Sybil Shearer
| Sybil Shearer | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 23, 1912 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | November 17, 2005 (aged 93) Northbrook, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Choreographer, dancer and writer |
Sybil Shearer (February 23, 1912 – November 17, 2005) was a Canadian-American choreographer, dancer and writer. She was hailed as a "maverick" or "mystic" of modern dance.
Shearer was born in Toronto, Canada, daughter of Constance and John Porter Shearer, who moved to Newark, Wayne County, New York when she was a small child. Her father, a commercial artist, took a position with the Bloomer Bros Company. After graduating in 1930 from Newark High School, she studied at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, graduating in 1934. She then pursued modern dance at Bennington College's summer workshops in Vermont, with Doris Humphrey, Martha Graham and Hanya Holm.
Shearer's first solo concert in Manhattan in 1941 at Carnegie Hall, caused a sensation. Shortly after her New York City triumph, she walked away from the fame that was opening for her, settling instead in the American Midwest in the mid-1940s, where she continued to perform in the Chicago area, and inspired numerous students of dance, including John Neumeier who is now director of the Hamburg Ballet.
Dance historian Margaret Lloyd, in The Borzoi Book of Modern Dance, described Shearer as "a perfectionist who likes to believe that perfection is humanly attainable". Shearer was among the first performers to tackle spiritual and social justice issues, such as the plight of factory workers, a theme of one of her pieces. She drew ideas and inspiration from a variety of artistic influences, including lengthy correspondence with choreographer and dancer Agnes de Mille and writer Virginia Woolf.
Shearer depicted both spiritual visions and human foible in her works, which were predominantly solo concerts. She created "Let the Heavens Open That the Earth May Shine" in 1947 which celebrated spiritual ideals. "In a Vacuum" (1941) explored earthly problems and portrayed an assembly-line worker with physically demanding but unrelated movements that suggested dehumanization. She created "Once Upon a Time" in 1951 which was a suite of solos for fantastically named characters. Thus Medmiga was an ominous witch, Yanchi was fey, Relluckus was woebegone and Ziff fluttered aimlessly.
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