Learn the technique of American dance icon Alwin Nikolais from those who know it best.
MURRAY LOUIS(Improvisation/Choreography) Mr. Louis is known throughout the world not only as a great male dancer, but also as a uniquely gifted choreographer, teacher, and eloquent spokesman for the art of dance. Director of Murray Louis and Nikolais Dance Company, he has created over 100 works, toured five continents, and performed in every state in the US. Born in Brooklyn in 1926, Murray Louis grew up in Manhattan. After his discharge from the Navy in 1946, Mr. Louis 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, who would become the single most important influence on his career. In 1949 he became a soloist with Nikolais's newly formed company. He became a driving force in the evolution of the aesthetic and pedagogic theory, which today is known as the Nikolais/Louis technique. In 1953, the Murray Louis Dance Company was founded. Murray has been a continuous recipient of grants from the NEA since 1969. He has had published a collection of essays, Inside Dance and On Dance, a collection of solos on video entitled Murray Louis in Concert, a five-part film series Dance as an Art Form and a five-part video series, The World of Alwin Nikolais. In 1998 he was selected as a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar. In 1999 Mr. Louis received an Honorary Doctorate from Ohio University, and in 2000 an Honorary Degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey. He has just completed The Nikolais & Louis Technique, The Unique Gesture a manual published by Rutledge Press in 2004.
Alberto Del Saz(Technique) Director of The Nikolais/Louis Foundation for Dance, former Artistic Director of the Murray Louis and Nikolais Dance Company, and Assistant to Murray Louis, Mr. Del Saz is a vital and important link in keeping the Nikolais/Louis repertory active. Born in Bilbao, Spain in 1960, Mr Del Saz studied ice-skating at an early age, which later led to his first performing career. His early dance training was received at the Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab from the great teachers of the technique: Hanya Holm, Alwin Nikolais, Murray Louis, Claudia Gitelman, Tandy Beal, Beverly Blossom and others. In 1985 Mr. Del Saz made his debut as a lead soloist with the Nikolais Dance Theatre, which was later renamed the Murray Louis and Nikolais Dance Company. As a member of this internationally acclaimed company he has toured to virtually every continent on the globe. Mr. Del Saz is the Reconstruction Director of the Nikolais/Louis repertory and has staged the Nikolais/Louis repertory on university and professional dance companies around the world. Mr. Del Saz has been with the Nikolais/Louis Foundation for 20 years.
PHYLLIS LAMHUT (Alumni Improvisation/Choreography) is a choreographer of over 100 works. She received her professional dance training from Alwin Nikolais at the Henry Street Settlement Playhouse. She was a principal dancer with the Nikolais Dance Theatre for twenty years and a leading dancer with the Murray Louis Dance Company. Formed the Phyllis Lamhut Dance Company in 1970. Ms. Lamhut is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and awards from the New York State Council on the Arts and sixteen Choreography Fellowships from the NEA. Ms. Lamhut teaches at New York University Tisch School of the Arts.
GLADYS BAILIN (Alumni Improvisation/Choreography) began her dance career training with Alwin Nikolais in 1948 at the Henry St. Playhouse in New York City. From 1950-63 she performed with the company originating many roles in signature Nikolais works. She also performed with Murray Louis Dance Company and toured with both. Ms. Bailin taught at the NYU School of the Arts while also performing with Don Redlich Dance Company. In 1972 she helped develop a dance department in Athens, Ohio as the director of the School of Dance from 1983-1995 and in 1986 was awarded the title Distinguished Professor.
CLAUDIA GITELMAN (Teachers Improvisation/Choreography) is a veteran of Broadway and the concert stage. She was on the faculty of the Nikolais/Louis Dance Theatre Lab in New York City over a period of twenty-four years and a guest teacher and performer in universities and dance centers on four continents. She is the author of two books, Dancing with Principle: Hanya Holm in Colorado, 1941-1983 and Liebe Hanya: Mary Wigman's Letters to Hanya Holm. Her next book will be The Returns of Alwin Nikolais: Bodies, Boundaries, and the Dance. Gitelman is Professor Emerita of Rutgers University.
DIANNE MARKHAM (Intermediate Technique, Improvisation/Choreography) received a BA in Contemporary Dance from the University of Oregon. She performed nationally and internationally with the Murray Louis Dance Company and "Nureyev and Friends." Ms. Markham trained with Honya Holm, Alwin Nikolais, Murray Louis, Phyllis Lamhut, and others. Her choreography has been performed all over the world, including the Kennedy Center, the Helsinki International Ballet Competition and for the PBS "Silent Places/The Looking Glass." Ms. Markham has taught at the North Carolina School of the Arts since 1980, was Assistant Dean for ten years, and has choreographed more than 35 works for the school.
