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DAY IN THE LIFE OF DANCE: Moving Dance Forward Celebrating 90 Years of 92NY

By Henning Rübsam
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Published on March 15, 2025
Harkness Dance Center. Photo: Fredrik Gille

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center – Bruno Walter Auditorium

Taking a walk down memory lane, speakers at the event Moving Dance Forward reflected on the history of dance at 92NY. Joan Finkelstein, the institution’s former dance director, presided over this nostalgic and informative program at the Bruno Walter Auditorium, on March 10.

Panelists from (L to R) Sylvia Waters, Dante Puleio, Janet Eilber, Arcell Cabuag, Ronald K. Brown, Joan Finkelstein, David Dorfman, Doug Varone, 
Hope Boykin, Omar Román De Jesús and Yue Yin; Photo: Henning Rübsam
 

Founded in 1874 as the Young Men’s Hebrew Association, this Jewish community center acquired a dance department soon after William Kolodney became its Education Director in 1934. When he and New York Times dance critic John Martin hosted a symposium that featured choreographers Hanya Holm, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, and Martha Graham, the enthusiasm they generated ensured that the aforementioned artists would become the founding dance faculty at the Y, joined by Elsa Findlay and Anna Sokolow.

Janet Eilber; Photo: Courtesy of MGDC

The Moving Dance Forward evening at the Lincoln Center library presented a trajectory spanning 90 years. It started with a focus on the work of Martha Graham, who presented her annual seasons at the 92NY from 1936-46, and again later. In this fertile time, she refused to travel to Hitler’s Olympic Games in Berlin, and added a man to the formerly all-female company: Erick Hawkins, who first appeared in the 1938 American Document.  Janet Eilber, current artistic director of the Graham company, spoke eloquently about Martha’s achievements at the Y. Though unable to mention all her creative output over these years, I do want to highlight Graham’s first “stream of consciousness” work, Deaths and Entrances, which will be part of the company’s upcoming season at the Joyce Theater in April. Eilber also claimed that by inviting the Japanese dancer Yuriko Kikuchi to be part of the ensemble in 1944, the company became the first integrated company in the country.

Louis Horst's  Infamous Review of Paul Taylor in The Dance Observer ( from Legends Revealed blog)

Expounding on the Y’s breakthrough moments, the otherwise unfailing and always engaging Finkelstein misidentified Edwin Denby as the author of the blank review given to Paul Taylor’s 1957 concert. It was in fact Louis Horst who “wrote” that infamous review in The Dance Observer.

Dante Puleio; Photo © Grace Landefeld

Then, the spotlight shone on Dante Puleio, artistic director of the Limón Dance Company, who underscored that José Limón’s mentor, Doris Humphrey, was the 92NY’s first dance director from 1944 through her death in 1958. (At first, operating under true democratic principles from its inception in May 1935, a rotating faculty functioned without a department head.) Humphrey, much like her contemporary Hanya Holm, made the dance world less hierarchical, and helped introduce a democratic outlook and work environment. Limón, who was inspired to dance when watching a performance by German dancer and choreographer Harald Kreutzberg, got to be an artist in residence at the 92NY for many years. Today, the Limón company under Puleio continues this tradition. The company will perform at the 92NY’s Kaufmann Concert Hall in May.

Sylvia Waters; Photo: Nir Arieli

The great Sylvia Waters shared a more personal reminiscence of her connection to the Y. Watching performances at the Y as a high-school student from 1955 on, she was in the audience when Alvin Ailey’s company made its debut featuring Blues Suite in 1958; and she witnessed the premiere of his iconic Revelations there in 1960. Waters, who graduated from Juilliard (under Martha Hill), danced with Donald McKayle and later became a shining star of Ailey’s company. Eventually she influenced generations of dancers as the long-time director of Ailey II, the company’s junior ensemble. Waters also mentioned another important influence during her early years, the New Dance Group, a dance school founded by disciples of Hanya Holm, which also sponsored performances inspired by social justice. There Waters took class with William Bales, McKayle, and Ailey. She also cited Dorene Richardson as an inspiration.  

The 92NY’s 150th-anniversary celebration last March featured the companies of Graham, Limón, and Ailey as its links to living history.

Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, and José Limón; Photo Courtesy of 92Y

Finkelstein talked briefly about the less productive years at the Y following Kolodney’s retirement in 1969, when the dance scene moved downtown. The Kaufmann theater became unaffordable to dance companies after its transformation into a union house in 1977, but creation and inspiration continued in the 92NY’s Buttenwieser Hall, where choreographer Don Redlich – in residence in the late ‘70s – brought back Hanya Holm to set her works on his company.

A major grant from the Harkness Foundation led to the naming of the Harkness Dance Center in 1994. Its educational activities gained a new focus the following year through the establishment of the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) by visionary philanthropist Jody Gottfried Arnhold.

David Dorfman (top left ),Ronald K. Brown (bottom left), Doug Varone; Photos: Dorfman: Sean Elliot courtesy of Connecticut College; Brown: courtesy of EVIDENCE; Varone: Photo: Yi Chun Wu

Choreographers David Dorfman, Doug Varone, and Ronald K. Brown with his associate artistic director Arcell Cabuag joined the panel and shared their stories. Varone, who was part of the inaugural Harkness Dance Festival at Playhouse 91, in 1994, when the 92NY’s own stages were not available, was a long-time artist in residence. Dorfman graciously shared that his “Kreutzberg” was none other than Daniel Nagrin, who performed a solo show at the age of 63. Making another reference to Limón, Dorfman also mentioned that Lucas Hoving taught him how to choreograph a dance over one weekend. Brown, whose company debuted at Mary Anthony’s studio in 1985, recalled how Judith Jamison approached him before a rehearsal at the Y and invited him to choreograph his first work for the Ailey Company. The sense of community was deeply felt by all artists present.

Since 2010, the 92NY has again hosted its dance shows in-house. Now performances take place in the newly refurbished Buttenwieser Hall (through the generosity of Arnhold) as well as on the Kaufmann mainstage. 

Three members of a new generation of dance makers took their seats next to the more seasoned artists. Omar Román De Jesús and Hope Boykin – both represented in last year’s 150th-anniversary show – were joined by Yue Yin, who said she was grateful because the 92NY’s support enabled her to take risks in the creative process rather than having to risk self-producing. De Jesús, thankful for being able to build relationships, highlighted the center’s community aspect. Boykin was first shaped by annually attending the American Dance Festival in her hometown of Durham, NC, where she studied with the likes of Pauline Koner. Boykin spoke freely about money, (that makes the world go around.) Artists-in-residence at the 92NY receive funding to pay their dancers. She concluded by saying that in addition to providing money and resources, the 92NY allows an artist to try again rather than say goodbye. 

Panelists from (L to R) Sylvia Waters, Dante Puleio, Janet Eilber, Arcell Cabuag, Ronald K. Brown, Joan Finkelstein, David Dorfman, Doug Varone, 
Hope Boykin, Omar Román De Jesús and Yue Yin; Photo: Henning Rübsam
 

When Finkelstein asked the artists to come up with one word or a short phrase to summarize what the 92NY means to them, the answers were profound:

Waters: American Dance Theater - Puleio: Courage - Eilber: Intellectual Curiosity – Cabuag: Safe Space – Brown: History – Dorfman: Helped me see my Jewishness – Varone: Home – Boykin: Encouragement – De Jesús: Legacy – Yin: Inspiration

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Henning Rübsam is the Coordinating Producer for the 92NY’s 150th anniversary exhibition DANCE TO BELONG, that opened in March 2024 and remains on view until August 1, 2025. 

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