American Dance Guild Festival Week Seven Begins This Monday

Reaching into its archival treasure trove of rarely seen recordings of past events, The American Dance Guild continues their virtual offering 10 Years Over 10 Weeks, a rich collection of video performances of honorees and guest artists over the last ten years of ADG Performance Festivals.

The video stream, which runs for ten weeks, features works by 25 dance luminaries from ADG Festivals 2009-2019. Each of the Festival artists appear sequentially by year, running for one week. The live festival has been postponed this year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The American Dance Guild's 10 Years Over 10 Weeks is available to stream on Vimeo and through the ADG website. The showings are free, with donations welcome. The full 10 Years Over 10 Weeks lineup is below.

From Nov. 23 through Nov. 29, the 2020 ADG Virtual Festival will stream WEEK SEVEN, a special tribute to choreographer JEAN ERDMAN, winner of the American Dance Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award at ADG Festival 2016. Video footage each week will be live from 10am Monday to 11:59pm Sunday ET.

To be shown on WEEK SEVEN:

JEAN ERDMAN THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF MEDUSA
Temple Virgin
Lady of the Wild Things
Queen of Gorgons
Choreography: Jean Erdman (1942)
Reconstructed by: Nancy Allison with Christine Dakin
Commissioned score: Louis Horst
Pianist: Amir Khosrowpour
Costume: Charlotte Trowbridge
Performer: Christine Dakin

According to Erdman, The Transformations of Medusa "reveals an organic progression of energy flowing through three different stages of life." From the mesmerized fanatic of "Temple Virgin" to the conscious, harmony-seeking "Lady of The Wild Things" to the embodiment of destructive power in "Queen of Gorgons," this exacting and enigmatic dance has challenged dancers and riveted audiences since its creation.
JEAN ERDMAN (1916-2020) was born and raised in Hawaii in the early years of the 20th century. She embraced hula and other forms of world dance, along with a life-long dialogue with her husband, the mythologist Joseph Campbell, as sources of inspiration for her evocative, innovative dance and theater creations.

Erdman began her career as a soloist in Martha Graham's company from 1938 - 43, originating many roles in the repertory of that period. Together with fellow Graham company member, Merce Cunningham with whom she shared a choreographic debut in 1943 at the Arts Club of Chicago, she was instrumental in seeking out the more abstract direction that marks American modern dance to this day.

She collaborated with some of the most innovative artists of her time, including composers John Cage, Henry Cowell, Alan Hovanhess and Teiji Ito, poet e.e. cummings, visual artists Peter Max, Ralph Lee and Paul Jenkins and filmmaker, Maya Deren. In 1949, Dance Magazine noted her dance "The Perilous Chapel", with a commissioned score by Lou Harrison and sculptural set by Carlus Dyer, as "one of the best new works of the season"...read more at www.jeanerdmandance.com

The yearly American Dance Guild Festival is a themed live event which presents over 30 artists of diverse backgrounds, ages and aesthetics ranging from modern to post-modern, to performance art to cultural hybrids. Each year luminaries in dance are recognized with awards of Distinguished Artistry and Lifetime Achievement, and it is these artists who are featured in this special presentation.

The 10 Years Over 10 Weeks full lineup:

October 12-18: Donald McKayle, Erick Hawkins (2009)
October 19-25: Paul Sanasardo, Jane Dudley, Linda Tarnay (2011)
October 26-November 1: Elaine Summers, Dianne McIntyre (2012)
November 2-8: Lar Lubovitch, Marilyn Wood, Remy Charlip (2013)
November 9-15: Joan Myers Brown, Douglas Dunn, Bill Evans (2014)
November 16-22: Doug Varone, Liz Lerman, Alice Teirstein (2015)
November 23-29: Jean Erdman (2016)
November 30-December 6: Garth Fagan, Martha Myers, Thunderbird American Indian/Louis Mofsie (2017)
December 7-13: Jane Comfort, Eleo Pomare (2018)
December 14-20: Jody Gottfried Arnhold, Gus Solomons jr, Abdel R. Salaam (2019)

To view the virtual collection on the above dates, please visit americandanceguild.org or vimeo.com/americandanceguild

"The American Dance Guild holds a unique position as both a promoter of the new and preserver of the living history of modern dance as an art form," said Gloria McLean president of the American Dance Guild. "We are digging into our extensive historical archives for this year's virtual presentation, and the superb artists represented offer an opportunity for students, teachers and researchers as well as the general public to engage in the rich heritage and diverse subject matter of modern dance."

The 2020 American Dance Guild Virtual Performance Festival 10 Years Over 10 Weeks gratefully acknowledges support from Jody and John Arnhold | Arnhold Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, and The Janis and Alan Menken Charity Fund.