A b o u t
Image: The Myth of Modern Dance, video-dance commissioned by WGBH Boston, directed by Charles Atlas, 1991. Dancer: Douglas Dunn, Costume: Charles Atlas, Photo: Shelia O’Neal, 1990.
Why I Dance
I dance to obliterate duration.
I dance to dignify form as content.
I dance to equalize figure & surround.
I dance to put intuition in conversation with thought.
I dance to demonstrate the great facility & ridiculous limits of the un-accoutered human body.
I dance not to be stuck in one position.
I dance in order to stand up straight.
I dance because you don’t have to carry your instrument.
I dance because I can’t wait to be asked.
I dance to achieve a vital, non-heroic presence.
I dance to shrink to an irreducible kernel of purified being.
I dance to arouse things out there that have not yet done so to enter my mind.
I dance to have a say in what I submit to.
I dance to forget why I dance.
- DOUGLAS DUNN
Awards
MAJOR COMMISSIONS
Ballet Theatre Francais de Nancy
G.R.C.O.P. (Paris Opera’s Modern Group)
Institute for Contemporary Art (Boston)
New Dance Ensemble (Minneapolis) (three times)
Paris Opera Ballet/Autumn Festival
Portland State University (Oregon)
Repertory Dance Theater (Utah) (twice)
Walker Art Center (Minneapolis)
WGBH-TV – (Boston) (twice)
Awards, Fellowships, Chairs
Cowles Chair, University of Minnesota
Creative Arts Public Service Program
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
National Endowment for the Arts
New York Foundation for the Arts
New York State Council on the Arts
Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts
The American Dance Guild Award of Artistry
New York Dance & Performance Award (Bessie) For Sustained Achievement
Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (November 19, 2008) "Educational Visionary" Lifetime Achievement Award, Mark DeGarmo Dance (May, 2024)
Collaborators
To offer a rounded theatrical experience, and to bring tastes and interests outside his own into the presentations, Mr. Dunn invites artists, composers, writers, and lighting designers to participate in the development of new work.
MUSIC
Alvin Lucier, Robert Ashley, John Driscoll, Linda Fisher, Ron Kuivila, Joshua Fried, Steve Lacy, Eliane Radigue, Bill Cole, Robert Elam, David Ireland, Lindsey Vickery & Jonathan Mustard, Yaz Shehab, Jacob Burckhardt, Steve Kramer, Warren Smith, Richard Black, David Pye, Esther Lamneck, Gamelan Son of Lion, Lisa Karrer & David Simons, Lenny Pickett, David Behrman
DESIGN
Charles Atlas, Mimi Gross, David Ireland, David Hannah, Jeffrey Schiff, Uli Gassmann, Tal Streeter, Christian Jaccard
FILM/VIDEO
Charles Atlas, Rudy Burckhardt, Amy Greenfield
POETRY/TEXT
Anne Waldman, Reed Bye, Ruth Margraff, Jim Neu
LIGHTING
Jeffrey McRoberts. Patrick O’Rourke, Carol Mullins
BOARD MEMBERS
Elizabeth Powers, Elena Alexander, Pat Roberts
Douglas Dunn (born October 19, 1942, Palo Alto, California) is an American dancer and choreographer based in New York City, presenting work in the USA and internationally since 1971. He frequently collaborates with artists, poets, playwrights and musicians in order to offer a multifaceted theatrical experience.
TRAINING & EDUCATION
In 1962, while attending Princeton University, Dunn began taking class at the Princeton Ballet Society. His teachers were Audreé Estey (the director), Maggie Sinclair (former Royal Ballet), Roland Guerard (former Ballet Russes), and Lila Bruner (former New York City Ballet). In the summer of 1963 he attended the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, where he studied with Marie Adair, Margaret Craske, Ted Shawn, Matteo, La Meri, Gus Solomons jr, and Pauline Koner, among others. After graduating from Princeton in 1964 with an AB in Art History, he continued his dance studies in New York City at the Joffrey Ballet School with Françoise Martinez. He then taught Spanish at The Gunnery School in CT for three years, with occasional guest dancing at the Albano Ballet in Harford, CT. Dunn moved back to New York City in 1968 and studied with Richard Thomas, Margaret Jenkins, and at the Merce Cunningham Studio.
