The American Dance Festival is a six-week summer season of modern dance performances, and a school for dance currently held at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

The precursor to today’s American Dance Festival began at Bennington College in the summer of 1935 as the Bennington Festival where modern dance pioneers Hanya Holm, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman came together to teach dance technique and perform new works. For one year, in 1939, Bennington moved its dance program to Mills College in Oakland, California. But it was back in Vermont by 1940. Bennington College is a liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont. ... picture of Isadora Duncan - Source: Library of Congress Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. ... Hanya Holm (1893 – 1992) dancer, choreographer and teacher Holm was one of the pioneers of modern dance. ... Martha Graham and Bertram Ross in Visionary Recital, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1961 Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991), an American dancer and choreographer, is recognized as one of the foremost innovators in modern dance. ... Doris Batcheller Humphrey (October 17, 1895 - December 29, 1958) was a famous dancer of the early twentieth century. ... Categories: Stub ... Mills College is a private womens liberal arts college located in Oakland, California, USA. It has played an important role in modern American music through its post-graduate program in experimental music. ... Aerial view looking west over downtown Oakland, Lake Merritt and the Port of Oakland. ...

In 1948 a program based on the Bennington model was established at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut and called the New York University – Connecticut College School of Dance / American Dance Festival. In 1969, newly appointed director Charles Reinhart shortened the name to, simply, the American Dance Festival. After 30 years at the Connecticut College campus, the festival moved, in 1978, to the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Connecticut College is a coeducational, private liberal arts college located in New London, Connecticut. ... View of New London from across the Thames River New London, Connecticut is a city in New London County, at the mouth of the Thames River and on the northeastern shore of Long Island Sound. ... Duke Chapel Duke University is a private, coeducational university in Durham, North Carolina in the United States. ... Nickname: City of Medicine Location in North Carolina Founded  -Incorporated April 10, 1869 {{{incorporated}}}  County Durham County, North Carolina Mayor Bill Bell Area  - Total  - Water 245. ...

Modern dance choreographers and companies including Jose Limon, Pearl Lang, Alwin Nikolais, Merce Cunningham, Ruth Currier, Erick Hawkins, Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp and Pilobolus have all given performances there. José Limón (January 12, 1908—December 2, 1972) was a dancer who help define the shape of modern and contemporary dance. ... Alwin Nikolais born in 1910 in Southington, Connecticut]. He studied piano at an early age and began his performing career as an organist accompanying silent films. ... Merce Cunningham is a choreographer born April 19, 1919, Centralia (Washington, United States). ... Erick Hawkins (dancer) - a student of George Balanchine Hawkins became a soloist and the first male dancer in Martha Grahams dance company. ... Paul Taylor (born July 29, 1930) is one of the foremost American choreographers of the 20th century. ... Alvin Ailey, Jr. ... Twyla Tharp (b. ... Pilobolus, the arts organism, germinated in the fertile soil of a Dartmouth College dance class in 1971. ...

Countless dance works have been premiered at the American Dance Festival, many of those commissioned by ADF.

External links

• American Dance Festival official website

References

• Anderson, Jack: The American Dance Festival. Duke University Press, Durham 1987.