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Current Work Memorial Tribute Performance for Hortense Kooluris Date: Monday, October 1, 2007, 8pm. Ticket Price: $10.00 general seating only, sorry no reservations. Venue: Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, Flora McCrea Auditorium, 230 St. Clair Ave. W. at Dunvegan Road , Toronto (Parking at the North side of venue.) Box Office: 416.410.5938 for info during business hours only. Contact Person & Tel.: Paul-James Dwyer (416.410.5938) Performers: Isadora Duncan Dancers: Adrienne Ramm (NYC), famous Agnes De Mille Dancer, Gemze de Lappe (NYC), Reiko Morita (Tokyo), P.-J. Dwyer (Toronto). Speakers: Kildare Dobbs, Linda Kooluris-Dobbs (Toronto). Hortense Kooluris Kooluris was internationally recognized by dance critics for her poetic and lyrical qualities as an Isadora Duncan dancer. She was born on September 22, 1914 in Prospect Park, a well known arts community in Brooklyn, into a family of painters and classical musicians. The Dolan family was the basis and inspiration for Christina Stead’s novel “The People with the Dogs”. As a small child, Kooluris got up and danced at the first sound of music, and began her dance studies at age four when she started Ballet class. At six, she switched to Duncan dance, as a student of Anita Zahn, the principal pupil of Isadora's sister, Elizabeth Duncan, in NYC. She went on to study with Anna Duncan, one of the six adopted daughters of Isadora called the Isadorables. In 1930, the Russian government recalled the Moscow based Isadora Duncan Dance Group, then in NYC, back to Moscow after their triumphant tour across North America . The company, lead by Irma Duncan (another of the Isadorables) immediately held auditions to fulfill her contract obligations for the next North American tour, as the American Irma Duncan Dancers, under Sol Hurok management. Kooluris was hired at age fifteen, becoming the youngest member of the company. She performed with the Irma Duncan Dance group all over the USA and Cuba. Irma decided to retire in 1933 after the famous NYC performance of the Beethoven's 9th Symphony that included almost a thousand dancers, singers and musicians, under the baton of conductor Walter Damrosch and the New York Philharmonic. After the concert, Kooluris became a soloist and worked with prestigious conductors like Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, performing to universal critical acclaim. She also worked with Anna Duncan and the most artistically creative of the Isadorables: Maria-Theresa Duncan. She then joined a Depression-era government program in the arts section of the WPA (Works Progress Administration), before teaching in New Jersey at an Arthur Murray Dance Studio. Next to the Arthur Murray Studio was an exclusive restaurant, whose owner George Kooluris met and proposed to her, whereupon they settled in Short Hills after the marriage. Isadora was often faulted with not being as great a dance teacher as she was dancer or choreographer. She could demonstrate a sequence of a dance, but tired easily of deconstructing her own choreography for her pupils. Kooluris’s statement on her own teacher Irma Duncan, who studied with Isadora for twenty-four years, speaks volumes. “I see Isadora through Irma. She was like a pied-piper; she so completely overpowered her students. She was the greatest teacher – she broke it down mathematically with her German mind. She could teach a stick to dance.” Irma in turn honoured Kooluris before she died in California in the mid-seventies “I know of no one that is more qualified and gifted then you to carry on Isadora’s spirit.” Indeed Kooluris was considered the greatest Duncan dancer of her generation of Duncan dancers. Although she never performed Isadora’s great tragic solos (choreography 1914-1921), she excelled in the Duncan repertory from the lyrical and poetic phase of Duncan’s career (choreography1900-1913), and the Russian period from 1921 to 1924, the so-called Workers Dances of revolutionary struggle and socio-political themes. Kooluris never abandoned her career to have a family but continued performing, teaching and eventually lecturing on Duncan dance. In 1976 she joined Agnes de Mille’s production “Conversations about the Dance” under Hurok management, performing with Genze De Lappe and soloists of the Heritage Dance Theatre. Together with Julia Levien she was a founding member of the 1977 Isadora Duncan Centenary Celebrations, appearing in New York and Philadelphia, in a series of concerts with symphonic orchestras or live piano. In 1977, she also performed at Smith College , with the eighty-two year old Maria-Theresa Duncan, in a program of Wagner, Gluck and Chopin, a performance that has attained legendary status among those honoured to attend or view the video. Kooluris continued to develop as an artist and dancer in Duncan Dance by studying privately with Maria-Theresa for a year in the late 1970’s, when she was well into her sixties. Later career highlights include outdoor concerts in 1986 at the World Trade Centre, tours to Canada, France and Greece , and Japan where she appeared with Kazuo Ohno, one of Japan ’s most revered dancers. Although she created dances in the Duncan style, she always devoted most of her professional