PERFORMING CAREER
In New York City during late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Dunn performed with Jamie Cunningham, Tina Croll, Barbara Dilley, Bill Dunas, Cathy Posin, Trisha Brown, and Twyla Tharp. He co-presented collaborative evenings with Sara Rudner, David Gordon, and Pat Catterson. He was a member of Yvonne Rainer & Group, 1968-1970, and of Merce Cunningham & Dance Company, 1969-1973. In 1970, Trisha Brown, David Gordon, Nancy Green, Barbara Dilley, Steve Paxton and Dunn founded Grand Union, a group that performed without rehearsing and without predetermined structure until 1976.
ROLES DANCED IN THE MERCE CUNNINGHAM COMPANY
Made on Dunn during his tenure, 1969-'73: Tread; Second Hand; Signals; TV Rerun; Landrover; Changing Steps. Others roles danced in repertory: Walkaround Time; Scramble; Canfield; Field Dances; Winterbranch (as Event); Place; Rainforest; How to Pass, Kick, Fall and Run.
EARLY WORK
In the early 1970s Dunn experimented with a number of less than dancey options, including prolonged stillness and character studies. For 101, billed as a “Performance Exhibit” (1974), he filled his loft at 508 Broadway, NYC, with a nine-foot high post and lintel structure of rough-hewn pallets. For four hours a day, six days a week over two months, he lay still, eyes closed, atop the structure, audience coming and going at will. Some other works of this period are Nevada, Four for Nothing, Octopus, Time Out, and the hour-long solo Gestures in Red. His first group work was Lazy Madge, a two-year “ongoing choreographic project,” (1976-1977). He continuously added material for ten dancers over twenty-four months. In a performance, the dancers were allowed to choose from the material he had made for them, stopping and starting at will, and choosing any one of the four flat fronts. In 1977 Dunn presented Celeste at the American Dance Festival at Connecticut College, a mostly improvised piece for forty dancers based on a many-weeks-long workshop in which he explored with them various attitudes toward performance.
WORK ON OTHER COMPANIES
Repertory Dance Theater, Salt Lake City, UT, Relief (1979); Ballet Théâtre Français de Nancy, Nancy, France, Suite de Suite (1980); l'Opéra de Paris, Paris, France, Pulcinella (1980); Groupe de Recherche Chorégraphique de l'Opéra de Paris, Paris France, Cycles (1981); Repertory Dance Theater, Salt Lake City, UT, Peepstone (1987); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, Gondolages (1988); New Dance Ensemble, Minneapolis, MN, Wildwood (1988); Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth, Australia, Dance for a Past Time (1993).
COMMISSIONED WORK ON STUDENTS
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, Blocs (1990); University of Montana, Missoula, MT, Don't Cry Now (1990); University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, Hurry Up (1991); American University, Washington, D.C., Let's Get Busy (1991); Rhode Island College, Providence, RI, Double Bond (1991); University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL, Rock Walk (1993); Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts, Perth, Australia, Tangling (1993); Denison University, Granville, OH, Lost in Light (1995); New York University, New York, NY, Thigmotaxis (1998); New York University, New York, NY, Backscatter (1999); Sam Houston State College, Huntsville, TX, The Pool / Side Effects / Main Drag (2000); Anadola University, Istanbul, Turkey, Panolar (2000); Yildiz Teknik University, Istanbul, Turkey, Zirve (2000); New York University, New York, NY, Reciprocal Inhibition (2000); New York University, New York, NY, Balboa, Bilbao, Balbuties (2002); University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, Dos Vegas (2003); New York University, New York, NY, Clash (2012); Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, Near Miss (2014); New York University, New York, NY, Two Step (2015); New York University, New York, NY, Juniper (2016); New York University, New York, NY, Rain Shadow (2017); New York University, New York, NY, Wrest (2019); Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, How To Sink Back Into Yourself (2019); New York University, New York, NY, Another Cut (2022)
COLLABORATORS
Dunn consistently collaborates with others in both his theatrical and his outdoor work.
MUSIC: Alvin Lucier, Robert Ashley, Paul J. Botelho, John Driscoll, Linda Fisher, Ron Kuivila, Joshua Fried, Steve Lacy, Eliane Radigue, Bill Cole, Robert Elam, David Ireland, Lindsey Vickery & Jonathan Mustard, Yaz Shehab, Jacob Burckhardt, Steve Kramer, Warren Smith, Richard Black, David Pye, Esther Lamneck, Gamelan Son of Lion, Lisa Karrer & David Simons, Lenny Pickett, David Behrman.
DESIGN: Charles Atlas, Mimi Gross, David Ireland, David Hannah, Jeffrey Schiff, Uli Gassmann, Tal Streeter, Christian Jaccard.
FILM/VIDEO: Charles Atlas, Rudy Burckhardt, Amy Greenfield.
