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ABOUT ALWIN NIKOLAIS CENTENNIAL: PERFORMED BY RIRIE-WOODBURY DANCE COMPANY:
“ [they] get the credit for completely embodying the work in an emotionally and artistically invested performance that singularly reminded of the work’s contemporary relevance.” – The Dance Insider
Born in Southington, Connecticut , Alwin Nikolais initially studied piano and began performing as a teenager, accompanying silent films as well as local dance classes. As a student at Bennington College, he began studying dance with Martha Graham and Hanya Holm, among many others, and in 1935 was appointed director of the Hartford Parks Marionette Theatre. In 1937 he opened his own dance studio and in 1940 received his first commission, for the ballet Eight Column Line. Following a stint in the Army during World War II, Nikolais relocated in New York City and in 1948 founded the Playhouse Dance Company, later renamed the Nikolais Dance Theatre.
In 1949 Nikolais met a pair of notable young dancers — Murray Louis and Joan Woodbury — while teaching a summer workshop. Both were deeply influenced by Nikolais' ideas about "decentralization," in which costume, lighting and projected images are used to shift attention away from individual dancers in favor of the production's overall effect. Louis soon joined Nikolais' company as a soloist and later became a co-founder of The Nikolais/Louis Foundation for Dance, an umbrella organization that included a school as well as the Nikolais Dance Theatre and the Murray Louis Dance Company.
Woodbury, meanwhile, met Shirley Ririe, another Nikolais pupil, in 1952. The two became fast friends and choreographed their first work together, about a pair of Vaudeville performers. They also began to share teaching duties at the University of Utah and, in the early 1960s, invited Nikolais and Louis to spend a summer working with students.
"I think it was great luck that Nik found these two ladies and their summer sessions, for they were a sounding board for his budding philosophy on teaching creative dance and composition," Louis told Dance Magazine in 2003. "The classes were wildly productive."
At Nikolais' suggestion, Ririe and Woodbury launched the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company in 1964, with a repertoire of original works as well as pieces given to them by Nikolais and Murray. Following Nikolais' death in 1993, the Nikolais/Louis Foundation began to phase out its two companies and in 2002 Louis selected Ririe-Woodbury Dance to preserve and present Nikolais' works, thus marking the first time an existing U.S. company has absorbed the collection of a past master while still maintaining its own identity.
These full evenings of ballets choreographed by Alwin Nikolais, performed by the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, features10 dancers performing many of Nikolais' most influential works and is directed by Alberto del Saz, co-artistic director of The Nikolais/Louis Foundation. Mr. del Saz is assisted in this venture by Joan Woodbury, co-founder of Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. As a former dancer with Nikolais, Mr. del Saz has been with the Nikolais/Louis Foundation for 25 years. At the moment his focus is in preserving the Nikolais/Louis technique, repertory and legacy through his teaching and directing throughout all parts of the world.
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