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Ann Halprin

(1920- )

HALPRIN, ANN (Anna; 1920– ), U.S. dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Halprin distinguished herself as an exponent of dance related to environment. She founded and ran the Dancers' Workshop in San Francisco (1948–55). Her first "environmental" work, Birds of America (1960), led to Four-Legged Stool (1961), Esposizione (1963), and Parades and Changes (1964). From the late 1970s Halprin organized events conceived as "rituals" in which males and females from the audience as well as performers are united in a single process. Her Circle the Earth (1981) was a call for peace and also served as a healing ritual; her Planetary Dance: A Prayer for Peace, performed in Berlin (1995) in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, involved hundreds of participants. In 1997, she received the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award, honoring lifetime achievement in modern dance.


Sources:IED, 3, 336.

[Amnon Shiloah (2nd ed.)]

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