Anna Sokolow

Anna sokolow dreams Anna Sokolow contributed to the world of modern dance for nearly seven decades. She continued to shape contemporary dance with ground-breaking choreography up until her death in March at the age of ninety. Known as one of the most dynamic and uncompromising of the modern dance choreographers, Sokolow began her career as a dancer with Martha Graham. In the early thirties, she studied choreography with Louis Horst at the Neighborhood Playhouse, and she quickly became his assistant and his most outstanding composition student. Sokolow has had a profound effect on the course of modern dance throughout the world.

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&#;Choreography always reflects the character of the creator. We see in the person&#;s work what he asks from life and from art. Art should recognize all our needs.&#;

Anna Sokolow, in The Modern Dance,
Selma Jeanne Cohen,

Anna Sokolow () was born in Hartford, Connecticut and began her training at the Neighborhood Playhouse with Martha Graham and Louis Horst.

In the &#;s she was a member of the Graham Dance Company and assisted Mr. Horst in his dance composition classes. During this period, in addition to her association with the WPA dance unit, she formed her own company and began choreographing and performing solo concerts and ensemble works.

Ms. Sokolow&#;s interest in humanity led her to create works of dramatic contemporary imagery showing both the lyric and stark aspects of the human experience.

Her vast range of repertory includes drama, comedy, and lyricism with her commentaries on humanity and social justice threaded into each of her works. In a Dance Magazine article she wrote that there were no &#;final solutions to today&#;s problems,&#; but that she &#;could simply provoke an audience into awareness.&#;

In Ms. Sokolow began a lifelong association with the dance and theater arts in Mexico.

Her work for the Mexican Ministry of Fine Arts grew to become the National Academy of Dance there. In she was invited to Israel to work with Inbal Dance Company.

Anna sokolow choreographer American choreographer and teacher who was an innovator in the field of modern dance and introduced modern dance to Mexico and Israel. Anna Sokolow, who enjoyed a lengthy and prodigious international career that changed the course of modern dance, was born in , in Hartford, Connecticut, to Polish immigrants. She spent her childhood in New York City where, after her father Samuel's death, her mother Sara Cohen Sokolow worked in the garment industry and became an early member of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union. Sokolow became interested in dance after observing a settlement house class and, against her mother's wishes, began to take lessons herself. By her mid-teens she was a student in classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse.

Following that, she choreographed for the major dance companies in Israel including Batsheva, Kibbutz Dance Company, and Lyric Theatre. She visited Mexico and Israel frequently to teach and to choreograph.

Ms. Sokolow&#;s works are performed by the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble, and are in the repertories of numerous other companies around the world.

Ms.

Sokolow also choreographed for the Broadway theater. Her credits include Street Scene, Camino Real, Candide, and the original Hair. In the late &#;s Ms. Sokolow was the first modern dance choreographer to have her work (Rooms) presented on national television.

Ms. Sokolow&#;s interest in teaching took her to universities, dance companies and acting studios throughout the U.S.

and abroad. She was a longtime faculty member of the Juilliard School in both the dance and drama divisions.

Paul taylor Anna Sokolow February 9, — March 29, was an American dancer and choreographer. Sokolow's work is known for its social justice focus and theatricality. Throughout her career, Sokolow supported of the development of modern dance around the world, including in Mexico and Israel. At the beginning of her career, Sokolow was a principal dancer in the Martha Graham Company. Sokolow soon became an independent choreographer, who went on to form multiple dance companies throughout her life.

She received many honors and awards, including Honorary Doctorate degrees from Ohio State University, Brandeis University and the Boston Conservatory of Music. She received a Fulbright Fellowship to Japan, the Dance Magazine Award, a National Endowment for the Arts&#; Choreographic Fellowship, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American/Israeli Cultural Foundation, the Samuel H.

Scripps Award, and the Encomienda, Aztec Eagle Honor (the highest civilian honor awarded to a foreigner by Mexico).

Anna Sokolow passed away in her home in New York City on March 29, at the age of

 

Anna Sokolow in The Jewish Women&#;s Archive

The Jewish Women&#;s Archive named Anna Sokolow one of their Women of Valor, in recognition of her contribution to Jewish and American life.

Visit their web site to explore a multimedia biography of Anna Sokolow and other trailblazing Jewish women.

To find out more about Anna Sokolow&#;s life and work, visit our More Reading page.