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13 New Dance Treasures Named by Dance Heritage Coalition

Posted by:	Official_Press_Release 07:15 am EDT 05/05/15

Dance Heritage Coalition (DHC) announces 13 new honorees added to its list of 113 America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures. New webpages devoted to these subjects, with essays, resource lists and curated visual materials, will be added to the DHC’s online exhibition, America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures. The development of this exhibition is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures are selected through a process of nominations, voting by the public, and vetting by experts in the field. In the latest round, it was originally planned to name 12 additional Treasures; because of extremely close vote tallies, the DHC Board of Trustees decided to ratify a “baker’s dozen” of 13 new Treasures. The honorees are: Josephine Baker: Dancer, singer, and actress who became a celebrated star in France, appearing in theatrical revues and films that popularized jazz and African-American culture in Europe. Iconic for her sensational performances and “exotic” costumes, she was also a spokesperson for racial tolerance and civil rights. Anne Barzel: Dance writer and historian who pioneered filming of live dance, creating unique records of otherwise undocumented performances. Joan Meyers Brown: A teacher and advocate for dance and communities, she founded PHILADANCO (The Philadelphia Dance Company), the Philadelphia School of Dance Arts, the International Association of Blacks in Dance, and the International Conference of Black Dance Companies. Clark Center for the Performing Arts: Created by Alvin Ailey in 1959 as a multi-racial, multi-ethnic arts community in New York City, the Clark Center was an incubator for many significant dance artists, offering training in diverse dance forms and support for emerging companies through the New Choreographers program. Eye on Dance: Influential television program launched in 1981 by Celia Ipiotis and Jeff Bush to help propel dance literacy. Episodes focused on diverse themes, included in-depth interviews and performance footage, and were supported by extensive research. Michio Ito: Japanese choreographer and performer considered an overlooked pioneer of modern dance. Despite his artistic and popular success in New York and Los Angeles, Ito was interned as an enemy alien during World War II and subsequently deported to Japan. Alonzo King: Internationally recognized choreographer, teacher, and director of Alonzo King LINES Ballet, who has expanded the range of ballet with a global perspective and multi-cultural collaborations. La Meri: Ethnic dancer, teacher, lecturer, and writer, she had an encyclopedic knowledge of world dance forms, including Hawai’ian, Spanish, Indian, Chinese, Burmese, and others. As a mentor to countless students including Jack Cole and Matteo, her influence continues to be widely felt. Lar Lubovitch: Modern dance choreographer and company director who has demonstrated remarkable versatility in creating works for major ballet companies, ice dance shows, Broadway, and film. Isamu Noguchi: Japanese-American sculptor who created groundbreaking modernist set designs for Martha Graham and George Balanchine. Pilobolus: Inventive, collaborative dance company founded at Dartmouth College, now internationally known for imaginative, athletic, often humorous work. Ginger Rogers: Fred Astaire’s best partner, she brought dramatic depth to their duets and contributed to some of the most enduring dance films to come from Hollywood. Urban Bush Women: Brooklyn-based company with the mission of revealing stories of the disenfranchised through dance, exploring women-centered and African-diaspora perspectives, and seeking social justice. Of the new honorees, dance scholar Martha Ullman West observes, “It is said that no one is irreplaceable, but there are always exceptions to any rule: Isamu Noguchi changed set design for dance forever by making it three dimensional and interactive. Ann Barzel sneaked her 16mm camera backstage in Chicago and filmed performances of Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free and George Balanchine’s Symphony in C that we can still watch. As a dance historian, critic, and occasional teacher, I find America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures an irreplaceable resource for myself and my students.” “The response to DHC’s latest call for nominations and voting was overwhelming." DHC Project Manager Imogen Smith, who has worked on earlier phases of the Treasures project, remarks, “The number of votes and the enthusiasm expressed in comments from those who weighed in demonstrates how the Treasures list has come to be valued in the communities of dance practitioners, educators, and scholars. Being named as a Treasure is recognized as a significant honor.” The list of America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures encompasses individuals, organizations, and dance styles, and is intended to heighten public interest in the magnificence and richness of America's dance heritage and the imperative to document and preserve it for future generations. The online exhibit celebrating the Treasures is “an invaluable resource in the dance history classroom,” reports Rosemary Candelario, assistant professor of dance at Texas Woman’s University. “When I train future dance educators in my pedagogy courses, I highly recommend that they use the Dance Treasures in their classes as examples of high-quality and pithy dance research that is accessible for the undergraduate dance student.” The original list of America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures: The First 100 was selected in 1999, based on nominations from the dance community and vetting by selection committees made up of experts from across the country. Twelve more Treasures were added to the list in 2012. From 2003 to 2009, the first 100 Irreplaceable Dance Treasures were celebrated in a national touring exhibition, created through the collaboration of DHC member archives, which contributed still images and video clips from their collections. The exhibit appeared at seven sites around the country, including museums, libraries, and cultural centers. DHC converted this traveling exhibition to a permanent online resource, launched in July 2012, which celebrates the Treasures and provides accessible scholarly writing, still and moving images, and research guides for each subject. Each Treasure has an individual page, with introductory text written by scholars Norton Owen and Lynn Garafola for the traveling exhibition, images and video clips, and links to new essays by an array of dance scholars and critics, and resources for further research. The exhibition is intended as an educational resource to improve dance literacy, as a tribute to the achievements and legacy of American dance, and as a sampling of the best in dance history and critical writing. The exhibition has been embraced by educators as a teaching tool that provides a substantial and engaging introduction to dance history for students. Along with the addition of pages for the 13 new Dance Treasures, this phase of the project will include enhancements to the site's navigation tools and educational resources. DHC invites you to explore the exhibition and celebrate the richness of American dance! Dance Heritage Coalition 1111 16th St., NW, Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20036 www.danceheritage.org
Link	http://www.danceheritage.org/

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