David Gordon is a dancer, choreographer, writer and theatrical director prominent in the world of postmodern dance and performance. Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) is an Art form that generally refers to movement of the body usually rhythmic See also, Choreography (literally "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" (circular dance see chorea) and "γραφή" A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or Drama. A theatre director or stage director is a practitioner in the Theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production (a play, Postmodern dance is a 20th century concert dance form A reaction to the compositional and presentation constraints of Modern dance, postmodern dance hailed the This article is about Performance art For other uses see Performance (disambiguation

David Gordon, a native of New York City, performed in the companies of James Waring and Yvonne Rainer in the 1960s, when he was a founding artist in the Judson Church dance performances and also showed dances at the Living Theatre. Yvonne Rainer (born November 24, 1934, San Francisco) is an American choreographer and filmmaker, whose work in both Judson Dance Theater is located at the Judson Memorial Church, New York. The Living Theatre is an American Theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. In the 1970s he was a founding member of the improvisational group, The Grand Union. Grand Union was a Dance group practicing Dance improvisation in New York from 1970 to 1976 In 1971 he formed the Pick Up Performance Company (incorporated in 1978 as a non-profit organization), which helps to support and administer his work in live performance and media. The Pick Up Performance Company is a Not-for-profit theatrical producing organization founded in 1971 and Incorporated in 1978 He is a Guggenheim Fellow (1981 and 1987) and has been a panelist and chairman of the dance program panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA is a United States federally funded and donation assisted program that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence His video work has appeared on Great Performances, KTCA's Alive TV, the BBC, and Channel 4 in Great Britain. Great Performances is a Television series devoted to the Performing arts and has been aired on the U Twin Cities Public Television (TPT is a nonprofit organization based in Saint Paul Minnesota, United States, that operates the Twin Cities ' two PBS Channel 4 is a public-service Television and Radio broadcaster in the United Kingdom centred around a television channel of the same name which began

The Mysteries and What's So Funny? (1991), written and directed by Gordon with music by Philip Glass and visual design by Red Grooms, was awarded a Bessie Award and an Obie Award. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Philip Glass (born January 31 Red Grooms (born Charles Rogers Grooms on June 7, 1937) is an American Multimedia Artist best known for his The New York Dance and Performance Awards informally known as the Bessie Awards in honor of Bessie Schonberg are awarded annually for innovative achievement in Dance and The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards bestowed by The Village Voice newspaper to Off-Broadway Theater The script was published in Grove New American Theater, edited by Michael Feingold.

Gordon collaborated with his son, playwright Ain Gordon on The Family Business, which premiered at Dance Theater Workshop in New York City in February 1994, received another Obie Award, and was presented at New York Theatre Workshop and at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in 1995. Dance Theater Workshop is a New York City performance space and service organization for dance companies New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW is an Off-Broadway Theatre noted for its acclaimed and innovative productions of new works The Mark Taper Forum is a 739 seat Thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center built by Welton Becket and Associates

In 1994, for the American Repertory Theatre (ART) in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the American Music Theatre Festival (AMTF) in Philadelphia, Gordon directed and choreographed the original production of Shlemiel the First, written by Robert Brustein, based on the stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer, set to traditional klezmer music with new lyrics by Arnold Weinstein. The American Repertory Theatre ( ART) is housed in the Loeb Drama Center at Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts. Cambridge Massachusetts is a City in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts, United States. The Prince Music Theater is a Non-profit theatrical producing organization located in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and specializing in Music theatre Philadelphia (ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə Shlemiel the First is a musical adaptation of the stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer about a Fool named "Shlemiel" set to Robert Sanford Brustein (born April 21, 1927 in New York City) is an American theatrical Critic, producer, Playwright Isaac Bashevis Singer (יצחק באַשעװיס זינגער (November 21 1902 (see notes below – July 24 1991 was a Nobel Prize -winning Polish -born See also Secular Jewish music Klezmer (from Yiddish כּלי־זמיר kley - instrument and zemer - song etymologically from Arnold Weinstein (1927-2005 was an American playwright and librettist best known for his collaborations with composer William Bolcom, including the operas McTeague ^[1] Subsequent productions have been seen at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles (for which Gordon won Dramalogue Awards for best direction and choreography in 1997) and the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) in San Francisco. The Geffen Playhouse (or the Geffen) is a not for profit performing arts Theater in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California American Conservatory Theater ( ACT) is a large non-profit theater company in San Francisco California, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city The show also toured throughout Florida and in Stamford, Connecticut. Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States.

