Bessie Schonberg
| Bessie Schonberg | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
December 27, 1906 Hanover, Germany |
| Died | May 14, 1997 (aged 90) New York City, United States |
Bessie Schonberg (December 27, 1906 – May 14, 1997) was a highly influential dancer, choreographer and teacher of the 20th century. She was at the center of contemporary modern dance from her beginning at Bennington College up until her death in 1997. Her career spanned sixty-five years and she helped mold a new generation of modern dancers including Lucinda Childs, Elizabeth Keen, Meredith Monk and Carolyn Adams (dancer).
Capturing a sense of the life and work of Bessie Schonberg is possible if one evokes the image of a prism, a multi-face crystalline object which cannot be perceived in its entirety, but can be appreciated and understood by catching glimpses of light from its different sides.
Schonberg, who is known to many dancers simply as "Bessie", grew up in Dresden, Germany. Rose Elizabeth, her mother, was an American opera singer and as a result, she and her two sisters grew up surrounded by the arts. While in Germany, she began lessons in Delcroze, a style of rhythmic gymnastics. She fell in love with Delcroze and to her father’s dismay became distracted from her studies. Her father soon ended her lessons and explained to her that dance was "a profession suitable only for the lower class".
When Schonberg emigrated to Eugene, Oregon in 1925, she began her dance studies once again at the University of Oregon where she majored in the fine arts. It was here where she enrolled in her first dance course. Lillian Stupp, her first dance teacher, left the University of Oregon in 1927 and was replaced with Martha Hill. Hill, knowledgeable and highly experienced in dance, gave Schonberg the direction and skills she had been yearning for. Hill introduced her to the world of dance in New York City and to one of the best known modern dancers of all time, Martha Graham. After studying with Hill for two years, Schonberg decided to discontinue her studies and pursue her dance career in New York City.
Schonberg arrived in NYC at a pivotal time for modern dance in the United States. A new generation of modern dancers such as Graham, Schonberg, Doris Humphrey, and Helen Tamiris helped solidify modern dance in the 1920s. These second generation modern dancers yearned to create expressive movement free of the confines of traditional ballet. Schonberg and Graham collaborated for two years and she performed in some of Graham's best known works, including Heretic and Primitive Mysteries.
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