- Martha Graham
Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 - April 1, 1991) was an American dancer and choreographer. She is regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance. - Alvin Ailey
Alvin Ailey, Jr. (January 5, 1931 - December 1, 1989) was an African American modern dancer and choreographer who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He died of AIDS, at the age of 58. Ailey was born to his 17-year-old mother, Lula Cooper, in Rogers, Texas. Alvin developed an early interest in dance. In 1943 he and his mother moved to Los Angeles. Initially, he took dance classes from choreographer Katherine Dunham, and later studied under Los Angeles, … - Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham (born April 16, 1919 in Centralia, Washington, United States) is an American dancer and choreographer. A long-term collaborator with composer John Cage, Cunningham is commonly recognized as one of the most innovative and influential figures in modern dance. Cunningham's dances emphasise strength and agility, and his choreography notoriously demands of his dancers difficult, nearly impossible physical feats of athleticism. - Pina Bausch
Philippine "Pina" Bausch (born July 27, 1940 in Solingen, Germany) is a modern dance choreographer and a leading influence in the development of the Tanztheater style of dance. She is the artistic director and choreographer of the "Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch" company, based in Wuppertal in Germany. The company has a large repertoire of original pieces, and regularly tours throughout the world. Bausch began dancing from a young age. - Isadora Duncan
Isadora Duncan was an American dancer. Born Dora Angela Duncan in San Francisco, California, she is considered by many to be the mother of Modern Dance. Although never very popular in the United States, she entertained throughout Europe. - Mark Morris
Mark Morris (born: August 29, 1956) is an American modern dancer, choreographer and director whose work is acclaimed for its craftsmanship, ingenuity, humor, and at times eclectic musical accompaniments. Morris is popular among dance aficionados as well as mainstream audiences. - Bill T. Jones
Bill T. Jones is an American artistic director, choreographer and dancer based in New York City. He is the recipient of the 2007 Tony Award, the 2005 Wexner Prize, the 2005 Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement and the 2003 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, as well as a 1994 MacArthur Fellowship. Jones began his dance training at the State University of New York at Binghamton (SUNY), studying classical ballet and modern dance. - Doris Humphrey
Doris Batcheller Humphrey (October 17, 1895 - December 29, 1958) was a dancer of the early twentieth century. She was born in Oak Park, Illinois but grew up in Chicago, Illinois; she was a descendant of Pilgrim William Brewster and Simon James Humphrey. In Chicago, she both studied and taught dance, opening her own dance school in 1913 at the age of 18. In 1917, she moved to California and entered the Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts, where she studied, … - Katherine Dunham
Katherine Mary Dunham (22 June 1909 - 21 May 2006) was an African-American dancer, choreographer, songwriter, author, educator and activist who was trained as an anthropologist Her father was an African-American Business man, and her mother a woman of mixed race, i.e. French-Canadian and Native American. She has been called the Matriarch and Queen Mother of Black Dance, and had one of the most successful dance careers in American and European theater of the 20th century. - Ruth St. Denis
Ruth St. Denis was an early modern dance pioneer. Ms. St. Denis founded Adelphi University's dance program in 1938 which was the one of the first dance departments in an American university. It has since become a cornerstone of Adelphi's Department of Performing Arts. Her early works are indicative of her interests in exotic mysticism and spirituality. Many companies currently include a collection of her signature solos in their repertoires, including the programme, … - Ted Shawn
Ted Shawn (1891 to 1972) was a key figure, and the only "male" figure, in the founding period of modern dance. With his wife, Ruth St. Denis, he was half of the production company "Denishawn." He and St. Denis were married more than 50 years, though only lived together for 14. They danced on their 50th anniversary at the Casino in Saratoga Springs, New York. Saratoga Springs is now the home of the National Museum of Dance, … - Mary Wigman
Mary Wigman (1886-1973), born Karoline Sophie Marie Wiegmann, was a German dancer, choreographer, and instructor of dance. Credited for innovation of expressionist dance, and pioneer of modern dance in Germany. - Donald McKayle
Donald McKayle (born July 6, 1930, New York City) is a modern dance and Broadway choreographer, director, and performer who has worked with many choreographers such as Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, Anna Sokolow, and Merce Cunningham. A Tony Award and Emmy Award nominee, McKayle is currently a Professor of Dance, Modern Technique and Choreography, at UC Irvine, in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts Dance Department. He has served on the faculties of Connecticut College, … - Charles Weidman
