Zella Wolofsky (born 1947) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

modern dancer, researcher, columnist, and educator. Her research became the launchpad for applying computer interpretation to Labanotation at Simon Fraser University, which led to the development of LifeForms, the computer program used by Merce Cunningham in the later part of his career. Journalist Robert Sarti described her research as a way for choreographers to eventually be able to try out new movements, similar to how a composer might "doodle" on a piano.

Biography

Zella Wolofsky was born in 1947 in Canada. She danced with Dancemakers;

Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers is Canada's longest continuously running modern dance company. Founded in 1964 by Rachel Browne, it has presented works in the Rachel Browne Theatre in Winnipeg as well as locations across Canada and the United Sta ...

; Burnaby Dance; Laura Dean; and independent choreographers such as Jean Pierre Perrault,

Muna Tseng Muna Tseng is a Chinese-American dancer, choreographer, author and lecturer. She has lived in New York since 1978 and in 1984 founded Muna Tseng Dance Projects in New York City. She created over 40 dance productions and performed in over 30 cities ...

, Elizabeth Chitty as part of 15 Dance Labs, founded by Miriam Adams and Lawrence Adams in Toronto, Canada. She was also known as a performer, for her reconstruction of Doris Humphrey 1931 masterpiece solo, ''Two Ecstatic Themes'', and she was the first to perform this solo widely in Canada. She studied modern dance with Merce Cunningham,

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 ...

Peggy Baker Peggy Laurayne Baker (née Smith; born October 22, 1952) is a Canadian modern dancer, choreographer and teacher. She has been awarded the Order of Canada and she was the first person to receive the Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Ar ...

, Ruth Currier, Milton Myers,

Bella Lewitzky Bella Lewitzky (January 13, 1916, Los Angeles, California – July 16, 2004, Pasadena, California) was a modern dance choreographer, dancer and teacher. Biography Born to Jewish Russian immigrants, Lewitzky spent her childhood on a ranch in San Be ...

and

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

with Alfredo Corvino and Maggie Black. She received a B.Sc. degree from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

, a 1974 M.Sc. degree in

Kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human health ...

from Simon Fraser University, and a Doctorate in Education from

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. Her graduate studies were supported by Canada Council Humanities Grant, National Research Council Canada Award, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship. LifeForm software was the brainchild of Wolofsky and Tom Calvert, and later,

Thecla Schiphorst Thecla Schiphorst (born 1955) is a Canadian digital media artist and academic. Work Schiphorst was a founding developer of the dance and choreography software ''Lifeforms,'' alongside Tom Calvert. Using LifeForms, she collaborated over along per ...

. Wolofsky was the first person who applied Labanotation, a system of human movements, to computers, which was part of her masters thesis. She had been interested in the creation of computer animation of dancers and their movement. Wolofsky was on the Board of Directors of

Dancer Transition Resource Centre Founded in 1985 by former ballerina Joysanne Sidimus, the Dancer Transition Resource Centre (DTRC) is a Canadian charity that provides counselling and retraining grants to dancers making career transitions. In 2006, Joysanne Sidimus was awarded the ...

and Peggy Baker Dance Projects and served as Board Secretary for both organizations. While in Vancouver in the 1970s, she wrote for '' Dance Magazine'' as Foreign Correspondent from Vancouver. She was married to

Douglas Tyndall Wright Douglas Tyndall Wright, (October 4, 1927 – May 21, 2020) was a Canadians, Canadian civil engineer, civil servant, and university administrator. Wright was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Etta Frances Tyndall and George Charles Wright. He ...

, first Dean of Engineering and 3rd President of University of Waterloo. He died in May 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolofsky, Zella 1947 births Living people McGill University alumni Simon Fraser University alumni University of Toronto alumni 20th-century Canadian dancers Modern dancers Canadian computer scientists Canadian women academics