Juilliard Dance Division

Now in its 57th season, the Juilliard Dance Division is a groundbreaking conservatory dance program whose faculty and alumni have changed the face of dance around the world. Its 2008-09 season includes four newly-commissioned dance premieres by Sidra Bell, Larry Keigwin, Darrell Grand Moultrie and Johannes Wieland, and performances of works by Lar Lubovitch, Mark Morris, Ohad Naharin and Twyla Tharp. During the fall, Juilliard Dance will perform at New York City Center and Dance Theater Workshop as part of the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company 40th Anniversary Celebration.

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 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 contemporary 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, José Limón, 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 Division’s overall discipline and technique, he also expanded the dancers’ opportunities to explore choreography and to work with world-famous choreographers first hand. In addition, he created a Summer Dance Intensive 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 his five years as director, Mr. Rhodes has reordered the curriculum of the Dance Division and imposed new requirements for the diploma and degree programs at Juilliard.  He has increased the number of performances in the Dance Division and brought many prominent choreographers to the school to work with the students, thereby extending their knowledge of today's dance world and exposing them to the demands of the profession. Mr. Rhodes 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.

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 semester, traditional courses such as dance composition also 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 in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater. 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 Peter Jay Sharp Theater and other smaller performance venues. One remarkable facet of Juilliard’s current renovation is the new Glorya Kaufman Dance Studio, an entirely glass-walled facility that will make visible on Broadway the Juilliard dancers at work.

During their four years at Juilliard, student dancers participate in approximately 30 performances annually throughout the metropolitan region, 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. The Juilliard Dance Division also presents programs in Lincoln Center’s Clark Theater.  In the spring, New York City school children are invited to attend special dance performances at Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater. Masterworks are performed frequently and students are encouraged to present their own choreographed works in informal concerts and workshop showings.

Following immediately after is New Dances/Edition 2008 (December 10 – 14, 2008), Juilliard dancers premiere four newly-commissioned works by Sidra Bell, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Johannes Wieland and Larry Keigwin.

With Juilliard’s spring dance series, Juilliard Dance Repertory, the School celebrates the repertory of major choreographers, including Juilliard alumnus Lar Lubovitch, as his company celebrates their 40th anniversary.  Juilliard dancers perform Lar Lubovitch’s North Star, set to music by Philip Glass; Mark Morris’ Gloria set to Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria in D RV589, staged by Tina Fehlandt; Twyla Tharp’s The Fugue (no music) staged by Jason McDole; and a work by Ohad Naharin.

Juilliard Dance closes its season in May with the annual Senior Dance Production, Choreographic Honors, and its standing room-only Senior Dance Showcase programs.