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Published on April 21, 2025
Photo © New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
"Room to Move: Dance Theater Workshop and Alternative Histories of Downtown Dance"
Curated by Linda Murray
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
April 16 to September 13, 2025
“This is the Space Age — the ecstasy and agony of it,” wrote a tireless dancer/choreographer Jeff Duncan (1930-1989), founder of Dance Theatre Workshop (DTW). In 1965, the first year of the National Endowment for the Arts, Duncan opened the door of his loft on west 20th street to dancers. Dancers Jack Moore (1926-1988) and Art Bauman (1940-1993) joined him in his efforts to offer a DIY haven for dancers who needed to invest in their process, without worrying about a product.
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts honors the legacy of DTW on its sixtieth anniversary with an exhibit "Room to Move: Dance Theater Workshop and Alternative Histories of Downtown Dance," that opened April 16 and runs through September 13, 2025. A mesmerizing black and white clip from Anna Sokolow’s “Rooms” plays on the largest of five screens. Since Duncan was a leading dancer in Sokolow's company in the 1950's, seeing “Rooms” makes you consider the length of Sokolow’s creative shadow and her mastery of emotional rhythyms.
Linda Murray, the fifth curator in the history of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division who manages all aspects of its collections and public service, curated the exhibit to fit in one room. She focuses on the zeitgeist of the 60-90’s, and the collective shift away from the sacred tone of early modern dance to a more irreverent, exploratory mode, inclusive of the “surrealistic tomfoolery” of dancers/musicians David Dorfman and Dan Froot, and the manic cheer of dancer/filmmaker Elaine Summers.
In a video with artists describing the impact of DTW, Whoopi Goldberg appears to state that, “I would not have had the career I had if I hadn’t been exposed at DTW.” The 1-3 minute clips range from Blondell Cummings sitting in a chair, performing her gestural masterpiece, “Chicken Soup” to Mark Morris pinching his silk pajamas at thigh level and prancing around, to Ronald K. Brown in “Walking out the dark.” Experimenting with film, text, ideas, humor, sets, identity, and partnering, the clips convey the freedom DTW gave the artists to relax, collaborate, and share. Cathy Edwards, the artistic director after David White’s long tenure as DTW director, said she looked for artists whose works were” rigorous, challenging,” and offered “something I haven’t seen before.” Certainly, authenticity, along with a stubborn desire to embrace the unknown, untried, but true is what we came to expect from DTW.
Wendy Perron spoke at the private opening on April 15 of the choreographic strength of the co-founders. She recalled performing a repetitive gesture for Bauman while thinking "Taking from the rich and giving to the poor,” which Bauman described as the impulse behind the movement motif. She concluded, “Since our government is now doing the exact opposite, I cherish that memory.”
Visit this inspiring exhibit to savor the footage of artists in their youth: Donald Byrd, Bebe Miller, Rudy Perez, Jeff Duncan, Kei Takei, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Pat Hall, and others. You can also enjoy the choreographic notes by Gus Solomons, jr, Judith Dunn, and enjoy the drawings of Remy Charlip.
In 2010, DTW merged with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company to become New York Live Arts which was built courtesy of White’s 13 million dollar capital campaign.
