Jean Erdman (February 20, 1916 – May 4, 2020) was an American dancer and choreographer of

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

as well as an avant-garde theater director.

Biography

Early years and background

Erdman was born in Honolulu. Erdman's father, John Piney Erdman, a doctor of divinity and missionary from New England, settled in Honolulu as a minister at the non-denominational Protestant Church of the Crossroads where he preached, in both English and Japanese, to a multi-ethnic congregation. Her mother, Marion Dillingham Erdman, was a member of one of the founding industrialist families of Hawaii. Erdman's earliest dance experience was the hula. She attended the Punahou School in Honolulu where she learned, as a form of physical education,

Isadora Duncan Angela Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877 or May 27, 1878 – September 14, 1927) was an American dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance, who performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the US. Born and raised in ...

interpretive dance. Reflecting on her early dance training Erdman said these two influences taught her that dancing is an "expression of something meaningful to the dancer, not a mere series of lively steps." From Hawaii, Erdman went to Miss Hall's School for Girls in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, from which she graduated in 1934. She was troubled by the attitude towards dancing that caused her to be disciplined for teaching the hula to her classmates. Later, at Sarah Lawrence College, which she attended from 1934 to 1937, she was able to explore more freely her multiple interests in theater, dance, and aesthetic philosophy. At Sarah Lawrence she encountered her two greatest influences: Joseph Campbell and Martha Graham. Campbell, a professor of comparative literature who later became an authority on mythology, was her tutorial advisor. This began a dialogue about the process of individual psycho-spiritual transformation and the nature of art that was to continue throughout their lives. Erdman was also interested in the modern dance technique she learned in Martha Graham's classes at Sarah Lawrence and at the

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

Summer School of Dance that she attended during the summers of 1935–1944. In 1937 Erdman joined her parents and younger sister on a trip around the world during which she saw the traditional dance and theater of many countries including Bali, Java and India. Speaking of her experiences on this trip and of her later study of world dance cultures inspired by it Erdman said, "by studying and analyzing the traditional dance styles of the world, I discovered that the particular dance of each culture is the perfect expression of that culture's world view and is achieved by deliberate choices drawn from the unlimited possibilities of movement". Shortly after Erdman returned to New York, she married Campbell on May 5, 1938, and following a brief honeymoon began rehearsal as a member of the

Martha Graham Dance Company The Martha Graham Dance Company, founded in 1926, is known for being the oldest American dance company. Founded by Martha Graham as a contemporary dance company, it continued to perform pieces, revive classics, and train dancers even after Graham's ...

Career

Erdman distinguished herself as a principal dancer in Graham's company in solo roles such as the Ideal Spectator in '' Every Soul is a Circus'', the Speaking Fate in '' Punch and the Judy'' and the One Who Speaks in ''Letter to the World'', Graham's ode to the American poet,

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

. Dance critic Margaret Lloyd of ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

'' praised the "felicitous humor" Erdman brought to her role as the Speaking Fate and called her "irreplaceable" in the 1941 revival of Letter to the World. Working with Graham, Erdman had re-shaped the role, originally played by actress Margaret Meredith, from that of a static seated figure to a moving, integrated element in the groundbreaking dance-theater work. In ''The Complete Guide to Modern Dance'', historian Don McDonagh writes of the "profound effect" that these speaking roles had on Erdman. He attributes her many explorations of the dynamic between word and movement to these early experiences. As all female Graham dancers of the period Erdman was required to study choreography with

Louis Horst Louis Horst (born January 12, 1884, Kansas City, Missouri – died January 23, 1964, New York City) was a composer, and pianist. He helped to define the principles of modern dance choreographic technique, most notably the matching of choreography t ...

, Graham's musical director. Horst presented lecture-demonstrations on his principles in pre-classic dance forms, and his students demonstrated his ideas through their own compositions. Her first solo, ''The Transformations of Medusa'', which premiered at the

's Summer Festival of the Arts in 1942, began as an assignment for his class. The final version, with a commissioned score by Horst, remained in her repertory through the 1990s. Erdman's performance of this dance was the subject of Maya Deren's unfinished 1949 film, ''Medusa''. Originally an exploration of primitive style or archaic style, '' The Transformations of Medusa'' developed from a short study of the two-dimensional form into a complete dance of three sections. Erdman described the year long evolution of the piece as the process through which she came to understand that every posture contains "a whole state of being or attitude toward life." The dance evolved as she attuned herself to the physical sensations of the stylized positions and followed where they led her. It was Campbell, informed by his deep well of mythological imagery, who identified the dance character in the first short study as

Medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; Ancient Greek: Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress"), also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those ...