Charles Edward Weidman, Jr. (1901 in Lincoln, Nebraska-1975) was a modern dancer, choreographer and teacher. He studied and performed with Denishawn before leaving to form the Humphrey-Weidman school and company with Doris Humphrey and Pauline Lawrence. Like his partner Humphrey, Weidman worked from principles of fall and recovery and also experimented with a form of linking unrelated movements that he called "kinetic pantomime." During the 1930s, … - Hanya Holm
Hanya Holm (3 March 1893, Worms, Germany - 3 November 1992, New York City) was the professional name of Johanna Eckert, dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Holm was one of the pioneers of modern dance. Born in Worms, Germany, Holms was a student and assistant of Mary Wigman and instructor at the Wigman School in Dresden. Holm founded the New York Wigman School of Dance in 1931 (which became the Hanya Holm Studio in 1936) introducing the Wigman technique, … - Loie Fuller
Loie Fuller (also Loïe Fuller, born Marie Louise Fuller was a pioneer of both modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques. - Garth Fagan
Garth Fagan (b. 1940 in Jamaica) is a modern dance choreographer is the founder and Artistic Director of "Garth Fagan Dance", a modern dance company based in Rochester, NY. The company, originally named "Bottom of the Bucket - But Dance Theatre", was established in 1970. Fagan studied dance in New York City with Martha Graham, Jose Limon and Alvin Ailey. Fagan credits Pearl Primus as a major influence on his work as well. - Murray Louis
Murray Louis was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1926. Louis grew up in Manhattan, not far from Henry Street where his company was to be founded years later. At the same time, his sister took him to many of the early modern dance concerts. After his discharge from the Navy in 1946, Mr. Louis, then a San Francisco resident, turned his attention to dance. He enrolled in Colorado College’s summer session conducted by Hanya Holm. It was there that he met Alwin Nikolais, … - Joan Acocella
Joan B. Acocella (nee Ross, born 1945) is an American journalist who is a dance critic for "The New Yorker". She has written several books on dance, literature, and psychology. Acocella received her B.A. in English in 1966 from the University of California, Berkeley. She earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature at Rutgers University in 1984 with a thesis on the Ballets Russes. - Pearl Lang
Pearl Lang (b. 1922) is a modern dance teacher and choreographer who worked with dance legend Martha Graham. Among Lang's many students during her lengthy teaching career was singer Madonna. Madonna was also a member of Pearl Lang's dance company. - Martha Clarke
Martha Clarke (born June 3, 1944) is one of the most important modern choreographers in America. Born into an intensely musical family in suburban Baltimore, she studied at the dance program of the Juilliard School. She then spent three years performing with the modern dance choreographer Anna Sokolow and the Dance Theatre Workshop. She later became a member of Pilobolus Dance Theatre before going on to a highly original career as a choreographer. - Jin Xing
Jin Xing or Jing Xing (金星) (born 1967) is a ballerina, modern dancer, choreographer and actress from the People's Republic of China, and owner of the contemporary dance company "Shanghai Jin Xing Dance Theatre". She is the first transwoman officially recognized by the Chinese government. As a man, Jin attained the rank of Colonel in the People's Liberation Army as part of the military's dance troupe. - Nancy Stark Smith
Nancy Stark Smith is a dancer and founding participant in contact improvisation. Initially trained as an athlete and gymnast, she studied and performed in modern dance and postmodern dance shows in the early 1970s. She danced in the first contact improvisation shows in 1972, and has since worked as a dancer, performer, instructor, author, and organizer. She has travelled the world to teach and present shows of contact and improvised dance. - Daniel Nagrin
Daniel Nagrin (born May 22, 1917) is an American modern dancer, choreographer, teacher, and author. Nagrin was born in New York City and studied with Martha Graham, Anna Sokolow, Hanya Holm, and Helen Tamiris whom he later married. In addition to work as a modern dancer, Nagrin also performed on Broadway in Plain and Fancy and Annie Get Your Gun, and Plain and Fancy among other musicals. - Helen Tamiris
Helen Tamiris (1903 -1966) choreographer, modern dancer, and teacher (also known as Helen Becker). A founder of American Modern Dance, Helen Tamiris originally trained in free movement at the Henry Street Settlement. She danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and the Bracale Opera Company before studying briefly with Michel Fokine and with a disciple of Isadora Duncan. - Gerald Arpino