POETRY/TEXT: Anne Waldman, Brice Brown, Reed Bye, Ruth Margraff, Jim Neu.
LIGHTING: Jeffrey McRoberts. Patrick O’Rourke, Carol Mullins.
AWARDS
Dunn has received many awards and Fellowships including Cowles Chair, University of Minnesota, theNational Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, and Creative Arts Public Service Program. In 2008, the French Embassy in New York, presented him with the insignia of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, inducting him into the Order as a "Chevalier," as one who has "significantly contributed to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance." In 1998, Dunn received a New York Dance and Performance Award, a Bessie, and in 1997, a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DANCE COMMUNITY
In the 1980s, Dunn sat on panels of the National Endowment for the Arts. Dunn has taught Technique Classes and Open Structure Workshops internationally during his entire career, and also, since the mid-nineties, in New York City in The New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. He is a Member Emeritus of the Board of Directors of Danspace Project. From the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, he co-directed with NYU Music Professor Esther Lamneck an NYU three-week Music and Dance Summer Workshop in Italy.
CURRENTLY
Dunn continues to choreograph and to perform (2024). He employs technically trained dancers and deploys a full range of extended, and sometimes less than extended, movement. He continues to collaborate with musicians, poets, playwrights and artists of many stripes, resulting in variations in aesthetic approach, making it hard to classify him in a specific genre of dance. The results are often witty, though he claims not to work with effects in mind. He continues also to present Salons in his studio in New York City, honoring thereby his colleagues' work in various media.
SELECTED CHOREOGRAPHIC WORKS
(Douglas Dunn + Dancers company dances except where noted; "solo" means for Douglas Dunn; stated location is venue of premiere)
1971
• One Thing Leads to Another with Sara Rudner, Laura Dean Studio, NYC
• Dancing Here with Pat Catterson, Merce Cunningham Studio, NYC
1972
• Pas du Two with Sheela Raj, American Center, Paris, France
• Eight Lanes, Four Approaches with Sara Rudner, Barnard College, NYC
• Co-Incidents with David Gordon, Merce Cunningham Studio, NYC
1973
• Orange My Darling Lime, solo, Theater at Saint Clements, NYC
• Nevada, solo, The New School, NYC
• Time Out, hour-long solo, Westbeth Theater, NYC
1974
• 101, solo, "Performance Exhibit," Dunn Studio, 508 Broadway, NYC
• Four for Nothing, Dunn Studio, 508 Broadway, NYC
1975
• Part I Part II with David Woodberry, Dunn Studio, 508 Broadway, NYC
• Gestures in Red, hour-long solo, Merce Cunningham Studio, NYC
1976-78
• Lazy Madge, two-year "Choreographic Project" for ten dancers; Lucinda Childs Studio, NYC
1978
• Relief, made for Repertory Dance Theater, Salt Lake City, UT; Pioneer Memorial Theater,
Salt Lake City, UT
• Lazy Madge II, Zellerbach Playhouse, Berkeley, California
• Coquina, Pioneer Memorial Theater, Salt Lake City, UT
1979
• Foot Rules, hour-long duo with Deborah Riley, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany
• Echo, solo, Summergarden, Museum of Modern Art, NYC
1980
• Suite de Suite, made on Ballet Theatre Français de Nancy; Grand Théâtre de Nancy, France
• Pulcinella, made on the Paris Opera Ballet; Théâtre de Champs Elysees, Paris, France
1981
• Skid, Festival d'Automne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
• View, Festival d'Automne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
• Hitch, Festival d'Automne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
• Cycles, made for Groupe de Rescherche Choréographique de l'Opéra de Paris; Soissons, France
• Terri's Dance, Théâtre Femina, Bordeaux, France
• Chateauvallonesque, Chateauvallon Festival, Chateauvallon, France
• Holds, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
• Walking Back, 14th Street Y, NYC
1982
• Game Tree, Danspace Project, NYC
1983
• Second Mesa, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
