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Bonnie Bird
Bonnie Bird (April 30, 1914 – April 9, 1995) was an American modern dancer and dance educator. Bird danced with Martha Graham in the 1930s and went on to a career as a dance educator in the United States and also in the United Kingdom, where she was awarded a Doctor of Arts degree, ''honoris causa'', for her work pioneering degree programs in dance in the 1970s through the '90s at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Educated at The Cornish School 1927–30, now Cornish College of the Arts, she is most popularly known for bringing together Merce Cunningham and John Cage upon her return to Cornish as head of dance in 1937. Early life Born in 1914 in Portland Oregon, the eldest child of Scott Elliot Bird and the former Josephine Powers, Bird grew up in and around Seattle in Washington State, mostly on a farm in what is now Bothell, Washington. She attended public school in the city, commuting every day. Dance education At the age of seven, at a time her family was li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martha Graham
Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer, teacher and choreographer, whose style, the Graham technique, reshaped the dance world and is still taught in academies worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She was the first dancer to perform at the White House, travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and receive the highest civilian award of the US: the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction. In her lifetime she received honors ranging from the Freedom of the City, Key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown. She said, in the 1994 documentary ''The Dancer Revealed'': "I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable." Founded in 1926 (the same year as Graham's professional dance company), the Martha Graham Schoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
