As she inches her way across the wood-paneled wall of her dance studio to the sounds of Meredith Monk singing “Gotham Lullaby,” 96-year-old Anna Halprin appears to be mourning her losses. Her face expresses despair; her torso and long arms curve inward or tenaciously unwind. But there are also joyful moments during this four-minute video when she pauses with uplifted arms and rises on her forefeet as if in elation, before gently falling back against the wall, clinging to and leaning against it as she continues to inch along, her fragile, gingerly steps reflecting her life journey. The clip ends with several seconds of her standing still, eyes closed, at peace.
Such was the grace and brilliance of Halprin that she was able to convey both the sweetness and the pathos of life in this remarkable footage filmed five years ago at her Mountain Home Studio, in Kentfield, California. The iconoclastic dancer, choreographer, educator, and movement philosopher, who died in May at the age of 100 at her nearby home, created more than 150 works during her 70-plus-year career, and her artistic journey was often the subject of negative assessments by dance critics and the dance establishment. But despite this, she earned the respect of artists and nonartists who studied and worked with her, and today her legacy is deservedly celebrated.
Halprin’s pioneering body of work, recognized as a major influence on what became known as postmodern dance, was uniquely Californian, confronting vexing issues with a creativity that could only have blossomed beyond the reach of dance’s traditional institutions.
I first heard about Halprin (she was known as Ann until she changed her first name to Anna in 1972, after surviving cancer) from the visual artist Charles Ross almost 55 years ago. I had just moved to New York City after graduating from Sarah Lawrence College. Set on launching my professional life in dance, I supported myself by teaching children’s dance classes and joined the last choreography workshop led by musician Robert Dunn at Judson Memorial Church, in Greenwich Village. Dunn’s workshops, which had started at Merce Cunningham’s studio in 1960, moved to the church in 1962, when the pastors there offered to house them free of charge. Importantly, the offer included space to present concerts of experiments developed in the workshops, also at no cost to the participants. For