, the beautiful Greek priestess of

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...

who became the hideous snake-headed gorgon. Erdman developed the second and third sections following the development of the mythological archetype. In 1943, at the urging of Campbell and composer, John Cage, Erdman and fellow Graham Company member,

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 ...

, presented a joint concert sponsored by the

Arts Club of Chicago Arts Club of Chicago is a private club and public exhibition space located in the Near North Side community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States, a block east of the Magnificent Mile, that exhibits international contemporar ...

. Cunningham's solos included "Totem Ancestor", "In the Name of the Holocaust", and "Shimmera", all with scores by Cage.Vaughn, David, ''Merce Cunningham: Fifty Years'' (New York: Aperture 1996) The two collaborative duets were, "Credo in US", a dramatic dance with a text by Cunningham and a commissioned score by Cage, and "Ad Lib" with a commissioned score by Gregory Tucker. According to Erdman, ''Ad Lib'' "was considered rather shocking because it incorporated improvisations. At that time it was not considered acceptable to perform improvs in public. That was for the privacy of your studio." Erdman's other important works of the 1940s were ''Daughters of the Lonesome Isle'' (1945) and ''Ophelia'' (1946) with commissioned scores by John Cage on prepared and standard piano respectively, ''Passage'' (1946), '' Hamadryad'' (1948) to

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

's " Syrinx", ''The Perilous Chapel'' (1949), and ''Solstice'' (1950), both with commissioned scores by

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 ...

. Of ''The Perilous Chapel'' which featured a moving sculptural set by Carlus Dyer and was selected as one of the Best New Works of the Season by ''

Dance Magazine ''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance published by the Macfadden Communications Group. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' has multiple sister publications, including '' Point ...

'', Doris Hering wrote, "When the dance was over one realized that by means of purely physical and visual elements, Miss Erdman had succeeded in giving a moving picture of the experience of an artist through phases of isolation and realization." Other dance critics of the time noted her unique approach to dance making. ''New York Times'' dance critic John Martin remarked, "that Erdman's movement is perhaps as near to being non-associative as movement can be, yet it is freely creative. The method of composition, though naturally without story content, avoids any connotation of being merely decorative, much as non-objective painting avoids it, and manages to be just as strongly evocative." Reporting on a group concert at the 92nd St YM/YWHA in which Erdman participated Edwin Denby wrote in the ''New York Herald Tribune'', "Miss Erdman's (approach) is a more original and refreshing one to encounter. There was a lightness in the rhythm, a quality of generosity and spaciousness in the movement that struck me as a dance should, as a poetic presence." Walter Terry also writing for the ''Tribune'' commented, "(Her dance) attracts through rare beauty of pattern, through gently shaded dynamics and through that intangible essence we call quality. It does not appeal directly to the intellect nor to the emotions, but rather it seems to carry its message on its own short-wave system to the senses themselves." From 1950-54, she toured the US annually with her company. From 1954-55 she toured India and Japan as a solo artist, the first dancer to do so since World War II. The report she filed with U.S. State Department helped initiate cultural exchange programs with India and many countries in the Far East. From 1955-60, she toured extensively as a solo artist throughout the U.S. Notable works from her repertory of that period include '' Portrait of a Lady'' created to jazz recordings that were layered by John Cage into his eight-track commissioned score, '' Dawn Song'', a lyrical solo with commissioned score by

Alan Hovhaness Alan Hovhaness (; March 8, 1911 – June 21, 2000) was an American- Armenian composer. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts indicate over 70) a ...

, ''Fearful Symmetry'' (1956; an allegory in six visions inspired by

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

's poem, "

The Tyger "The Tyger" is a poem by the English poet William Blake, published in 1794 as part of his '' Songs of Experience'' collection and rising to prominence in the romantic period. The poem is one of the most anthologised in the English literary can ...

") to

Ezra Laderman Ezra Laderman (29 June 1924 – 28 February 2015) was an American composer of classical music. He was born in Brooklyn. Biography Laderman was of Jewish heritage. His parents, Isidor and Leah, both emigrated to the United States from Poland. Thou ...

's ''Sonata for Violoncello'', in which Erdman emerged from and interacted with a metal sculpture by Carlus Dyer, and ''Four Portraits'' from Duke Ellington's "Shakespeare Album" (1958), a suite of comic portrayals of Shakespearean heroines. In 1960, Erdman reorganized and renamed her dance company to reflect her explorations of the inter-relationship of movement, music, visual arts and spoken text. As noted above this interest began much earlier for Erdman. As early as 1946, John Martin noted, "She is keenly alert to modern experiments in the other arts music, poetry, visual design and employs them freely." Her musical collaborations with composer

which had begun in 1956 with '' Duet for Flute and Dancer'', inspired by Erdman's interpretation of Debussy's solo flute composition '' Syrinx'' in her 1948 solo ''Hamadryad'' and culminating in the 1957 group work '' Harlequinade'', featuring dancer

Donald McKayle Donald McKayle (July 6, 1930 – April 6, 2018) was an American modern dancer, choreographer, teacher, director and writer best known for creating socially conscious concert works during the 1950s and '60s that focus on expressing the human con ...

