Douglas Dunn (born October 19, 1942 in Palo Alto, California) is an American postmodern dancer and choreographer. Events 202 BCE - The Battle of Zama results in the defeat of Carthage and Hannibal. Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Palo Alto (ˌpæloʊˈæltoʊ from Spanish: palo: "stick" and alto: "high" i The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Postmodernism literally means 'after the modernist movement' While " Modern " itself refers to something "related to the present" the movement of modernism 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" He is considered a highly eclectic and minimalist choreographer, who uses humor, props, and text in his dances. Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design especially Visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features ^[1]

Contents 1 Training and education 2 Performing career 2.1 Danced roles 3 Choreography 3.1 Choreographic works 4 Awards 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

Training and education

Douglas Dunn started dancing in college in 1962, studying under Audreé Estey, Maggie Sinclair, and Roland Guerard at the Princeton Ballet Society. ^[2] In 1963 he attended the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival where he studied under Margaret Jenkins, Ted Shawn, Matteo, Margaret Craske, La Meri, and Gus Solomons, Jr. Jacob’s Pillow is a National Historic Landmark located in the town of Becket Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. Ted Shawn (1891- 1972 originally Edwin Myers Shawn was one of the first notable male pioneers of American Modern dance. Dunn received his B. A in 1964 in Art History from Princeton University in New Jersey. Art history is the Academic study of objects of Art in their Historical development and stylistic contexts i Princeton University is a private Coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. After college he continued his studies at the Martha Graham summer program in 1963 and 1964, the Joffrey Ballet School from 1964-1965 and the Margaret Jenkins Studio. See also Martha Graham ( May 11, 1894 &ndash April 1, 1991) was an American Dancer and Choreographer The Joffrey Ballet is a dance company founded in 1956 From 1995 to 2004 the company was known as The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. Dunn moved to New York in 1968 where he started training at the American Ballet Center with Françoise Martinez and at the Merce Cunningham School. The School of American Ballet (SAB is the official school of the New York City Ballet. See also Merce Cunningham (born April 16, 1919 in Centralia Washington, United States is an American Dancer and choreographer ^[3]

Performing career

In New York, Dunn began working with Yvonne Rainer and was a dancer with her company from 1968-1970. Yvonne Rainer (born November 24, 1934, San Francisco) is an American choreographer and filmmaker, whose work in both After completion of his studies with the Merce Cunningham studio, he was accepted into their professional company as a dancer from 1969-1973. See also Merce Cunningham (born April 16, 1919 in Centralia Washington, United States is an American Dancer and choreographer In 1970 he became a member of the avant-garde improvisational group the Grand Union Collective until 1976. Grand Union was a Dance group practicing Dance improvisation in New York from 1970 to 1976 ^[3]

Danced roles

Choreography

Dunn premiered his professional company, Douglas Dunn and Dancers, in 1976, where he served as artistic director. He was commissioned by various companies to choreograph works including the Paris Opera Ballet, Groupe de Recherche Choréographique de l'Opéra de Paris, Grande Ballet de Bordeaux, New Dance Ensemble of Minneapolis, Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Repertory Dance Theater (Salt Lake City), Ballet Théâtre Francais de Nancy, Institute for Contemporary Art (Boston), Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (Australia), and Portland State University (Oregon). The Paris Opéra Ballet is the official Ballet company of the Opéra national de Paris, otherwise known as the Palais Garnier, though This page is about the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Portland State University (PSU is a public state Urban university located in downtown Portland Oregon, United States. ^[4].

