- Helen Tamiris
Infobox actor
name = Helen Tamiris
imagesize = 180px
caption =
birthname =
birthdate = birth date|1905|04|24
birthplace =New York City, New York , USA
deathdate = death date and age|1966|08|04|1905|04|24
deathplace =New York City, New York , USA
othername =
occupation =Choreographer ,dance r
spouse =
yearsactive =
tonyawards = Best Choreograph
1950 "Touch and Go "Helen Tamiris (
24 April 1905 -4 August 1966 ) was an American choreographer, modern dancer, and teacher.Biography
A founder of American
Modern Dance , Tamiris originally trained in free movement at theHenry Street Settlement . She danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and the Bracale Opera Company before studying briefly with Michel Fokine and with a disciple of Isadora Duncan. In 1927, she made her premiere as a solo modern dancer and two years later formed her own school and company. Concerned with establishing modern dance as a viable art form, Tamiris was active in organizing the young artists through the Concert Dancers League, Dance Repertory Theatre, Dancers Emergency Association, and American Dance Association. She also played an integral role in establishing the Federal Dance Project under the WPA.Tamiris believed that each dance must create its own expressive means and as such did not develop an individual style or technique. She was one of the first choreographers to use jazz and spiritual music to explore social themes via dance. She is probably best known for her suite of dances called "Negro Spirituals" which was created between 1928 and 1941 and for "How Long Brethren?" (1937), a dance for the Federal Dance Project of the WPA that explored the problems facing African-Americans and won Dance Magazine's first award for group choreography. Tamiris also made works based on American themes working in concert dance (including "Walt Whitman Suite" and "Salut au Monde") and musical theatre, including "Annie Get Your Gun" (1946), "Touch and Go" (1949), "
Flahooley " (1951), "Carnival in Flanders " (1953), "Fanny" (1954), and "Plain and Fancy " (1955). She won a Tony Award for "Touch and Go".In 1960, with husband
Daniel Nagrin , Tamiris formed the Tamiris-Nagrin Dance Company.References
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