Ann Barzel (December 13, 1905 – February 12, 2007) was an American writer, critic and lecturer on dance.

Biography

In 1920, Barzel moved to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Her first Chicago dance teachers were Mark Turbyfill and Adolph Bolm. From about 1931 to 1943, Barzel performed as a dancer. She studied various styles of dance in Chicago, New York, London, and Paris with

Michel Fokine Michael Fokine ( – 22 August 1942) was a Russian choreographer and dancer. Career Early years Fokine was born in Saint Petersburg to a prosperous merchant and at the age of 9 was accepted into the Saint Petersburg Imperial Ballet Sch ...

, Alexandre Volinine, Doris Humphrey, the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional voc ...

, Vecheslav Swoboda and Nicholas Legat. She danced in productions of the

Chicago Civic Opera The Civic Opera Company (1922–1931) was a Chicago company that produced seven seasons of grand opera in the Auditorium Theatre from 1922 to 1928, and three seasons at its own Civic Opera House from 1929 to 1931 before falling victim to financia ...

Ballet and danced with a group directed by Berenice Holmes. In the 1940s, Barzel became a lecturer on dance, as well as a teacher of dance technique. She lectured on dance history at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

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, and many other institutions. During this time, she was also making a regular career out of reviewing dance, theatre, and nightclub events in Chicago. She was dance critic for the ''

Chicago Times The ''Chicago Times'' was a newspaper in Chicago from 1854 to 1895, when it merged with the ''Chicago Herald'', to become the ''Chicago Times-Herald''. The ''Times-Herald'' effectively disappeared in 1901 when it merged with the ''Chicago Recor ...

'', 1946-1950, when she joined '' Chicago's American'' (a newspaper later renamed ''

Chicago Today The ''Chicago American'' was an American newspaper published in Chicago under various names from 1900 until its dissolution in 1975. Its afternoon publication was known as the ''Chicago American'', while its evening publication was known as the ...

''), 1951-1974. Barzel also wrote for

Dance Magazine ''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' is currently part of Dance Media, led by longtime arts publisher Joanna Harp as president, and has mu ...

for 40 years, covering dance events in the Midwest for the magazine. She wrote for the

Lerner Newspapers Lerner Newspapers was a chain of weekly newspapers. Founded by Leo Lerner, the chain was an important contributor to community journalism in Chicago from 1926 to 2005 and called itself "the world's largest newspaper group". In its heyday, Lerner ...

(Chicago weekly) from 1974 through 2003, for Ballet Review, Ballet Annual, Dance News, and for various other international dance publications. Barzel was a founder of the Ballet Guild of Chicago. In 1979, she was granted the Governor's Award for service to the arts. She was placed on the lifetime honors list by the Chicago Dance Arts Coalition in 1986, was recipient of the 1994 Vaslav Nijinsky Medal sponsored by the Polish Artists Agency in Warsaw, and was sole honoree at the 1995 "Toast" to the Cultural Center, sponsored by Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs.

References

Sources

*Dunning, Jennifer- February 21, 2007: "Ann Barzel, 101, Dies; a Writer Whose Passion Was Dance" https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/arts/dance/21barzel.html?_r=1&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/D/Dancing New York Times *The Newberry Library- "Remembering Ann Barzel": https://web.archive.org/web/20081203002708/http://www.newberry.org/media/AnnBarzel.html

External links

Ann Barzel Dance Research Collection
at

the Newberry Library The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities. It is located in Chicago, Illinois, and has been free and open to the public since 1887. The Newberry's mission is to foster a deeper understanding of our wor ...

Ann Barzel Papers
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barzel, Ann 1905 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American women writers American women centenarians American dance critics American women journalists University of Chicago staff 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women