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Deborah Hay

1941, Brooklyn (N.Y., U.S.); lives in Austin (Texas, U.S.)

In the early 1960’s, Deborah Hay trained with Mia Slavenska and Merce Cunningham. In 1964, she participated in an international tour with the Cunningham Dance Company. She then joined the Judson Dance Theater as performer and choreographer. Along with her collaborators, she attempted to blur the line traditionally separating trained and untrained dancers.

In 1970, she left New York to live in a community in Vermont. During this period, her works were no longer presented to the public but designed only for those performing. The observations she made during annual group workshops were distilled into solo dances, now Hay’s preferred type of choreography. In 2000, she nevertheless choreographed a duet for herself and Mikhail Baryshnikov, which toured with the Past/Forward project (a series of performances updating the choreographic scores of the Judson Group Theatre, among others). From time to time, Hay also creates new group choreographies (including "O,O" in 2006), based on the reinterpretation of her solo dances by several different performers.

[Documents available in the collection about Deborah Hay...] 

[Documents available in the collection by Deborah Hay...] 

Vincent Bonin © 2006 FDL