Katherine Litz (July 26, 1912, Denver, Colorado - December 19, 1978,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

,) was an American dancer, teacher, and choreographer. She was a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the a ...

in 1965.

Life

Litz studied with Martha Graham and

Hanya Holm Hanya Holm (born Johanna Eckert; 3 March 1893 – 3 November 1992) is known as one of the "Big Four" founders of American modern dance. She was a dancer, choreographer, and above all, a dance educator. Early life, connection with Mary Wigman Bo ...

and became known for her humorous and sometimes ironic dance solos. Between 1936 and 1942, Lintz danced with the

Doris Humphrey Doris Batcheller Humphrey (October 17, 1895 – December 29, 1958) was an American dancer and choreographer of the early twentieth century. Along with her contemporaries Martha Graham and Katherine Dunham, Humphrey was one of the second gen ...

-Charles Weidman modern dance company ( Humphrey-Weidman), with a concert group organized by Agnes de Mille, and performed on Broadway in

Oklahoma! ''Oklahoma!'' is the first musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, ''Green Grow the Lilacs''. Set in farm country outside the town of Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, it tell ...

and

Carousel (musical) ''Carousel'' is the second musical by the team of Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics). The 1945 work was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play ''Liliom'', transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline ...

. Litz was recruited to teach at

Black Mountain College Black Mountain College was a private liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice, Theodore Dreier, and several others. The college was ideologically organized around John Dewey's educational ...

by American artist-dancer Elizabeth Jennerjahn in the late 1940s. While at

, in 1950-51 she collaborated with American composer

Lou Harrison Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer, music critic, music theorist, painter, and creator of unique musical instruments. Harrison initially wrote in a dissonant, ultramodernist style similar to his for ...

to create "Glyph." At

she taught

Viola Farber Viola Farber (February 25, 1931 – December 24, 1998) was an American choreographer and dancer. Biography Viola Farber was born on February 25, 1931, in Heidelberg, Germany. In Germany, Farber began dancing. However, at the age of six she was ...

, a founding member of the

Merce Cunningham Dance Company Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

. Litz married American artist and set designer Charles Oscar.

Solo Choreography and Performances

Although not part of a permanent company or associated with a particular school of dance, she was best known for developing and regularly performing a set of solo pieces: Daughter of Virtue (1949), Fire in the Snow (1949), Blood of the Lamb (1950), The Long Night (1950), The Glyph (1951), And No Birds Sang (1952), Super Duper Jet Girl (1953), Vaudeville: Madame Belinda Bender's Dancing School (1953), The Story of Love from Fear to Flight (1953), and Homage to Lillian Gish (1978).

The Glyph

While at

in 1950-51, Litz collaborated with American composer

and several students and teachers to create "The Glyph," a multimedia work that included painted backdrop by

Ben Shahn Ben Shahn (September 12, 1898 – March 14, 1969) was an American artist. He is best known for his works of social realism, his left-wing political views, and his series of lectures published as ''The Shape of Content''. Biography Shahn was bor ...

, music by Harrison with piano accompaniment by

David Tudor David Eugene Tudor (January 20, 1926 – August 13, 1996) was an American pianist and composer of experimental music. Life and career Tudor was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied piano with Irma Wolpe and composition with Stefan W ...

, and poetry by

Charles Olson Charles Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was a second generation modern American poet who was a link between earlier figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, which includes the New York ...

, and danced by Litz. Litz's choreography in the piece has been described as "groundbreaking." As Litz described its origins, "The common idea of a Glyph expressed by the different art forms was simply a compound image contained in a single work." Litz performed the piece in the 1977 New York Dance Festival, where it was filmed. In 2015 and 2016, The Glyph was re-created by dancer Polly Motley and directed by Richard Colton in conjunction with the exhibitio
''Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College, 1933-1957'
at the ICA Boston, and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.

References

External links

*''Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College, 1933-1948'' at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, February 21 - May 15, 201

*''Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College, 1933-1948'' at the Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston, October 10, 2015 – January 24, 201

*Katherine Litz papers in the New York Public Librar

{{DEFAULTSORT:Litz, Katherine 1912 births 1978 deaths American modern dancers Modern dance American female dancers Dancers from Colorado 20th-century American dancers 20th-century American women