Jan Van Dyke (April 15, 1941 – July 3, 2015) was an American dancer, choreographer, dance educator and scholar who was a pioneer of

modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

and

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in ...

Education

Van Dyke graduated from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

with an undergraduate degree in dance. She was the first person admitted to the

Columbian College of Arts and Sciences The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences (known as Columbian College or CCAS) is the college of liberal arts and sciences of the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. The Columbian College is especially known for its programs in fo ...

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

's Master of Arts in Dance Program. She received her Masters of Arts from George Washington University in 1966. In 1989 she enrolled as a doctoral student at the

University of North Carolina at Greensboro The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or UNC Greensboro) is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. UNCG, like all members of the UNC system, is a stand-al ...

, earning a degree in curriculum and educational foundations.

Career

In 1967 Van Dyke founded the Georgetown Workshop dance studio with John Gamble. In 1970 she moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and studied modern dance with

Merce Cunningham 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 ...

and at the

Martha Graham School Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance is located in New York City and is the headquarters to the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and the Martha Graham Dance Company, which is the oldest continually performing dance company in the ...

and the

Alwin Nikolais Alwin Nikolais (November 25, 1910 – May 8, 1993) was an American choreographer, dancer, composer, musician, teacher. He had created the Nikolais Dance Theatre, and was best known for his self-designed innovative costume, lighting and production ...

School. She returned to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1972 and established her own studio, the Dance Project, which became the leader in modern dance training and performance in D.C.. The Dance Project was designed to cultivate modern dance by providing technical training and performance opportunities. She founded a modern dance company, Jan Van Dyke and Dancers, which toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Van Dyke performed with her company and also as a solo artist. In 1980, she was honored by the Metropolitan Dance Association at their first annual dance awards for her work in the D.C. area. Two years later she relocated her dance company to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and became a faculty member for Footwork Studio. In 1985 she disbanded her company and moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to teach at the

Laban Dance Centre Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music and dance conservatoire based in London, England. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. The conservatoire ha ...

. She later renamed the Dance Project as Dance Place and turned the organization over to Carla Perlo, and started up the Dance Project organization again in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

in 1989, when she began working on her doctoral degree at the

. She earned an Ed.D. in curriculum and educational foundations and became a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her book, "Modern Dance in a Postmodern World" was published in 1992. Van Dyke taught dance at the university for twenty-three years and served as the Head of the Department of Dance from 2006 to 2011, succeeding

Larry Lavender Larry Lavender is an American dancer and dance scholar. He is the author of the book ''Dancers Talking Dance: Critical Evaluation in the Choreography Class''. Biography Lavender did not begin training in dance until he was a college student. He ...

, before becoming professor emerita.

Janet Lilly Janet Lilly (born August 15, 1957) is an American modern dancer and choreographer. She was a principal dancer for Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane's company from 1983–1991. She currently serves as the Director of the UNCG College of Visual and ...

succeeded Van Dyke as head of the dance department. She choreographed numerous works, including contemporary ballets for the

Washington Ballet The Washington Ballet (TWB) is an ensemble of professional ballet dancers based in Washington DC. It was founded in 1976 by Mary Day, and has been under the artistic directorship of Julie Kent since 2016. Septime Webre was artistic director for ...

and the

National Ballet of Washington, D.C. The National Ballet of Washington, D.C. was an American national ballet company founded in 1962 by Jean Riddell, granddaughter of the founder of PET Evaporated Milk and artistic director Frederic Franklin, with financial support from the Ford Foun ...

and works for students at the

Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) was established in 1980 to provide performing arts tuition. WAAPA (commonly pronounced "whopp-a") operates as a part of ECU, located at the ECU campus in ...

Edith Cowan University Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Parliaments of the Australian states and territories, Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Aust ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

while she taught there for a semester in 2000. Van Dyke and John Gamble reunited and formed the John Gamble/Jan Van Dyke Dance Company. Van Dyke founded and directed the Van Dyke Dance Group, the School at City Arts, and the non-profit North Carolina Dance Project, which runs the North Carolina Dance Festival and is based at the

Greensboro Cultural Center The Greensboro Cultural Center is a City of Greensboro Office of arts & culture facility, and is home to many arts-related programs in Greensboro, North Carolina. Facilities The Cultural Center is a four story building plus a basement and is lo ...

