Eve Gentry (August 21, 1909 – June 17, 1994;

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Henrietta Greenhood, and

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

Eve Brooks) was a

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert dance, concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th ...

r, and later a Pilates master instructor. She was an original disciple of

Joseph Pilates Joseph Hubertus Pilates (9 December 1883 – 9 October 1967) was a German physical trainer, writer, and inventor. He is credited with inventing and promoting the Pilates method of physical fitness. He patented a total of 26 apparatuses in hi ...

, and a master teacher of his technique to generations of instructors. She helped found the Dance Notation Bureau in New York City and later in 1991 she co-founded the Institute for the Pilates Method in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Early life

Gentry was born on August 21, 1909, and grew up in

San Bernardino, California San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...

. In 1917, she studied ballet, and folk dance. Gentry was studying in Los Angeles when

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 ...

saw her perform and offered her a scholarship in New York City. Gentry performed with

Hanya Holm Hanya Holm (born Johanna Eckert; 3 March 1893 – 3 November 1992) is known as one of the "Big Four" founders of American modern dance. She was a dancer, choreographer, and above all, a dance educator. Early life, connection with Mary Wigman Bo ...

in the Hanya Holm Dance Company in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

from 1936 to 1942, and later founded her own group, the Eve Gentry Dancers. Additionally she studied

Labanotation Labanotation (grammatically correct form "Labannotation" or "Laban notation" is uncommon) is a system for analyzing and recording human movement (Notation, notation system), invented by Austro-Hungarian choreographer and dancer Rudolf von Laban ...

from Rudolf von Laban's students Irmgard Bartenieff and Irma Otto-Betz. She danced under the name Henrietta Greenhood until 1945, when she professionally adopted Gentry, her husband's surname.

Career

Her concern for preserving

choreography Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

led her to establish the Dance Notation Bureau in New York in 1940, with Ann Hutchinson Guest, Janey Price and Helen Priest Rogers. The Dance Notation Bureau promoted the ideas of Labanotation. She was a charter faculty member of the High School for the Performing Arts (now Baltimore School for the Arts). Persistent back and knee problems led her to investigate, and later teach, a system of physical conditioning devised by

. She taught "Contrology" at the

Pilates Pilates (; ) is a type of mind-body exercise developed in the early 20th century by German physical trainer Joseph Pilates, after whom it was named. Pilates called his method "Contrology". Pilates uses a combination of around 50 repetitive e ...

Studio in New York from 1938 through 1968. Gentry also taught "Pilates" in the early 1960s at New York University's,

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

Theater Department. In 1968, she moved to New Mexico, where she established a Pilates Studio on Camino de la Luz. In 1991, she co-founded the Institute for the Pilates Method in Santa Fe with Joan Breibart and Michele Larsson. Gentry is credited with founding the concept of ''imprinting'' in Pilates. The first workshop was held in October 1991, taught by Gentry, using eight "Mini-Moves" inspired by the principles of Feldenkrais and Bartenieff. These Mini-Moves became the foundation of the Fundamentals which are the signature of the PhysicalMind Institute, the successor to the Institute for the Pilates Method. There are now 28 Fundamentals and they have been copied by most of the subsequent Pilates Certification companies who followed the distribution system originated by Joan Breibart. She died at the age of 84 on June 17, 1994, at her home in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...

Awards

In 1979, she was given the "Pioneer of Modern Dance Award" by

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont, United States. Founded as a women’s college in 1932,

. She was also deemed a Living Treasure by the State of New Mexico in 1989.

References

External links

Reminiscences of Eve Gentry: oral history, 1979.
Columbia University * Video
Dance On with Billie Mahoney, Eve Gentry, Part 1
(1990) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gentry, Eve 1909 births 1994 deaths American female dancers Dancers from New York (state) Tisch School of the Arts faculty People associated with physical culture 20th-century American women 20th-century American dancers