, were the subject of a feature story in ''Time'' magazine in April 1957. In the theater Erdman had choreographed a production of

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lit ...

's ''

The Flies ''The Flies'' (french: Les Mouches) is a play by Jean-Paul Sartre, produced in 1943. It is an adaptation of the Electra myth, previously used by the Greek playwrights Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides. The play recounts the story of Orestes an ...

'' (1947) for the

Vassar Experimental Theatre Vassar may refer to: * Vassar Brothers Medical Center * Vassar College * 1312 Vassar, an asteroid People * John Ellison Vassar (1813–1878), American lay preacher and missionary * Matthew Vassar (1792–1868), American brewer and merchant, founder ...

, the Broadway production of

Jean Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His wo ...

's '' The Enchanted'' (1950) and collaborating with writer

William Saroyan William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''T ...

and composer

, she directed and choreographed '' Otherman or The Beginning of a New Nation'' (1954) at

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

. The newly named Jean Erdman Theater of Dance toured the U.S. and gave concerts in New York City. Among the notable works of this period are ''Twenty Poems'' (1960), a cycle of

E. E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings, who was also known as E. E. Cummings, e. e. cummings and e e cummings (October 14, 1894 - September 3, 1962), was an American poet, painter, essayist, author and playwright. He wrote approximately 2,900 poems, two autobi ...

's poems for eight dancers and one actor with a commissioned score by

Teiji Ito was a Japanese composer and performer. He is best known for his scores for the avant-garde films by Maya Deren. Early life Ito was born in Tokyo, Japan to a theatrical family. His mother, Teiko Ono, was a dancer and his father, Yuji Ito, was ...

, performed in the round at the

Circle in the Square Theatre The Circle in the Square Theatre is a Broadway theater at 235 West 50th Street, in the basement of Paramount Plaza, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is one of two Broadway theaters that use a thrust stage that extends ...

in Greenwich Village and ''The Castle'', an exploration of improvised and structured movement with jazz clarinetist-saxophonist

Jimmy Giuffre James Peter Giuffre (, ; April 26, 1921 – April 24, 2008) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He is known for developing forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating f ...

at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (1970). In 1962 with the aid of a grant from the

Ingram Merrill Foundation The Ingram Merrill Foundation was a private foundation established in the mid-1950s by poet James Merrill (1926-1995), using funds from his substantial family inheritance.J. D. McClatchyBraving the Elements ''The New Yorker'', 27 March 1995. Retrie ...

, Erdman began what was to become her best-known work, '' The Coach with the Six Insides'', an adaptation of

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

's, ''

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction which combines a bod ...

''. The title is a line from the text found in episode 11.3.359. She became acquainted with the novel during the four and a half year period that her husband collaborated with

Henry Morton Robinson Henry Morton Robinson (September 7, 1898 – January 13, 1961) was an American novelist, best known for '' A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake'' written with Joseph Campbell and his 1950 novel ''The Cardinal'', which ''Time'' magazine reported w ...

to write ''

A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake ''A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake'' is a 1944 work of literary criticism by mythologist Joseph Campbell and Henry Morton Robinson. The work gives both a general critical overview of ''Finnegans Wake'' and a detailed exegetical outline of the t ...

'' (1944). While Joyce's story is told from the perspective of the male barkeeper Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker, Erdman's work a combination of dance, mime, and Joycean stream of consciousness language focuses on the female psyche, as seen through the many incarnations of the main female character Anna Livia Plurabelle. She danced all the aspects of Anna Livia from young woman, to old crone, to the rain itself that becomes the River Liffey flowing through the heart of Dublin.

was the musical director and composed the musical score on a vast array of instruments from around the world including among others, Japanese bass drums, Tibetan cymbals, a violin and an accordion. '' The Coach with the Six Insides'' premiered at the Village South Theatre in Greenwich Village on November 26, 1962. It ran for 114 performances and received the Obie and Vernon Rice Awards for Outstanding Achievement in theater. Following the first New York season it began a world tour including engagements in

Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome. History Spolet ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. Three other North American tours as well as another New York season in 1967 followed. In 1964 the work was featured on the CBS's ''Camera Three'' series and in 1966 WNET Channel 13 produced an interview with both Erdman and Campbell, ''A Viewer's Guide to the Coach with the Six Insides''. Many dance historians continue to regard ''The Coach with the Six Insides'' as "the most successful—and celebrated—attempt to unite dance and words." Other theater productions Erdman choreographed during this period include the Helen Hayes Repertory production of ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' (1964), the Lincoln Center Repertory production of

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

's ''

Yerma ''Yerma'' is a play by the Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. It was written in 1934 and first performed that same year. García Lorca describes the play as "a tragic poem." The play tells the story of a childless woman living in rural S ...

