Liz lerman choreography
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Elizabeth Lerman
Liz Lerman is a choreographer, writer, educator, and speaker, and the recipient of honors including a 2023 Guggenheim Fellowship, 2002 MacArthur “Genius Grant,” and a 2017 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award. Key to her artistry is opening her process to various publics, resulting in research and outcomes that are multi-disciplinary, participatory, urgent, and funny.
Liz founded and led Dance Exchange from 1976 until 2011. She is the author of several books including Teaching Dance to Senior Adults, Hiking the Horizontal, and Critique is Creative (co-authored by John Borstel), which addresses the Critical Response Process: a communication system for giving and receiving feedback that she invented decades ago.
Current projects include building the Atlas of Creative Tools, an online resource, and Legacy Unboxed, which includes a series of research performance events called My Body is a Library. Also coming soon is a collection of essays to be published by Wesleyan University Press.
Liz is an
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Liz Lerman
In Washington, Lerman’s mother enrolled Liz in modern dance classes, taught by former Martha Graham dancer Ethel Butler. Back in Milwaukee, where the family joined the Reform Temple Emanu-El, Lerman studied dance with Florence West, later writing of West’s classes: “Anything was possible, except playing with scarves. I think Florence was afraid we might suffer the same fate as Isadora” Duncan, who was strangled by a carelessly tossed scarf. At 14, while a camper at Interlochen Arts Camp, Lerman was among a group that danced for President Kennedy at the White House.
As a teenager, Lerman became increasingly aware of the inequities in Milwaukee through her father’s community activism on behalf of the city’s Black community, which faced high unemployment, unequal housing and segregated schools. Lerman graduated high school early, worked a clerical job, and began college in 1965 at Bennington, then did a brief stint at Brandeis before moving to Washington, D.C., in 1967, where she completed her degree in dance at the University of Maryland. There her choreography prof
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Liz Lerman
American choreographer
Liz Lerman (born December 25, 1947) is an American dance choreographer. She founded the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and created the Critical Response Process.[1][2]
Early life
Liz Lerman was born in Los Angeles, California, on December 25, 1947. At age 14, she danced in Washington, DC, for President Kennedy as part of a group from the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan.[3] She attended Bennington College, where she studied under Martha Wittman, who later became a member of Dance Exchange. Lerman earned a BA in Dance from the University of Maryland and an MA in Dance from George Washington University.[3]
Career
Lerman founded the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in 1976 and led its multi-generational ensemble until July 2011, when Cassie Meador became artistic director.[4] The company is now known as Dance Exchange.[5][6]
Dance Exchange has performed at venues including the National Cathedral, Kennedy Center Opera House,[7]Millennium Stage,
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