Love At My First Plié

In this article, Jeff Slayton writes of his life in dance. The article covers his time with the Merce Cunningham and the Viola Farber dance companies and his career in Los Angeles and Long Beach since 1978. Included is his…

Reflections on Gloria Newman (From Former Dance Company Members)

The following are recollections by various former Gloria Newman Dance Theater members. ALVIN MAYES I would hear “catch,” and turn around to see a big blonde woman flying through the air into my arms. Of course that was Joella.  She…

Agnes De Mille Said: “You Won’t Catch Me Doing That!”

Dancer Iris Pell writes of her experience performing “Lewitzky Floor Exercises” in “Conversations About the Dance”, a lecture demonstration that was created by Agnes DeMille in 1980 and was videotaped at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles for the PBS…

Dancers For Life 1991-2009

Jo Dierdorff, Professor of Dance at Riverside Community College produced a series of fifteen concerts to benefit the fight against HIV/AIDS.  In response to this pandemic, more than 150 dancers, choreographers, musicians, and designers from Southern California and other regions…

Dance Events for the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival

Sharon Took-Zozaya writes about her work as an Assistant to the Executive Director of the Olympics Dance Festival. 1984 Olympic Arts Festival Dance Component (Hereafter referred to as Olympics Dance Festival) The citywide arts festival which preceded the Los Angeles…

John Martin at UCLA 1965-1970

In the formative years of Modern Dance during the late 1920’s to 1940, John Martin was the most influential dance critic in America, writing for the New York Times from 1927- 1962.  He received his By-Line in 1930 after he…

UCLA Department of Dance From 1960-1990

There are as many histories of the Department of Dance at UCLA as there are students that have passed through the program and faculty who were an integral part of the program. What follows is one point of view that…

Dancing With the UCLA Dance Faculty

In Part 1 of this article, Choreographer/Dancer/Educator Sharon Took-Zozaya recalls her studies with several members of the UCLA Dance Department Faculty from 1972 to 1975 as an undergraduate student, and during her graduate studies in Kinesiology between 1977-1978.  In Part…

Dance Kaleidoscope: A Personal History

It was an article in the LA Times about the state of dance in1988 and a comment from post modern choreographer Rudy Perez that first made me focus on the importance of the then defunct Dance Kaleidoscope Festival. Mr. Perez…

A Brief History of My Adventures in Dance Based in Los Angeles

Dance artist/educator Linda Gold writes about creating the Dance Department at Santa Monica College, dancing and performing in Los Angeles, her international work, her long association with Dr. Alma Hawkins, and her research on the work of Jack Cole.  Ms….