'' (1962) and the

New York Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare in the Park (or Free Shakespeare in the Park) is a theatrical program that stages productions of Shakespearean plays at the Delacorte Theater, an open-air theater in New York City's Central Park. The theater and the productions ar ...

production of the rock-opera '' Two Gentlemen of Verona'' (1971–72), which ran on Broadway for two years and for which Erdman received the Drama Desk Award and a Tony nomination. Erdman was an active teacher throughout her career. In 1948 she opened her own studio where she taught a style-neutral, concept-based technique she developed by combining her study of world dance with anatomical principles. She described it as, "a basic dance training that would, in its most elementary form give the novice an essential experience of the art form, and in more complex variations create a professional dance artist with a completely articulate instrument capable of responding in movement to any choreographic impulse." From 1949-51 she directed the modern dance department at Teachers College of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. In the summers from 1949 to 1955 she was the artist in residence and head of the dance department at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

in Boulder. From 1954–57 she was the chairman of the dance department at

. She was founding director of the dance program at

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

and taught there from 1966-71. Joseph Campbell & Joan Halifax

In the 1980s, Erdman began reviving her early dance repertory and presenting it annually at The Open Eye. These performances culminated in the NEA-funded Jean Erdman Retrospective at the Hunter Playhouse in 1985, New York City. ''New York Times'' dance critic

Anna Kisselgoff Anna Kisselgoff (born 12 January 1938) is a dance critic and cultural news reporter for ''The New York Times''. She began at the ''Times'' as a dance critic and cultural news reporter in 1968, and became its Chief Dance Critic in 1977, a role she h ...

wrote, "anyone wishing to know something about where modern dance is today can find the roots in this retrospective." From 1987–93, Erdman served as artistic director of an NEA funded project to create a three volume video archive of these early dance works, ''Dance and Myth: The World of Jean Erdman''.

Personal life

Erdman and Campbell had no children. For most of their forty-nine years of marriage they shared a two-room apartment in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

in New York City. In the 1980s they also purchased an apartment in Honolulu and divided their time between the two cities. Campbell died in 1987. In 1990, Erdman became the founding president of the Joseph Campbell Foundation and continued as its president emerita until her death. Since 1995 Erdman had lived exclusively in Hawaii. Erdman died at the age of 104 in a nursing facility in Honolulu on May 4, 2020.

Filmography

* ''Invocation: Maya Deren'' (1987) * ''The Hero's Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell'' (1987) * ''Dance and Myth - The World of Jean Erdman'' (1990)

Awards and nominations

;Awards * 1972:

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography is an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in the theatre among Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions. Winners and nominees 1960s 1970s 1980s ...

- ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona'' * 1963: Obie Award - Special Citation - ''The Coach with the Six Insides'' * 1963: Vernon Rice Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre - ''The Coach with the Six Insides'' * 1993: Heritage Award from the National Dance Association for contributions to dance education * 199
Sacred Dance Guild
Honorary Lifetime Member awarded at Kalani Honua, Big Island Hawaii Nominations * 1972:

Tony Award for Best Choreography The Tony Award for Best Choreography is awarded to acknowledge the contributions of choreographers in both musicals and plays. The award has been given since 1947, but nominees were not announced until 1956. Winners and nominees 1940s 1950s ...

- ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona''

References

* *

External links

* * *
Jean Erdman Papers, 1925-2001 - The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
*
Modern Innovator Erdman Honored
' *

' *

' - ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' *'' ttps://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05EFD71238F93BA15751C1A967948260&sec=&pagewanted=print Dance: Jean Erdman's Works at the Open Eye' - ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Erdman, Jean 1916 births 2020 deaths American choreographers Artists from Honolulu Artists from New Rochelle, New York Punahou School alumni Sarah Lawrence College alumni American theatre directors Women theatre directors American female dancers Dancers from Hawaii Modern dancers Columbia University faculty Tisch School of the Arts faculty Drama Desk Award winners American centenarians Obie Award recipients Women centenarians Burials at Oahu Cemetery