. She was a recipient of a North Carolina Choreography Fellowship and was a 1993

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

. In 2001 she was awarded the North Carolina Dance Alliance Annual Award for her contributions to the development of dance in North Carolina. '' Dance Teacher Magazine'' awarded her with the Dance Teacher Award for Higher Education in 2008. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro honored Van Dyke with the Gladys Strawn Bullard Award for Leadership and Service in 2010. In 2011, she was presented with the Betty Cone Medal of Arts Award by the United Arts Council of Greensboro. In early July 2015, Van Dyke stepped down as director of the Dance Project and School at City Arts due to declining health. The organization's board of directors selected Lauren Trollinger Joyner and Anne Morris to be the new co-directors.

Written works

Scholarly works by Van Dyke include: * ''An interpretive study of meaning in dance: Voices of young women students'' (1988) * ''The Voices of Young Women Dance Students'' (1990) * ''Modern Dance in a Postmodern World'' (1992) * ''Gender and Success in the American Dance World'' (1996) * ''Choreography as a Mode of Inquiry: a Case Study'' (1998) * ''Smart Audiences Will Keep More Homegrown Artists at Home'' (1998) * ''Art and Place: The Local Connection'' (1999) * ''Intention: Questions regarding its role in choreography'' (2001) * ''Teaching Choreography: Starting with Craft'' (2005) * ''Redefining Excellence'' (2009) * ''A Realistic Look at Graduating Dance Majors: Problems and Solutions'' (2010) * ''Vanishing: Dance Audiences in the Postmodern Age'' (2010) * ''Questioning Trends in Higher Education'' (2012)

Awards

* Metropolitan Dance Association Award for Outstanding Service to the Field, Washington, DC. (1979) * Fulbright Scholar to Portugal (1993) * Choreography Fellowship from the North Carolina Arts Council (1993) * NC Dance Alliance Annual Award for Contributions to the Development of Dance in North Carolina (2001) * Copperfoot Award for Choreography from the Dance Department at Wayne State University (2005) * Dance Teacher Award for Higher Education from Dance Teacher Magazine (2008) * Choreography (SPIKE) selected for Sharing the Legacy Conference, Masterworks of the 20th Century concert at Hunter College, New York City (2008) * Gladys Strawn Bullard Award for initiative and perseverance in leadership and/or service from UNC Greensboro (2010) * Betty Cone Medal of Arts from the United Arts Council of Greensboro (2011)

Personal life and death

Van Dyke was married three times; first to John Gamble, then to John Robins, and then to Jerry Varner. She died on July 3, 2015, in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the age of 74 after battling

primary peritoneal cancer Primary peritoneal cancer or carcinoma is also known as serous surface papillary carcinoma, primary peritoneal carcinoma, extra-ovarian serous carcinoma, primary serous papillary carcinoma, and psammomacarcinoma. It was historically classified und ...

for two and a half years. A memorial service was held on August 22, 2015 in the Dance Theater in the Mary Channing Coleman Building on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and was also live streamed for those who could not attend.

Legacy

Van Dyke left one million dollars to the United Arts Council of Greensboro, which used the funds to build the Van Dyke Performance Space, a 7,500 square foot black-box dance theater on the first floor of the

. The 25th North Carolina Dance Festival in 2015 was dedicated to Van Dyke.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Dyke, Jan 1941 births 2015 deaths 20th-century American dancers American contemporary dancers American female dancers Dancers from North Carolina American women choreographers American choreographers Dance education in the United States Dance in North Carolina Dance in Washington, D.C. Dance teachers Deaths from cancer in North Carolina Deaths from peritoneal cancer Edith Cowan University faculty Modern dancers University of North Carolina at Greensboro alumni University of North Carolina at Greensboro faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Women scholars and academics National Ballet of Washington, D.C. Columbian College of Arts and Sciences alumni Women academic administrators