NEWS

UPDATE

Lorry May is pleased to announce the establishment of the Sokolow Dance Foundation. Under the direction of Ms May, the foundation has been active and growing since its incorporation in February 2003. Ms. May is considered the leading authority of the Sokolow repertory, having been associated with the choreographer for over four decades as a world wide-renowned dancer, reconstructor and co-artistic director of the performing company, Anna Sokolow’s Players’ Project.

ARCHIVES

The Sokolow Dance Foundation continually strives to develop its video archive by researching and acquiring Sokolow repertory from both the private and public sectors. In 2005, the archives will be open to the public for viewing and research, thus conserving the Sokolow legacy for future generations. Our earliest acquisitions include:

• L’Histoire Du Soldat, a 1957 CBS-TV Camera Three
  Production starring James Mitchell, Arthur Malet and Annebelle Gold. The musical director/conductor is Manual Vardi.
• Three Conversations in a City, a 1959 television special
  from the Perry Como Kraft Music Hall.
• The Dybuk,, a 1960 “Play of the Week” production by
  WNTA-TV starring Carol Lawrence and Theodore Bikel. The musical director is Sidney Lumet.
  The foundation is also adding to its archive by reclaiming choreography that has no visual record.
• Dancefusion, a Philadelphia based modern dance
  company, and the Sokolow Dance Foundation collaborated to reconstruct Time + (1966) which was in peril of becoming lost. This dance was reconstructed through the memories of original dancers from the Pennsylvania Ballet (Greg Drotar) and Anna Sokolow Dance Company (Kathy Posin, Lenore Latimer), photographs, and archival writings. A video documentation of the reconstruction plus interviews with the original dancers will be made available to national dance archives. This project is made possible by a generous grant from Dance Advance, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
• Time + was performed by Dancefusion on the
  DanceBoom! 2004 dance series at the Wilma Theater, Philadelphia, on January 21 through February 8, 2004. Response to the dance was tremendous. City Paper reviewer Janet Anderson said: ““The theme is timely and the punch line just as emphatic 36 years later”.
• In October 2003, Alice Forner, a founding member of South Street Dance Company, reconstructed Quartertones (1974) on Dancefusion. As with Time+, Quartertones had no visual archive and was reconstructed from memory and photographs. A video of the entire reconstruction was made, and is now being edited for distribution to national dance archives. This project was funded by the PA Council on the Arts.
• On November 2, 2003, Quartertones was performed by Christine Taylor before a large and enthusiastic audience at a special fundraiser at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Dion Mac Authur (Danny Grossman Dance Company) in Rooms
Photo: Cylla von Tedman - 2004

EDUCATION

The Sokolow Dance Foundation believes that education is an important force in the perpetuation of the Sokolow legacy. Workshops, residencies, master classes, and lectures on Sokolow's life and work are available for students of all ages. A major part of these programs is the Sokolow Etude Project, a format designed to allow students to experience master choreogrphy first hand.

• The Rooms Etude (a 6 minute version of Sokolow’s msterwork Rooms), is part of the American Dance Legacy Institutes’ initiative The Dance Legacy Volumes, curated by Carolyn Adams. In 2002 it was introduced into the curriculum standards for the public schools of both North and South Carolina.
• In September 2003, students from Jacksonville University participated in a weeklong workshop that included classes, lectures and the Rooms Etude. The Etude was performed on the University Dance Department’s concert, November 21 and 22, 2003.
• Students from Naugatuck Community College in Connecticut participated in a two-day workshop. The Rooms Etude was performed in an open rehearsal on December 15, 2003 along with other repertory from their dance history class.
• A week - long residency at the University of Alabama will be conducted on March 22 - 26, 2004. The students have been invited to perform the Rooms Etude at the Sharing the Legacy conference at Hunter College, New York City at the Kaye Playhouse on April 2, 2004. An addition performance is planed for their fall concert at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.

Dancefusion in Time +
Photo: Ron Williams - 2004

REPERTORY

The Sokolow Dance Foundation is committed to making Sokolow repertory available to professional dance companies, college dance ensembles and individual artists who wish to perform the work. The foundation will lease all contracts, facilitate royalty arrangements, collect licensing fees, and provide reconstructors and coaches for all national and international reconstructions.

• The Chamber Dance Company, the graduate student company of the University of Washington, learned Sokolow’s 1965 work Ballade. The lyrical quartet was set on the dancers in September 2003, rehearsals continued, and performances were held on February 5, 6, 7 & 8, 2004.
• The Danny Grossman Dance Company in Toronto, Canada, mounted Rooms (1955) as part of their home season concert at the Premiere Dance Theatre on January 28 through February 1, 2004. It was a major event for the Canadian audiences to view this classic American modern dance. The theater was packed on opening night, and the audience was both receptive and enthusiastic. Globe & Mail reviewer Paula Citron wrote: “Rooms ….. has a universal resonance…and Grossman’s dancers were born to perform it. Kudos go to Lorry May, who is responsible for staging Sokolow, for her crystalline reconstruction.”

Gerard Reyes (Danny Grossman Dance Company) in Rooms
Photo: Cylla von Tedman - 2004

• The Repertory Dance Theater of Salt
  Lake City, Utah remounted Steps of Silence (1968) in February 2004. They were the original company on which Sokolow created the dance. Documantation of the reconstruction on a CD Rom and performancs on March 4, 5, & 6, 2004, of this work were part of this project which was partially funded by a grant from the NEA
• Buffalo Contemporary Dance Company
  member, Amy Taravella, learned Sokolow’s Preludes (1980), set to the music of Sergi Rachmaninoff. The Buffalo Contemporary Dance Company will present Preludes and the Rooms Etude on their annual spring concert in Buffalo, New York on April 30 and May 1, 2004.