Elaine Summers
| Elaine Summers | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 20, 1925 Perth, Australia |
| Died | December 27, 2014 (aged 89) New York City, United States |
| Occupation | Choreographer, experimental filmmaker, and intermedia pioneer |
| Years active | 1962–2014 |
| Current group | Elaine Summers Dance & Film & Web Company |
| Former groups | Judson Dance Theater |
| Dances | Overture (1962), Fantastic Gardens (1964), Walking Dance for Any # (1968), Energy Changes (1973), Illuminated Workingman (1976), Crow's Nest (1980), Skydance (1984), Flowing Rocks Still Waters (1985), Hidden Forest (2007), Skytime (1995-present) |
Lillian Elaine Summers (February 20, 1925 – December 27, 2014) was a critically acclaimed American choreographer, experimental filmmaker, and intermedia pioneer. She was a founding member of the original workshop-group that would form the Judson Dance Theater and she significantly contributed to the interaction of film and dance, as well as the expansion of dance into other related disciplines, such as visual art, film, and theater. She fostered the expansion of performing dance in new, often outdoor locations. Her movement approach Kinetic Awareness offers a comprehensive perspective on human movement and dance.
She died at Bellevue Hospital, New York, on the morning of December 27, 2014, after a fall at her home.
Elaine Summers was born in Perth, Australia and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts with her mother and her younger brother John. Although she took self-paid dance classes through adolescence, she first studied Art Education and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1947.
In 1951 Elaine Summers came to New York and attended classes at the Juilliard School of Dance, together with Paul Taylor and Carolyn Brown. She also studied with Louis Horst, Merce Cunningham, Daniel Nagrin, Don Redlich, Mary Anthony, Charlotte Selver and Carola Speads, (both students of German body-reeducation pioneer Elsa Gindler), Jean Erdman, Janet Collins, and at the Martha Graham School.
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