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41:01

Dancer/Choreographer Mark Morris

Dancer/Choreographer Mark Morris. Early in his career, Morris performed with a variety of companies. In 1980, he founded the Mark Morris Dance Group creating over 90 works for the troupe. He has also staged over a dozen commissions for other ballet companies, including the San Francisco Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, and the American Ballet Theatre. From 1988-1991, Morris was Director of Dance for the national opera house of Belgium in Brussels. Morris was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1991, and he is the subject of a biography by Joan Acocella (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

Interview
15:42

Choreographer Elizabeth Streb.

Choreographer Elizabeth Streb. Her troupe, "The Ringside Company" is currently on national tour, with "PopAction." Streb's works combine dance, athletics, daring and precision. Her dancers work on and around such props as scaffolding towers, trampolines, and walls. One reviewer described it as "dazzling speed, wit and daring." (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Interview
10:31

Mixing the Elegance of Classical Dance with the Freedom of Modern Dance.

Choreographer Eliot Feld. He founded the Feld Ballet in 1974 as a place where classical ballet and modern dance could exist together. The company is still going strong, touring throughout America and overseas. Feld has also created ballets for many of the world's great companies, among them the American Ballet Theatre, the National Ballet of Canada, and the New York City Ballet.

Interview
11:18

Marta Renzi Believes in Narrative Dance.

Dancer and choreographer Marta Renzi. Typical of her work is "Mountainview," a half-hour dance narrative that premieres this Thursday, August 3 on the PBS program "Alive From Off Center." "Mountainview" is set at the bar of rundown resort run by three generations of the same family. The families loves and jealousies are played out to the sounds of the jukebox, which features the music of Bruce Springsteen, Tammy Wynette and Aretha Franklin. RENZI choreographed the dances and other movements and collaborated with filmmaker John Sayles on the camera work.

Interview
09:55

Deborah Jowitt Discusses Her New Book About Dance.

Dance writer Deborah Jowitt. In her new book, Time and the Dancing Image, Jowitt approaches dance as an anthropologist, trying to reconnect dance to history by placing dance's major developments in the context of the culture that spawned it. Jowitt, a former dancer and choreographer, is the principal dance critic of The Village Voice.

Interview
09:42

Dancer and Choreographer Mark Morris.

Dancer and choreographer Mark Morris. Before forming his own company in 1980, Morris performed with a wide assortment of dance troupes, including the Lar Lubovich Dance Company, Laura Dean Dancers, and the Eliot Feld Ballet. He has choreographed for the Boston Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet, and recently completed the choreography for the opera "Nixon in China."

Interview
09:51

Choreographer and Dancer Bebe Miller.

New York based post-modern dancer and choreographer Bebe Miller. Her choreography stands out for its energetic, aggressive physicality and for its themes of family and relationships. Miller is the winner of the prestigious "Bessie" New York Dance and Performance Award. In 1984, Miller formed her own company, Bebe Miller and Company.

Interview
26:54

Dance and Art with Alwin Nikolais.

Choreographer Alwin Nikolais. For over forty years he has been considered a revolutionary figure in modern dance. His choreographic vision included the use of visual arts and electronic music long before it became popular.

Interview
09:54

Rising Through the Ranks of Modern Dance

Unlike most professional dancers, Paul Taylor didn't pursue the craft until he was 22. After a celebrated career under the tutelage of Martha Graham, he became a choreographer. His new autobiography, Private Domain, details his experiences.

Interview
27:39

Dance Revolutionary Merce Cunningham.

Merce Cunningham is an influential choreographer and dancer. He began studying tap as a child before moving on to modern dance, and he joined the Martha Graham Company in 1939. He eventually formed his own company in 1953, and his work has rejected certain dance conventions such as story, emotion, and choreographing to coincide to the music. Cunningham often works with composer John Cage as well as modern artists. Cunningham says he is interested in movement for its own sake.

Interview
24:24

A Pioneer of Modern Dance

Inspired by cultural shifts in the postwar era, choreographer Alwin Nikolais seeks to break down gender differences in contemporary dance. In order to cultivate a purely aesthetic style, he downplays the sexual tension and eroticism often associated with ballet and other dance traditions.

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