Gerald Arpino (born January 14,1928) is an American dancer and choreographer, and Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet. Born in Staten Island, New York, Gerald Arpino studied ballet with Mary Ann Wells, while stationed with the Coast Guard in Seattle, Washington. Arpino first met Robert Joffrey at Wells's school. He studied modern dance with May O'Donnell in whose company he appeared in the 1950s. - Jack Cole
Jack Cole (1911 - 1974) was an American dancer, choreographer, and theatre director known as the father of theatrical jazz dance. Born John Ewing Richter in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Cole virtually invented the idiom of American Show Dancing known as "Theater Dance." He developed an entirely personal mode of jazz-ethnic-ballet that prevails as the dominant look of and technique for dancing in today's musicals, films, nightclub revues, … - May O'Donnell
May O'Donnell (1909 - February 1, 2004) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Born in Sacramento, California, May O'Donnell studied dance in San Francisco with Estelle Reed and performed in Reed's company before moving to New York City to study with Martha Graham. O'Donnell was a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company from 1932 until 1938. In 1939, she returned to California and, with her husband, the composer Ray Green, and another former Graham dancer, … - Jean Erdman
Jean Erdman (born February 20, 1916) is an influential figure in the world of modern dance and was the wife of Joseph Campbell until his death in 1987. - Terese Capucilli
Terese Capucilli is an American modern dancer best known for her work with the Martha Graham Dance Company. Capucilli was one of the dancers to revive Martha Graham's lead roles after Graham went into retirement in the 1960s. She was the co-artistic director of the Martha Graham Dance Company until she was dismissed from that role in 2004. - Walter Nicks
Walter Nicks (July 26, 1925 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to April 3, 2007 in Brooklyn, NY) was a renowned African-American modern dancer, choreographer, and beloved teacher of jazz and modern dance. He was a certified master teacher of Katherine Dunham technique. He was professionally active for nearly 60 years. Nicks was raised in Cleveland, Ohio, where he graduated from Central High School. From 1942-1944 he attended Howard University. - Amy Denio
Amy Denio (b. June 9, 1961) is a Seattle (USA)-based multi-instrumental composer of soundtracks for modern dance, film and theater, as well as a songwriter and music improviser. Often called an unclassifiable "avant-garde" jazz musician, she is also deeply inspired by world music. She is probably best known as a vocalist, accordionist and saxophone-player. - John Curry
John Curry (1949-1994) was a British figure skater. He was the 1976 Olympic and World Champion. He was famous for combining ballet and modern dance influences into his skating. - John Mackey
John Mackey (born October 1, 1973) is an American composer of classical music, with an emphasis on music for wind band, as well as orchestra. For several years, he focused on music for modern dance and ballet. - James Mitchell
James Mitchell is an American dancer and actor. Although he is best-known to television audiences as Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera "All My Children" (1979 - present), theatre and dance historians remember him as one of Agnes de Mille's leading dancers. - Alma Guillermoprieto
Alma Guillermoprieto (born May 27, 1949) is a Mexican journalist who has written extensively about Latin America for the British and American press. Her writings have also been widely disseminated within the Spanish-speaking world. Guillermoprieto was born and grew up in Mexico City. In her teens, she moved to New York City with her mother where she studied modern dance for several years. From 1962 until 1973, she was a professional dancer. - Martha Mason
Martha Mason is an American dancer and choreographer, noted for her work in modern dance and postmodern dance. She is currently the artistic director of the Boston based Snappy Dance Theater which she co-founded in 1996. Mason received her B.A. "Phi Beta Kappa", "Cum Laude" in dance from Mount Holyoke College in 1988, where she also studied French, anthropology, and biology. - Nick Lazzarini
Nick Lazzarini (born c. 1985) was the first season winner of the Fox reality show "So You Think You Can Dance". He received a $100,000 cash prize and a free one-year lease on a New York City apartment, which he turned down. He is from Sunnyvale, California and is a trained dancer in jazz, lyrical, hip hop, ballet and modern dance styles. In 2003, Lazzarini, competing as part of a dance group called Hot Under The Collar, appeared on CBS's "Star Search" remake. - Ashley Roberts
Ashley Roberts (born 14 September 1981) is an American dancer. She is in the modern burlesque singing group the Pussycat Dolls and is also a glamour model. - Bill Cratty
Bill Cratty (February 28, 1951 - September 9, 1998) was an American modern dancer and choreographer.
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