Dance magazine awards 2006.

Dance Magazine has been honoring outstanding women and men in the field since 1954. This year we are proud--and thrilled--to present awards to Todd Bolender, Joan Myers Brown, Eiko & Koma, David Howard, and Gelsey Kirkland--all legends in different ways. The awards event takes place November 13 at Florence Gould Hall (see page 49). Following are brief biographies of these artists.

EIKO & KOMA

Eiko & Koma have developed a body of work that defies categorization. Their dances are slow motion journeys that pull us back into an elemental time and place. Sometimes barely discernible from their surroundings, whether it's water or dirt or light, the duo inches toward each other with an attraction that is more basic than human desire. The mesmerizing continuity of their movement brings revelations about nature, human nature, and change. They fabricate their own surroundings, creating a kind of dream version of a prehistoric environment. Their effect on the dance world has been enormous. Though few model their dancing on them, everyone remembers the first time they saw an Eiko & Koma performance.

Eiko & Koma met in 1971 while dancing with butoh co-creator Tatsumi Hijikata in Tokyo. The following year, while performing as independent artists, they studied with Kazuo Ohno, the other major creator of butoh. Their interest in the Neue Tanz movement style led them to Germany, where they studied with Mania Chmiel, a disciple of Mary Wigman. They melded the expressionism of German austruckstanz with the extremism of Japanese butoh into a unique aesthetic that became their signature.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Eiko & Koma's arrival in the United States. They came to California in 1976, were given the key to Anna Halprin's studio, and have been working nonstop ever since. They presented works with nature-honoring titles like Grain (1983), Night Tide (1984), and Rust (1989) across North America, Europe, and Asia. The American Dance Festival invited them to perform in 1983 and has commissioned many subsequent works. The Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Japan Society, Dancing in the Streets, and Sam Miller's Leveraging Investments in Creativity have also regularly supported new works.

Extending their vision beyond theaters, Eiko & Koma have created site-specific works that have reached more than 30,000 audience members (often free of charge). River (1995) took place in a body of water (though was later adapted to BAM's Harvey Theater). The Caravan Project (1999) was a traveling trailer with doors open on all four sides, parked in a quiet spot where observers could behold Eiko & Koma within. Offering, performed near Ground Zero in 2002, was a ritual of communal mourning. In Tree Song (2003) they seemed to rise from the dead in the graveyard of St. Mark's Church in the East Village.

Eiko & Koma have collaborated with Anna Halprin (see "East Meets West," Oct. 2001), a praise choir, the Kronos Quartet, and young Cambodian painters-turned-performers (see "Dancing in Tune With the Earth," April).

While on tour, Eiko & Korea teach their Delicious Movement Workshop, in which students invariably realize how difficult--and yet pleasurable--it is to move with extreme slowness. As artist-in-residence at Wesleyan University (where their two sons are students), Eiko co-taught a class on the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with a history professor. Currently the two are teaching a course at UCLA called 'Delicious Movement for Forgetting, Remembering, and Uncovering."

They have received many honors, among them a MacArthur "genius" fellowship and the Samuel H. Scripps ADF Award for lifetime achievement.--Wendy Perron 

JOAN MYERS BROWN

She's bee described as "a nurturer, a fighter, a giver, a believer." All of this is bundled into one willow-slim, dynamic lady who knows the value of tough love in the making of a dancer and shows it in her no-nonsense leadership style.

