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Juilliard Dance Division

Now in its fifty-second season, the Juilliard Dance Division is a groundbreaking conservatory dance-training program whose faculty and alumni have changed the face of dance around the world. Established in 1951 by William Schuman during his tenure as president of Juilliard with the guidance of founding director Martha Hill, Juilliard Dance became the first major teaching institution to combine equal dance instruction in both modern and ballet techniques, an idea that was considered heretical in its day. Rather, it was a forecast of the future of dance; ballet and modern dance companies now routinely cross into one another's territory. Among the early faculty members were renowned dance figures such as Alfredo Corvino, Doris Humphrey, Jos Limn, Anna Sokolow, Antony Tudor, and Hector Zaraspe. Beloved by her faculty and her students, Ms. Hill became Artistic Director Emeritus with the appointment of Muriel Topaz as Director in 1985. She remained Artistic Director Emeritus, arranging tours for her dancers and working full-length days in the office and dance studio, almost until her death in 1995 at the age of 94. Her legacy and Juilliard's are irrevocably intertwined in the accomplishments of her students who have continued her creative spirit.

From 1992 to his death in March 2002, noted choreographer and artistic director Benjamin Harkarvy was Director of the Juilliard Dance Division. While strengthening the discipline and technique training available for the students, he also expanded the dancers' opportunities to explore choreography and for high school-age ballet students, giving the young dancers the opportunity to explore contemporary dance and work with choreographers in new dances. Mr. Harkarvy organized and oversaw the Juilliard Dance Division's 50th Anniversary celebration in the spring of 2002, which included performances of choreography by Juilliard alumni choreographers Robert Battle, Lar Lubovitch, and Ohad Naharin.

In July of 2002, ballet master and master teacher Lawrence Rhodes was appointed the new director of the Dance Division. In 2003-2004, his second season at the School, Mr. Rhodes is implements several changes in the Dance Division curriculum as well as focuses each of the Division's performance series on a particular theme: new works by well-known and up-and-coming choreographers, classic repertoire, and the year's best work by Juilliard's own young choreographers. Juilliard's coming centennial in 2005 will include newly-commissioned and major dance works as part of the School's celebration.

Graduates of the Dance Division have gone on to perform with virtually every established modern and ballet company in the United States and abroad, and they also are among the directors and administrators of respected companies worldwide. Alumni of the Division include noted directors and choreographers such as Robert Battle, Pina Bausch, Martha Clarke, Mercedes Ellington, Robert Garland, Charlotte Griffin, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Adam Hougland, Saeko Ichinohe, Lar Lubovitch, Bruce Marks, Susan Marshall, Ohad Naharin, and Paul Taylor.

The Dance Division's four-year course of study offers students the choice of pursuing a bachelor of fine arts degree or a diploma. The core curriculum requires intensive technical study and performance in classical ballet and modern dance, and includes courses in repertory, pas de deux, pointe or men's class, dance composition, anatomy, acting, dance history, stagecraft, production, and music theory. The dancers work in an enormous variety of repertory styles and techniques. In the Fall of 2003, traditional courses such as dance composition also will benefit from guest artists and noted choreographers who work in the studios with Juilliard dancers as part of their weekly schedule. New choreography developed during these sessions will be performed in dance concerts at the end of the Fall semester; Fall 2003 guest artists include Jacqulyn Buglisi, Thaddeus Davis, Zvi Gotheiner, and Dwight Rhoden. Electives such as voice and tap also are offered, as well as jazz and elements of performing. All dancers are introduced to the techniques of creating new works in beginning choreography classes. There are advanced choreography classes and the opportunity for all to work with established choreographers and in premiere dances. Facilities include five class and rehearsal studios, as well as the 933-seat Juilliard Theater and other smaller performance venues. The Juilliard Dance Division also presents programs in Lincoln Center's Clark Theater, and in venues throughout the metropolitan region, including New York City public schools.

Throughout their four years at Juilliard, student dancers participate in approximately 30 performances annually, including nine fully-staged concerts and workshops, tours to local health care facilities under Juilliard's Community Service Fellowship program, and tours to local schools under Juilliard's Performing Educational Programs for Schools (PEPS) Dance program. Masterworks are performed frequently and students are encouraged to present their own choreographed works in informal concerts and workshop showings, as well as in Juilliard's Alice Tully Hall Wednesdays at One series, which features hour-long, lunchtime performances from each of the School's divisions. In March 2004, Juilliard students will perform works of Nacho Duato, Lar Lubovitch, and Paul Taylor on the Juilliard Dances Repertory Edition 2004 concerts, and in April 2004 the annual Dance Division Senior Production will take place in the Clark Theater under the supervision of Juilliard faculty member Martha Clarke.

8/26/03

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