Frontiers: American Modern Dancer and Dance Educator

by Bell-Kanner,Karen

• ISBN13: 9789057550331
• ISBN10: 9057550334
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-06-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The daily life of Bonnie Bird, an American modern dancer in the 1930s, is uniquely revealed in this book. Karen Bell-Kanner shares her fascinating interviews with Bonnie Bird and the intimate letters that Bonnie Bird wrote to her family in Seattle from New York when she was working with Martha Graham between 1931 and 1937. She also had the then novice dancer Merce Cunningham among her students and the young John Cage as her accompanist.

Bonnie Bird's applications of psychology led her to pioneer new concepts and techniques in dance education that have influenced generations of contemporary dance teachers. Her last twenty years were spent at London's Laban Centre for Movement and Dance, where the accomplishments of a lifetime were gathered together to extend the frontiers of dance.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Series	ix
Acknowledgements	xi
List of Illustrations	xiii
Preface	xv
Extending the Frontiers of Dance	1	(2)
Dance Prelude	3	(2)
A Child of the Pacific Northwest	5	(4)
The Cornish School	9	(12)
Preparation	21	(4)
The Martha Years	25	(74)
Rumbles in the West	99	(26)
America at War	125	(14)
A Phoenix in New York	139	(28)
Building Song	167	(16)
Notes and Sources	183	(20)
Bibliography	203	(2)
Index	205