1. Bessie Schonberg was a highly influential dancer, choreographer and teacher of the 20th century.
15 Facts About Bessie Schonberg
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Bessie Schonberg was at the center of contemporary modern dance from her beginning at Bennington College up until her death in 1997.
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Bessie Schonberg's career spanned sixty-five years and she helped mold a new generation of modern dancers including Lucinda Childs, Elizabeth Keen, Meredith Monk and Carolyn Adams.
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Bessie Schonberg's father soon ended her lessons and explained to her that dance was "a profession suitable only for the lower class".
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When Schonberg emigrated to Eugene, Oregon in 1925, she began her dance studies at the University of Oregon where she majored in the fine arts.
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Bessie Schonberg arrived in NYC at a pivotal time for modern dance in the United States.
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In 1931 however, a knee injury forced Bessie Schonberg to stop performing.
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Bessie Schonberg turned to teaching and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Bennington College in 1936.
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Bessie Schonberg continued to teach in New York until her death in 1997.
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Bessie Schonberg did however hold an annual choreography workshop at Jacob's Pillow where she showcased some of her original choreography.
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Bessie Schonberg was trained in Graham technique but did not associate herself with one specific style of modern dance.
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Bessie Schonberg would give her dancers complex problems which they would have to solve through movement; she believed that this kind of teaching method bred creative and open-minded movers.
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Bessie Schonberg used different teaching methodologies throughout her career as a dance educator.
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Bessie Schonberg paralleled her pedagogical styles closely with that of Martha Hill, her primary dance teacher.
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Bessie Schonberg believed however that her approach to dance and choreograph education really stemmed from her "sustained interaction with her students".