Aaron Kent Osborne (October 16, 1947 – December 13, 1995)Aaron Kent Osborne gravestone
/ref> was an American modern dancer known for his performances in works by

José Limón José Arcadio Limón (January 12, 1908 – December 2, 1972) was a dancer and choreographer from Mexico and who developed what is now known as 'Limón technique'. In the 1940s, he founded the José Limón Dance Company (now the Limón Dan ...

Maggie Black Margaret Black (March 31, 1930 – May 11, 2015) was a ballet teacher who taught in New York City during the 1970s and 1980s. She coached dancers such as Martine Van Hamel, Kevin McKenzie, Natalia Makarova and Gelsey Kirkland. She developed a ba ...

and

Lar Lubovitch Lar Lubovitch (born April 9, 1943) is an American choreographer. He founded his own dance company, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company in 1968. Based in New York City, the company has performed in all 50 American states as well as in more than 30 co ...

. Also a dance teacher, he was the cofounder of a San Francisco presenting organization, Dancer's Group, and its associated dance school, Footwork Studio.

Biography

Osborne started dancing only during his college years, when he was a

premed Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students mostly in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med ...

student at the University of Oregon. He transferred to the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

, where he studied techniques associated with

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 s ...

Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

, and

, whose work he especially admired for its attention to human psychology. Between 1969 and 1974, he performed with the José Limón Dance Company. Limón created the central role of his late dance work ''Orfeo'' (1972) especially for Osborne, and he was praised for the strength of his performance in this physically demanding, high-energy role. Other Limón works he danced in included ''La Piñata'' (1969), ''The Unsung'' (1970), ''And David Wept'' (1971), and ''Carlota'' (1972). Osborne subsequently danced with the

Dance Company in works such as ''Time Before the Time After (After the Time Before)''. Later in his career, Osborne moved to San Francisco, where he taught modern dance, especially Limón technique. In 1982 he cofounded and served as the artistic director of a pair of nonprofits, Dancer's Group (which presented performances) and Footwork Studio (which offered dance classes); both were housed in a building in the

Mission District The Mission District ( Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as the Mission ( Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name ...

. After a few years, he left to teach dance at the New Performance Gallery, then the home of the

Margaret Jenkins Margaret Jenkins (born 1942) is a postmodern dance, postmodern choreography, choreographer based in San Francisco, California. She was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1980 and in 2003, San Francisco mayor, Willie Brown (politician), Willie Brown, declared ...

Dance Company. Known as a generous and inspiring teacher, he occasionally taught master classes as well. Osborne died of AIDS.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Aaron Kent 1947 births 1995 deaths American male dancers 20th-century American dancers 20th-century American educators American dance teachers AIDS-related deaths in California