• Secret of the Waterfall, half-hour video-dance commissioned by WGBH, Boston,
directed by Charles Atlas, with poets Anne Waldman & Reed Bye
1984
• 1st Rotation, made on New Dance Ensemble of Minneapolis, MN; Jewish Community
Center, Minneapolis
• Elbow Room, Théâtre Municipal de Nimes, France
• 2nd Rotation, Maison de la Culture, Grenoble, France
• Futurities, duo with Elsa Wolliaston, commissioned by Steve Lacy, performed with his band;
Grand Théâtre, Lille, France
• Pulcinella, Joyce Theater, NYC
1985
• Jig Jag, 14th Street Y, NYC
• 3rd Rotation, 14th Street Y, NYC
• Pacific Shores, Geneva, Switzerland
1986
• Dances for Men, Women, & Moving Door, Marymount Manhattan College, NYC
1987
• Peepstone, made on Repertory Dance Theater, Salt Lake City, UT; Capital Theater, Salt Lake City
• The Perfect Summer Dress, solo, in concert with Anne Waldman; the gymnasium
at Naropa Institute, Boulder, CO
• Light, O Tease, Dunn Studio, 541 Broadway, NYC
1988
• Haole, solo, Whitney Museum's Equitable Center Theater, NYC
• Gondolages, trio for Wilfride Piollet, Jean Guizerix, DD; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
• Matches, The Kitchen, NYC
• Wildwood, made on New Dance Ensemble, Minneapolis, MN
1989
• Ahoy, Staten Island Ferry, NYC
• Sky Eye, Danspace Project, NYC
1990
• Unrest, Danspace Project, NYC
• Roses, duo made for New Dance Ensemble, Minneapolis, MN; Cricket Theater, Minneapolis, MN
• The Myth of Modern Dance, video-dance commissioned by WGBH Boston,
directed by Charles Atlas
1991
• Rubble Dance - Long Island City, film with Rudy Burckhardt
1992
• Rubble Dance, (stage version); Dance Theater Workshop, NYC
• Landing, Dance Theater Workshop, NYC
• Stucco Moon, DD+D plus New Dance Ensemble, Minneapolis, MN; Norris Gymnasium,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
1993
• Dance For a Past Time, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth, Western Australia
• Empty Reel, solo for Renée Wadleigh, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana
1994
• Disappearances, outdoor piece at Broadway & Cedar, & in front of Chase Bank, NYC
1995
• Caracole, Dunn Studio, 541 Broadway, NYC
1996
• Spell for Opening the Mouth of N, The Kitchen, NYC
1997
• Familial Fetches' Usufructuary Footfalls, solo; Dixon Place, NYC
• Riddance, Taipei Theater, NYC
1998
• Cocca Mocca, Danspace Project, NYC
1999
• Lazy Madge (Re-make), Danspace Project, NYC
2000
• The Common Good, Danspace Project, NYC
2001
• AEROBIA, Performance Space 122, NYC
2002
• Pulcinella, remounted on the Paris Opera Ballet; Paris Opera House, Paris, France
2003
• Muscle Shoals, Théâtre de la Bastille, Paris, France
2004
• The Higgs Field, outdoor dance, Central Park, NYC
• Tithonus, solo; outdoor venue at Juksan International Dance Festival, South Korea
2005
• The Living Lives Not Among the Dead, Why Seek It There?, Danspace Project, NYC
2006
• Multiple Undo, outdoor dance, Elevated Acre, NYC
2007
• Zorn’s Lemma, Dance Theater Workshop, NYC
• Nothing Further, Dance New Amsterdam, NYC
2008
• Informations, outdoor dance, Elevated Acre, NYC
2009
• then boss in man?, Ailey Citicorp Theater, NYC
• Cleave, Danspace Project, NYC
2010
• Vain Combat, outdoor dance in front of St. Mark’s Church, NYC
• The Snake, outdoor dance, Washington Square Park, NYC
2012
• Cassations, 92Y Harkness Dance Center, NYC
2013
• Comme si…, 92Y Harkness Dance Center, NYC
2014
• Aubade, Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ
2015
• Aidos, BAM Fisher, Brooklyn, NY
2017
• Antipodes, Danspace Project, NYC
• Oh Acis, Baruch Performing Arts Center, NYC
2018
• Tandem, Douglas Dunn Studio, 541 Broadway, NYC
2019
• Crag, 92Y Harkness Dance Center, NYC
2021
• Roundelay, Frederick Loewe Theater, NYC
2022
• Orchard Variations, Douglas Dunn Studio, 541 Broadway, NYC
2023
• Garden Party, Douglas Dunn Studio, 541 Broadway, NYC
• BODY / SHADOW, Judson Memorial Church, NYC
LIST OF DANCERs WORKING WITH DOUGLAS DUNN
COLLABORATIVE PIECES – EARLY & MID 1970s
Pat Catterson
David Gordon
Sheela Raj
Sara Rudner
David Woodbury
MID 1970s
Christopher Crawford
Kyle de Camp
Laleen Jayamanne
Epp Kotkas
Marta Renzi
Sara Rudner
Howard Vichinsky
David Woodbury