It's hard to imagine how the Philadelphia dance community could have developed without the presence of Joan Myers Brown. JB (or "Aunt Joan"--or even "Mom"--to her intimate associates) is responsible for creating and sustaining a world-class dance company and school whose dual influences have played a huge role in making this city the dance center it is today. In 1960, to serve the needs of black dancers in a segregated city, JB established the Philadelphia School of Dance Arts. Ten years later, because of the need for a professional outlet for that talent, she founded The Philadelphia Dance Company, also known as Philadanco or, simply, "Danco." Choreographers as diverse as Alonzo King, Daniel Ezralow, Ronald K. Brown, Elisa Monte, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar have set dances on this resilient company. Danco dancers seem forever young, and they ground their fabulous technical prowess in the strength of spirit imparted to them by JB's rigorous artistic direction,

Born in Philadelphia in 1931, Brown counts Antony Tudor as a major early influence. In 1949-50 the English choreographer broke the city's color barrier by allowing JB and other talented African Americans (including John Jones, Billy Wilson, and later, Judith Jamison) to study with him. Other influences include Marion Cuyjet and Sydney King, local pioneers who established dance schools and nurtured generations of black dancers during the pre-Civil Rights era.

As a teenager JB danced with Antony Tudor's Philadelphia Ballet, but a bigoted remark in a local review convinced her that the mainstream ballet world was not ready for a black ballerina. She went to New York City and studied with Karel Shook at the Katherine Dunham School. During the 1950s she entered show business, touring with Cab Calloway, Pearl Bailey, Sammy Davis Jr., and others. Dunham's teaching philosophy--that dance is a mirror on the world--had a profound influence on JB after she ended her performing career and became a dance educator and company director.

Fast-forward to today: The Philadelphia School of Dance Arts is a world unto itself and teaches life skills along with ballet, modern jazz, hip hop, acrobatics, and tap. It boasts a roster of 600 students at two locations and offers nearly 50 classes weekly. Love of dance and love of life flow through the studios, spilling over into the office and lounge spaces and giving a homey feel to this well-established arts business enterprise. As the resident dance company at Philly's new Kimmel Center, Danco has two home seasons per year. (There's also a new, junior "Danco," spiffily tiffed "D/2.") JB is a continuing presence at both institutions, touring with the company and dropping in on dance classes.

And there is also the larger picture. In 1991 she founded the International Association of Blacks in Dance to "preserve and promote dance by people of African ancestry or origin." She also received the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of the Arts and is a distinguished visiting professor at the University of Arts and Howard University. This woman has walked the walk on behalf of dance. As it says in her resume, "She speaks out, talks back, and shows up."--Brenda Dixon Gottschild

GELSEY KIRKLAND

Ever since 1969, when at tire age of 17 she danced her first Sugar Plum Fairy with New York City Ballet, Celsey Kirkland seemed destined for stardom. Like Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, she was blessed with gifts. She had a ballerina's slender physique, a light jump, harmonious line, exceptional speed, and eloquent feet--signatures of the School of American Ballet, where she trained. What promised greatness, however, were more individual qualities--the fluidity of her movement, the phrasing that added emotional texture, and the musicality that seemed to caress the flow of sound.

In 1974 she stunned the dance world by leaving New York City Ballet and joining American Ballet Theatre. With Mikhail Baryshnikov, who had recently defected from the Soviet Union, she formed a magical if sometimes tumultuous partnership. She set out to master the 19th-century repertoire. A perfectionist, she attended to every detail, approaching each new role with originality and intelligence. A new sense of drama appeared in her work, reflecting her belief that "every step, gesture, and movement has to flow from inner necessity." She brimmed with naughtiness in soubrette roles. In the "white" acts of Giselle, Swan Lake, and La Sylphide her lightness was unearthly. The muse of Tudor's last works, she danced The Leaves are Fading with windswept abandon and melancholy.

In Baryshnikov's version of The Nutcracker, her Clara was "astonishing," wrote Tobi Tobias in Dance Magazine, "for its impetuousness and intensity, its delicate beauty, and most of all, for its seeming artlessness." Televised nationally and later distributed on videotape, The Nutcracker captured the American imagination. Watching it became a Christmas ritual and Kirkland's Clara every little girl's fantasy.

