Hanya Holm came to the United States in 1931 from
her native Germany to establish a branch school for Mary Wigman, the great
German modern dance pioneer. HoIm won a place beside Martha Graham, Doris
Humphrey and Charles Wiedman as one of the ”Big Four“ founders of American
modern dance. In 1937 she created one of modern dance's greatest masterpieces;
Trend was a work of epic proportions about social destruction and
rebirth. Other award- winning dances followed which HoIm toured and presented
regularly in New York. In 1948 she turned her attention to musical theater and
after the success of Ballet Ballads and Kiss Me. Kate she went on
to choreograph eleven other Broadway hits and near-hits, Mv Fair Lady and
Camelot among them. She continued to produce concert choreography at a
regional center for the arts in Colorado. Between 1975 and 1985 she produced
five works for Don Redlich Dance Company, one of which, Jocose, toured
the world in the repertory of Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Project in 1994.
HoIm was a recipient of all three national dance awards, the Capezio Award, the
Dance Magazine Award ant the American Dance festival Scripps Award.
DeeAnna Hiett turned up the heat in a clenched and slithery solo
Robert Johnson, Newark Star Ledger 2007