TANDY BEAL (Alumni Improvisation/Choreography) & JON SCOVILLE (Panelist: Music) Tandy is a performer, director, choreographer, writer, teacher and... dreamer. An off-the-map career includes: shows with Bobby McFerrin, Lou Harrison, Frank Zappa, John Adams, Carl Sagan, NASA's SETI project, and Jon Scoville; choreographing opera, MTV, ballet and "The Nightmare Before Xmas"; directing Pickle Family Circus for 10 years; the first contemporary dance/circus "Nutcracker"; touring 4 continents with Tandy Beal & Co. including a USIA tour of Eastern Europe; acting off-Broadway; dancing with Nikolais DT; choreography for Jean Stapleton; directing the Moscow Circus in Japan; choreographing Korean National Treasure AeJu Lee.
John was raised in Connecticut, ruined in New York, and restored in California. After many years of playing bluegrass, r&b, and jazz, he fell into a illicit relationship with a dancer and has been in her sway ever since, teaching and accompanying classes throughout the US, Europe, South America and Asia, as well as composing for Tandy Beal, Ellen Bromberg, Remy Charlip, Laura Dean, Steve Koester, Murray Louis, Doug Neilson, Alwin Nikolais, Ririe-Woodbury, Sara Rudner, and Donna White, among many others. His music has been on NPR, Radio Free Europe, Radio Belgrade, and on national television in Zurich and Hong Kong.
KAY ANDERSEN (Intermediate Technique/Repertory) received his BA from Southern Utah University and his MA from New York University in dance profession with an emphasis in performance/choreography. For 11 years he was a soloist, participated in the creation of important roles, and taught company and master classes with the Nikolais and Murray Louis Dance Company. He has performed in well-known venues throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and South America. He performed extensively with the American Folk Ballet and was a member of the company for 24 years. Mr. Andersen has been an Associate Professor of Dance at Southern Utah University for nine years.
SIMONA BUCCI (Alumni Improvisation/Choreography) studied at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Florence. In '81 she moved to New York where she studied at The Nikolais Louis Foundation for Dance. In May '91 she joined The Nikolais Louis Dance Company. In 2000 she became Carolyn Carlson's assistant and Coordinator of the Accedemia Isola Danza, La Biennale di Venezia.
JOAN WOODBURY (Intermediate Improvisation/Choreography) is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and studied as the first Fulbright Scholar in dance with Mary Wigman in Berlin, Germany. She was a professor of modern dance at the University of Utah for 47 years. Joan has choreographed more than 95 works. She has danced and taught workshops and master classes throughout the United States and Europe. She taught summer workshops for the Nikolais/Louis Foundation for 10 consecutive years at their New York studios and assisted Nikolais with courses in France and England. Ms. Woodbury has received many prestigious awards including Honorary Doctorates from Southern Utah University and the University of Utah.
SHIRLEY RIRIE (Teachers Improvisation/Choreography) has been a consultant for the National Endowment for the Arts and serves on the National Advisory Committee for Young Audiences. She retired from the University of Utah where she was a professor of Modern Dance 39 years. Her performing and teaching career has taken her throughout the United States and to all parts of the world. She has choreographed over 100 works. She was a Fulbright professor in Hong Kong and in Aukland, New Zealand. She has received the Merit of Honor Award and an honorary doctorate from the University of Utah as well as many other awards.
RUTH GRAUERT (Panelist: Lighting) is a woman dedicated to the art aesthetic as exemplified by Alwin Nikolais and her own directing, lighting, and teaching for more than 60 years. A published poet and essayist, she is the founder and director of Bearnstow (since 1946), a summer place in western Maine that offers workshops in the arts. Ms. Grauert graduated with a Masters degree from Columbia University in 1941 after studying with influential choreographers Holm, Graham, Nikolais, Sokolow, Kashmann, Stewart, and Weidman. She danced with Nikolais for two years and then served as his stage director for 40 years, from 1948-88.
TIM GLENN (Panelist: Videography) received his M.F.A. in Dance from The Ohio State University where he also worked for the Department of Dance and the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design. Glenn is a former member of the Nikolais and Murray Louis Dance Company, the Melrose Motion Company, and is the Artistic Director of Performance Tech - Tim Glenn and Company. Most recently, Glenn has worked as video consultant for the Paul Taylor Dance Company and the Nikolais/Louis Foundation for Dance, Inc.
TOM CARAVAGLIA (Panelist: Photography) photographer and professor of photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, has enjoyed a career that has spanned over fifty years. Originally from Erie, Pennsylvania, Mr. Caravaglia came to New York and studied with Alexy Brodavitch and Bernice Abbott. One of the most distinct characteristics of his career has been his photography work in the performing arts, most notably for dance and theater. He has worked with many of the worlds most distinguished dance companies, including Alvin Nikolais Dance Theater and Murray Louis Dance Company.