But Kirkland's own reality was darker. In 1984, after years of erratic behavior, and bouts of anorexia, she left ABT, addicted to cocaine. Amazingly, she turned her life around. Two years later, she made a triumphant comeback, dancing Romeo and Juliet and giving her last performance in The Sleeping Beauty with The Royal Ballet. She taught her first classes at the company's school. She also coached the London Festival Ballet's Trinidad Sevillano in Giselle, giving her an understanding of the role that earned them both critical praise. Since then, Kirkland has become an internationally respected teacher and coach.

In 1986 Kirkland published Dancing on My Grave. Written with her then-husband Greg Lawrence, the book was a cause celebre, a memoir that minced few words about Balanchine, Baryshnikov, and her father--all of whom had failed her. Although her treatment of Balanchine's aesthetic was often naive, her criticism of his emphasis on extreme thinness and of aspects of his teaching that heightened the possibility of injury raised many of the same issues as the dancers' fledgling health movement. Thanks in part to Kirkland, the dance world today is a better place for dancers.

Aurora, Kirkland once wrote, had "every sort of natural gift: beauty and eloquence, grace and musicality, spirit and poise ... But the most precious gift is that symbolized by the lilac, the flower of wisdom, which can only be attained with self-knowledge." Kirkland, one of the great ballerinas of her age, could have been writing about herself.--Lynn Garafola

DAVID HOWARD

David Howard is one of the most influential ballet teachers working today. He has helped dancers, from legends like Makarova, Kirkland, and Baryshnikov to the many who flock to Steps on Broadway for their daily dose. For 40 years his unconventional teaching style--short, repetitive, musical combinations; discerning eye; rhythmic clapping; wit and enthusiasm--have motivated dancers to a more natural and dynamic way of moving.

Howard's methodology is so widely accepted now that it is hard to believe that in the late '60s, when he began teaching classes at the Harkness Ballet School in New York City, he was a rebel--a visionary. Howard was one of the first to apply the study of kinesiology to the very rigid and "pulled up" traditions of ballet. At fire time Pilates and yoga were not common practices for dancers, and Gyrotonics had not yet been invented. Howard was a catalyst, challenging dancers to think more organically about how they worked.

Born in England in 1937, he began studying dance at age 10 on scholarship at the Cone-Ripman School (now The Arts Educational School) in London. He worked in the entertainment business on TV, radio, and in film throughout his school years. Perhaps the first glimpse into his future came at 16, when he won the Adeline Genee Medal, the highest honor given to a British ballet student.

After graduation, Howard danced at the London Palladium in the backup chorus for performers such as Debbie Reynolds, Danny Kaye, and Julie Andrews. He also performed with Marlene Dietrich before joining The Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet (later The Royal Ballet) where he stayed for seven years. In 1963 he danced briefly with the National Ballet of Canada and then returned to London to appear in musicals, including Fosse's Little Me. Had he not developed a back problem, he might never have turned to teaching.

In 1966 Howard was invited to the U.S. as an apprentice teacher for Rebecca Harkness' new school. In the course of his 11-year tenure, he served as director of the school and as ballet master and principal teacher for the Harkness Ballet Co. In 1977, he opened the David Howard School of Ballet, which later became the David Howard Dance Center, a democratic place where all dancers--professional and nonprofessional--could come and learn. His classes were (and still are) a who's who of ballet. Baryshnikov, Makarova, Nureyev, Kirkland, Helgi Tomasson, Peter Martins, and Cynthia Harvey all studied with him. And today, dancers like Tamara Rojo, Michele Wiles, and Angel Corella can be spotted working with him.

Unlike teachers who lecture to get a point across, Howard lets his class do the talking. The rhythmic and dynamic nature of his center exercises allows dancers to learn by doing. He talks about linking the breath to the movements, sings combinations to emphasize the quality of movement he wants, and lengthens his words when demonstrating adagios. He focuses on connecting steps, teaching that the end of each movement is the beginning of the next. The plie in between jumps is not the start and the finish, but the middle that links one jump to another. "He teaches you a sense of a never-ending spiral in the body," says Gelsey Kirkland, who studied with him for over 20 years. "How one movement is the life of the next movement is the life of the next movement."