Dunn uses many different choreographic elements in his dances which makes it hard to classify him into a specific genre of dance. ^[5] He conveyed a minimalist approach in his work by using elements of silence, stillness, simple movements, text, pedestrian movements, gestures and humor. Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design especially Visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features He also incorporated varying aesthetics like costumes, music, set designs and lights. Aesthetics or esthetics ( also spelled æsthetics) is commonly known as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values sometimes called In 101, a performance exhibit choreographed in 1974, Dunn used his apartment to create a maze of cubes of rough-hewn lumber that covered his entire loft. For four hours a day and six days a week in two months he held an open studio for viewers to enter the set and explore his creation in which they would find him lying on top of the boxes in a sort of trance with his eyes closed. ^[5] Dunn's seven best-known works are, Nevada, Four for Nothing, 101, Octopus, Time Out, Gestures in Red, and Lazy Madge. ^[6] He is mostly known for creating solo pieces like Lazy Madge, Haole, and Nevada. However he also created many group pieces like Celeste in 1977 which featured about forty dancers. ^[7] In 1980, Dunn created Pulcinella as a commission for the Paris Opera Ballet. The Paris Opéra Ballet is the official Ballet company of the Opéra national de Paris, otherwise known as the Palais Garnier, though He was commissioned by l'Opéra de Paris in 1981 to set his work, Cycles, on the Groupe de Recherche Chorégraphique. ^[7]

Since the 1980's, Dunn expressed a growing interest in collaborations with many different artists as well as presenting site-specific and evening length works. Dunn collaborated with many choreographers including Sara Rudner, David Gordon, Pat Catterson, and Sheela Raj. David Gordon is a Dancer, Choreographer, writer and theatrical director prominent in the world of Postmodern dance and performance He has worked with film makers including Charles Atlas and Amy Greenfield, and poets like Anna Waldman and Reed Bye. ^[7] His important film collaborations include, Mayonnaise-Part I directed by Charles Atlas, 101 by Amy Greenfield, Secret of the Waterfall by Susan Dowling and directed by Charles Atlas. His solo work, The Myth of Modern Dance was also directed by Charles Atlas in 1990 which was based on his previous solo, Haole in 1988, a comedic piece. ^[7] In the 1990's, his major film works included Rubble Dance and Long Island City both directed by Rudy Burckhardt which were shot outside in industrial venues around Queens. ^[7] He collaborated with painter Mimi Gross to create sets and costumes and Carol Mullins to designs lights in Sky Eye in 1989, Caracole in 1995, and Spell for Opening the Mouth of N in 1996. ^[8] In 1983, Dunn collaborated with sculptor Jeffrey Schiff and composer John Driscoll to create a dance installation piece entitled Second Mesa for the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. ^[9] In a collaboration with sculptor David Ireland, Stucco Moon, was created in 1992 with the use of costumes, sets and sounds which was performed in many locations including a gymnasium, a museum, and a conventional theater. David Kenneth Ireland (born August 25, 1930) is an American Artist and co-founder of the Capp Street Project artist residency Each time this piece was performed the set design was reconfigured according to each performance space which also allowed for changes and variations in the choreography and costuming. ^[9] In 1994, Disappearances, a site specific work, consisted of dancers randomly placed throughout different crowds in New York during lunchtime where they executed movement with simple gestures. ^[9]

Choreographic works

Awards

Dunn has received many awards and Fellowships including Cowles Chair, University of Minnesota, the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, and Creative Arts Public Service Program. 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 The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA is an arts council serving the U The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr The New York Foundation for the Arts was created by the New York State Council on the Arts in 1971 ^[4].

Notes

References

• Banes, Sally. Terpsichore in Sneakers: Post-Modern Dance. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979.
• Banes, Sally. "Dunn, Douglas. " In International Encyclopedia of Dance, Vol. 2, ed. by Selma Jeanne Cohen. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
• Cohen-Stratyner, Barbara N. Biographical Dictionary of Dance. New York: Schirmer Books, 1982.
• Craine, Debra, and Judith Mackrell. The Oxford Dictionary of Dance. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
• Kowa, Rebekah J. "Dunn, Douglas. " In International Dictionary of Modern Dance, ed. by Taryn Benbow-Pfalzgraf. Detroit, MI: St. James Press, 1998.

External links

• Duglas Dunn and Dancers

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