career to performing the choreography of Isadora and to lecturing about its philosophy and to passing on the legacy to numerous students over the course of over fifty years of teaching. Some of her principle pupils performing today are: Adrienne Ramm (NYC) and Reiko Morita ( Japan ). She is chiefly remembered for her dancing to Isadora's choreography to the following composers: Gluck, Chopin, Schubert, Strauss and Gretchaninov. Kooluris was photographed by the greatest dance photographers of her day including Arnold Genthe. Their collaboration has left a legacy of physical, spiritual and kinetic beauty. Amazingly, Kooluris danced up until her 84th birthday, at which time she had a car accident that ended her performing career, in 1998. She often repeated to her close associates that she wanted to be remembered as “one of the chosen ones to live and die in Isadora’s beautiful art.” Kooluris passed away quietly February 8, 2007, at her home in Stuart, Florida. She is survived by two sisters, her daughter Linda Kooluris-Dobbs, an internationally acclaimed portrait painter and watercolourist and her son, Kirby, a photographer and classical pianist. Kooluris will also be remembered for her great heart and artistic generosity, to the numerous dancers she mentored, supported and advised and taught. A memorial celebration is also scheduled Spring 2008, in NYC. Paul-James Dwyer Memorial Tribute Performance for Hortense Kooluris For almost 70 years, American Hortense Kooluris was an Isadora Duncan dancer and a direct link to the Isadorables, the six adopted daughters of the pioneer of modern dance. The Isadorables carried on Isadora’s choreography and teachings. Toronto happens to have a strong Kooluris connection. Her daughter Linda and her husband Kildare Dobbs live here, as does Isadora historian and dancer Paul-James Dwyer. It was Dwyer who put together the very moving tribute to Kooluris, who passed away in February. I certainly had tears in my eyes watching the video that panned through Kooluris’ glittering career. The concert featured Adrienne Ramm and Gemze de Lappe from New York, Reiko Morita from Japan, and Dwyer performing actual Isadora dances as well as homage choreography. There is something precious about the flimsy Greek tunics and head wreaths of the Isadora aesthetic, but the joyous freedom of the movement is where modern dance all began, and that is to be treasured. It was a very emotional evening, and beautifully organized. Paula Citron, arts reviewer for CLASSICAL 96.3 FM. Paul-James Dwyer On September 21, 2007 P-J Dwyer makes his British debut, performing a concert of all new choreographies to music by Liszt (Harmonies du soir), Schumann (Papillons & Fantasiestucke) and Brahms (Intermezzo Op. 118), at one of Europe's most prestigious musical museums, Finchcocks. Joining him will be the American Fortepianist John Van Buskirk, who now lives in Southern New Zealand. Van Buskirk is an internationally recognized early music specialist, with numerous recordings covering the Classical and Romantic repertoire. Finchcocks Musical Museum
dance OREMUS dance at The Toronto Street Festival, P-J Dwyer choreographed and danced solo a suite of dances, appearing with Viola D'amore virtuoso Thomas Georgi of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Both artists appeared on-stage, performing the suite three times during the day. The choreography was based on Ancient Greek dance with movement sequences influences by Tanagra figures, the hieratic gestures of the masterpieces of Greek sculpture and the Isadora Duncan technique and vocabulary of Modern dance. "Part of the fun of dancing in a street festival for me is having the confidence to improvise in my own style, so I intentionally left some of the choreographic structure open, to react spontaneously to the mood of the audience and deal with the weather as it progressed during the day. Dancing initially at 12:30pm the day was still not so hot, so it was a pleasure. But at 3:30pm the second show the heat was high and dancing for 15 minutes straight is a so small feat, The audience feels the heat the same as I did, so I adjusted the dance sequences slightly, not to make it less taxing for me physically but more a part of the mood in the audience. Finally the last show at 6pm was a totally new variation on the choreography I set, one filled with the regrets of the final adieu and love and joy of the experience." "Working with Tom Georgi is a pleasure and honour as he is one of the few Baroque musicians in Toronto who has a great love, sympathy and understanding of dance. He has worked in the past with La Belle Danse, one of Canada's greatest Baroque dance companies." -- P-J Dwyer Partita in F by Christian Pezold (1677-1733) 1. Gavott (1:42) 2. Gigue (2:10) 3. Bouree (1:30) 4. Air (2:30) 5. Courant (1:56) 6. Sarabande (1:35) 7. Menuet I & II (2:32) Contact Thomas Georgi at tgeorgi@interlog.com to order his excellent CD "Many Strings Attached: Eighteenth Century Music for Viola D'amore". dance OREMUS danse would like to thank Thomas Georgi, Joanne Weatley of Toronto Special Events, and the fabulous stage crew at the Journey's In Dance Site (Yonge Street & St. Clair Avenue). See you next summer!
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