schönberg invigorated the study of dance composition in higher education. She was a celebrated composition teacher at Sarah Lawrence College for nearly 40 years, known for championing her students’ individuality. A revered mentor, she helped shape the creative work of four generations […]
As a member of the ground-breaking dance collective Judson Dance Theater in the 1960s, Trisha Brown carved out a reputation as a highly innovative choreographer. Over six decades, she created a diverse body of more than 100 works, using a process-oriented approach and rule-based structures. Born in Aberdeen, Washington, Brown studied ballet, tap, jazz and […]
Erick Hawkins made modern dance history as the first male dancer accepted into Martha Graham’s company, but he also earned success as a choreographer and creator of the Hawkins technique. His movement was characterized by a free-flow aesthetic—one that required hidden strength—and informs many of the somatic disciplines we know today, like Body-Mind Centering technique. […]
Agrippina Vaganova (1879–1951) transformed ballet training, melding French Romanticism and Italian strength and athleticism with Russian expressivity. The publication of her book, Basic Principles of Classical Ballet, systemized her technique that is now the foundation for ballet schools all over the world. Vaganova was born in St. Petersburg with ballet already in her blood: Her […]
“The body never lies,” Martha Graham famously said. With these four words and her stage work, Graham brilliantly countered the fixed belief that the body and mind are separate entities. Inspired by this revolutionary view, Marian Chace (1896–1970), who briefly studied with Graham, began exploring the mind-body interrelationship on a very different stage—the wards of […]
Choreographer, dancer, and teacher Donald McKayle established a strong foothold for dancers of color by creating work that commented on social injustices, challenged racial norms, and conveyed the Black experience. As a member of the politically active dance collective New Dance Group in the late 1940s, he developed an emotionally rich choreographic style inspired by […]
In 1974, after moving from Brazil to New York City to work as a ballet dancer, I entered Irmgard Bartenieff’s Laban Movement Studies Program looking for innovative ways to approach choreography. I studied and worked closely with her from 1974 to 1977, becoming one of the first Certified Movement Analysts, and then went back to […]
Alwin Nikolais, or “Nik,” as he was known, considered himself an artistic polygamist. He is best known for his multimedia approach to dance, using electronic scores, special-effects lighting and elaborate costumes and props in his pieces. But he also paved the way for abstract modern dance. Before him, modern dance explored emotional and psychological states, […]
Hanya Holm was a catalyst in America’s early modern dance scene, first ushering in her teacher Mary Wigman’s German expressionistic dance and later bringing modern dance concepts to Broadway choreography. Holm is known as one of the “Big Four” of modern dance along with Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman. Born Johanna Eckert in […]