Benjamin Harkarvy (16 December 1930, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

– 30 March 2002, in New York City) was an American dance teacher,

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

, and

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

. He earned an international reputation for his eclectic approach to dance education (particularly seen in his directorship of the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most ...

Dance Division), as well as through his leadership of a number of prominent

dance companies This is a list of notable dance and ballet companies. Notes References See also *List of folk dance performance groups * List of ballet companies in the United States {{Dance Companies Dance Dance is a performing art form cons ...

Biography

Early training

Harkarvy began to study dance at the age of thirteen, already focused on the goal of teaching. Among his principal teachers were two highly regarded Russian expatriates:

Edward Caton Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

and

Elizabeth Anderson-Ivantzova Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

. Harkarvy studied primarily at the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the most renowned ballet school in the United States. School of American Ballet is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in Ne ...

. He had only a brief performing career, making his debut with the

Brooklyn Lyric Opera Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behin ...

at the age of eighteen and appearing in summer stock productions.

Career

From 1951 to 1955, he taught at

Michel Fokine Michael Fokine, ''Mikhail Mikhaylovich Fokin'', group=lower-alpha ( – 22 August 1942) was a groundbreaking Imperial Russian Choreography (dance), choreographer and dancer. Career Early years Fokine was born in Saint Petersburg to a pro ...

's school in New York City, and, in 1955, he opened his own school. Harkarvy's first post with a dance company came in 1957 with the

Royal Winnipeg Ballet The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America. History It was founded in 1939 as the "Winnipeg Ballet Club" by Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally (who also ...

. The following year he was named ballet master of the

Dutch National Ballet The Dutch National Ballet (Dutch: Het Nationale Ballet) is the official and largest ballet company in the Netherlands. History The Dutch National Ballet was formed in 1961 when the Amsterdam Ballet and the Nederlands Ballet merged. The company h ...

. Unhappy over problems with that company, he and a number of the dancers broke away and formed

Nederlands Dans Theater Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT; literal translation Netherlands Dance Theatre) is a Dutch contemporary dance company. NDT is headquartered at the ''Amare'' building in The Hague. NDT also performs at other venues in the Netherlands, including Amst ...

in 1959. Harkarvy and

Hans van Manen Hans Arthur Gerard van Manen (; born 11 July 1932) is a Dutch ballet dancer, choreographer and photographer. He studied under Sonia Gaskell and Françoise Adret. Van Manen wrote many ballets. He worked for the Dutch National Ballet from 1973 ...

co-directed this new company, which combined ballet and modern dance in its repertory, for a decade. In 1969, Harkarvy became co-director, with

Lawrence Rhodes Lawrence Rhodes (November 24, 1939 – March 27, 2019) was an American premier dancer, dance teacher and director of ballet companies and the dance divisions of New York University and the Juilliard School. Early life Lawrence Rhodes was born in ...

, of the

Harkness Ballet The Harkness Ballet (1964–1975) was a New York ballet company named after its founder Rebekah Harkness. Harkness inherited her husband's fortune in Standard Oil holdings, and was a dance lover. Harkness funded Joffrey Ballet, but when they ref ...

, which was disbanded the following year. He then returned to the

for a year, but, from 1972 to 1982, he was affiliated with the

Pennsylvania Ballet The Philadelphia Ballet, formerly known as Pennsylvania Ballet until rebranding in 2021, is Philadelphia's largest ballet company. The company's annual local season features six programs of classic favorites, as well as new works, including the Ph ...

. For Pennsylvania Ballet he taught daily and re-staged several of his well-known ballets-Madrigalesco, Recital for Cello and 8 Dancers, Grand Pas Espagnol plus created several new works including Quartet, Time Passed Summer, Continuum, Four Men Waiting, From Gentle Circles, Signatures and Poems of Love and the Seasons. He also brought in choreographers including Hans van Manen, Charles Czarny, Margo Sappington, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Rodney Griffin,

Choo San Goh Goh Choo San (; 14 September 1948 – 28 November 1987) was a Singaporean ballet dancer and choreographer whose decade-long association with The Washington Ballet brought that company international acclaim. Childhood The son of Goh Kim Lok (1904 ...

, to create works for the company. During this period, Harkarvy helped to raise the profile of the Philadelphia-based troupe, but he left in 1982 after the company began to experience severe financial difficulties.

Teaching

He subsequently held a variety of teaching positions before joining the Juilliard faculty in 1990. As director of the Juilliard's Dance Division from 1992, Harkarvy expanded existing programs and created innovative new ones, remaining with the school until the time of his death.

External links

Benjamin Harkarvy Papers - Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

The Juilliard Journal Online - Benjamin Harkarvy, Director of the Dance Division, Dies at 71

"Benjamin Harkarvy"
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Harkarvy, Benjamin 1930 births 2002 deaths American choreographers Artists from New York City Juilliard School faculty Dance in the Netherlands Educators from New York City