"Mapping the Evolution of a Process-Oriented Pedagogy in U.S. Dance Education"

This talk emerges from the dissertation research of Justin Tornow, which maps the evolution of a process-oriented pedagogy for modern dance that originated in 1917 with Margaret H’Doubler, the architect of U.S. dance education; was expanded into performance by postwar U.S. avant-gardes Anna Halprin, Merce Cunningham, and John Cage; and was encountered by Tornow in her own dance education at the turn of the 20th century. Across its eras and iterations, this pedagogy consistently emerged from significant breaks with the philosophies and teaching methods of the consecrated modern dance artists. This talk will focus on process-oriented philosophy as the operative element of postwar U.S. dance avant-gardes in the 1940’s and 50’s.

This event is free and open to the public.