Gordon received a National Theatre Artist Residency Grant (funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by TCG) to work with the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, where he directed and choreographed The Firebugs by Max Frisch for their mainstage in 1995. The Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent nonprofit and Nongovernmental organization, founded in 1948 The Guthrie Theater is a center for theater performance production education and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Biedermann und die Brandstifter was written by Max Frisch in 1953 - first as a radio play and then adapted for television and stage Max Frisch ( May 15, 1911 &ndash April 4, 1991) was a Swiss Architect, Playwright and Novelist, regarded

Ain and David Gordon collaborated again on the text for Punch & Judy Get Divorced, with music by Edward Barnes and lyrics by Arnold Weinstein, which premiered at AMTF in 1996 and was subsequently presented by ART. The name Edward Barnes may refer to Sir Edward Barnes (British army officer (1776–1838 British soldier who became governor of Ceylon Edward Arnold Weinstein (1927-2005 was an American playwright and librettist best known for his collaborations with composer William Bolcom, including the operas McTeague They also collaborated on The First Picture Show with music by Jeanine Tesori, for ACT and the Taper. Jeanine Tesori (formerly known as Jeanine Levenson) is a Composer of musicals.

Other productions David Gordon has created as writer, director and choreographer include Autobiography of a Liar (1999), FAMILY$DEATH@ART. COMedy (2001) and Private Lives of Dancers (2002). In 2000, he was commissioned by ACT to write an adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, with music by Gina Leishman, which was called Some Kind of Wind in the Willows. Kenneth Grahame ( March 8, 1859 – July 6, 1932) was a British Writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows The Wind in the Willows is a classic of Children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. [1]

In 2004, Gordon made Dancing Henry Five, which utilized William Walton's music for Laurence Olivier's film of Shakespeare's Henry V, as well as dialogue from the film and recorded dramatic recitations of the text by Christopher Plummer and others. Sir William Turner Walton, OM ( March 29, 1902 &ndash March 8, 1983) was a British Composer and Laurence Kerr Olivier Baron William Shakespeare ( baptised Henry V is a 1944 film adaptation of William Shakespeare 's play of the same name. Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer, CC (born December 13 1929 is a Canadian Theater, Film and Television actor. This production has been seen in New York, Minneapolis and Lawrence, Kansas, the University of Maryland, Lexington, Kentucky, and San Francisco. Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the US State of Kansas and the County seat of Douglas County. The University of Maryland College Park (often referred to as The University of Maryland UMD, UMCP or simply Maryland) is a public research Lexington (officially Lexington-Fayette Urban County is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 68th largest in the United States.

He has adapted and directed Eugene Ionesco's The Chairs (presented in London, Seattle and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City), Aristophanes' The Birds (2006, as "Aristophanes in Birdonia") and The Roundheads and the Pointheads by Bertholt Brecht and Hanns Eisler (2002-2007, as "Uncivil Wars: Collaborating With Brecht and Eisler"). Eugène Ionesco, born Eugen Ionescu ( November 26, 1909 – March 28, 1994 Les Chaises ( English: The Chairs) is an absurdist " tragic Farce " by Eugene Ionesco. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Brooklyn Academy of Music ( BAM) is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant garde Aristophanes (Ἀριστοφάνης ˌærɪˈstɒfəniːz in English ca Round Heads and Pointed Heads (German Die Rundeköpfe und die Spitzköpfe) sometimes translated as Round Heads and Peaked Heads or Roundheads and (born; 10 February 1898&ndash14 August 1956 was a German Poet, Playwright, and Theatre director. Hanns Eisler ( July 6, 1898 &ndash September 6, 1962) was a German and Austrian Composer. Gordon has choreographed dances for, among other companies, American Ballet Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem and Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project, for whom he also wrote and directed the retrospective of postmodern dance, Past/Forward, in 2000. See also American Ballet Theatre, based in New York City, was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century Dance Theatre of Harlem is a Ballet company and school of the allied arts founded in Harlem, New York City, USA in 1969 by Arthur Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov (Михаил Николаевич Барышников (born January 27, 1948) is a Soviet -born Russian The White Oak Dance Project was a Dance company founded in 1990 by Mikhail Baryshnikov and Mark Morris to be the touring arm of the Baryshnikov Dance

David Gordon is a member of the Actors Studio, and a founder of the Center for Creative Research. The Actors Studio is a membership Organization for Professional Actors theatre directors and Playwrights at 432 West 44th Street in He is married to Valda Setterfield, a dancer and actress who was for many years a featured performer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. See also Merce Cunningham (born April 16, 1919 in Centralia Washington, United States is an American Dancer and choreographer She appears regularly in Gordon's work, and has been referred to as his "muse". In Greek mythology, the Muses ( Ancient Greek, hai moũsai: perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European root * men- "think" are

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