Over the years, Howard has been offered high-profile ballet master positions and even a company directorship. But he turned them down, preferring to remain independent. Today, he continues to guest teach around the world and coach dancers privately, but he always comes home to his open classes in New York. The David Howard Dance Center closed in 1995 due to high rents, but Howard still teaches almost every day at Steps on Broadway and Broadway Dance Center as well as at the Eugene Lang College of the New School University.

Over the years, Howard has become a shared experience that connects ballet dancers. Almost everyone in ballet has his or her David Howard story. His teachings have influenced generations of dancers, teachers, choreographers, ballet masters, and artistic directors.

Cynthia Harvey, former ABT principal and current teacher, began studying with Howard when she was in the corps of ABT. "I know when I give a correction, I am not speaking as Cynthia Harvey," she says. "I am speaking as somebody who has trained with David Howard."--Kate Lydon

TODD BOLENDER

In the course of his 70-year career, Todd Bolender participated in the development of ballet as an American art form. He danced, choreographed, and taught, spreading the new American style created by Balanchine and others to cities in the United States and Europe. He has choreographed for opera, Broadway, and TV as well as for ballet companies. In 1981, building on the foundation laid by Tatiana Dokoudovska, he transformed a declining civic ballet into the highly respected company known as Kansas City Ballet. He retired in 1996, but at 92 remains involved as artistic director emeritus.

Born in 1914 in Canton, Ohio, Bolender grew up in a family with a strong interest in music and theater. His dancing life began with acrobatic tap in his native city. At 17 he dropped out of school and went to New York, which, he said, "sounded like a kind of heaven," ("A Bow to Bolender," May 2003). To make ends meet, the young dancer ran an elevator from seven at night until seven in the morning, then caught a couple hours of sleep before taking ballet class with Chester Hale or Anatole Vilzak. He also studied modern dance with Hanya Holm. After meeting Balanchine socially, he attended the newly founded School of American Ballet.

Lincoln Kirstein hired him in 1936 for American Ballet Caravan (a precursor to NYCB), and in 1938 Bolender originated roles in Eugene Loring's Billy the Kid and Lew Christensen's Filling Station. In 1941, the group danced all over South America in a grueling tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department which exposed that population to the new American ballet.

As a dancer, Bolender was known for his musicality, flexibility, intelligence, and wit--attributes that made him an excellent instrument for Balanchine. He originated Phlegmatic in Four Temperaments, the male role in the first Pas de Trois in Agon, and the Fox in the childlike farce Renard. Jerome Robbins cast him, among other roles, as the cigar-smoking husband with murderous daydreams in The Concert.

Bolender infuses his choreography with the same musicality and expressive physicality he brought to his dancing. All his works, whether intimate or monumental, deal with the human condition. Zodiac, created in 1947 for Ballet Society (a later precursor to NYCB), was Bolender's take on a post-World War II society he felt was out of balance. The raw violence in his 1951 Miraculous Mandarin has the nightmarish quality of a gruesome clip on the evening news. Voyager, created for Kansas City Ballet in 1984 and revived last season, traces nothing less than the development of humans as social and sexual beings. At the Still Point (1955), originally made for the modern Dance Drama Company of Emily Frankel and Mark Ryder, is now in the repertoires of several ballet companies. It tells the story of a lonely adolescent girl who is rescued in an eloquent pas de deux by an accepting young man. Souvenirs, a hilarious tribute to silent film, created for NYCB in 1955, also has its intimately poignant moments.

Today Bolender is currently a vital resource for historians and preservationists. He coaches dancers in his roles for the Balanchine Foundation's Interpreter's Archive, telling the story of American dance on and for the record.--Martha Ullman West