Pauline Koner
Pauline Koner (born June 26, 1912 in New York City ; † February 8, 2001 there ) was an American dancer , choreographer , dance teacher and author .
Life
Pauline Koner was the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Russia. Her father was a socially committed lawyer. Pauline Koner was interested in music from an early age and wished she could take lessons from Michel Fokine , an important ballet reformer of the early twentieth century. Since her family regarded his fee as unaffordable, her father agreed with him on an exchange deal in which he offered his legal services for ballet lessons to his daughter.
Pauline Koner was also tutored in Spanish dance and by Japanese choreographers , fusing the learning experiences of these three styles. She made her solo debut on December 7, 1930 and earned great critical acclaim for it. In the 1930s she toured the Middle East, Egypt and Palestine, and the Soviet Union .
After a solo performance by Koner, she came in contact with Doris Humphrey , an important American pioneer of modern dance , who subsequently became her artistic mentor until her death in 1958. Koner's thirty-minute solo piece Farewell from 1962, which became her best-known choreographic work, is dedicated to Humphrey's memory. In the 1950s and 1960s, in addition to her solo appearances, Koner also worked regularly as a dancer for the Jose Limon Dance Company and as a choreographer of her own performances as well as for other dancers. From 1976 to 1982 she led her own dance group, the Pauline Koner Dance Consort .
From 1939 until his death in 1973 Pauline Koner was married to the conductor Fritz Mahler , a cousin of the famous Austrian composer and conductor Gustav Mahler , whose music she also used for her own dance performances. She died at home in Manhattan, New York, at the age of 88 .
plant
Pauline Koner also worked as an innovative teacher for the performing arts . Contrary to traditional beliefs, she was convinced that excellent performance in this area can be taught and learned. Through careful analysis of their own performances as well as the other outstanding dancers she developed her master class Elements of Performance ( elements of the demonstration / presentation ), she taught at various locations in the US, Europe and Asia, for which they also published a textbook.
Fonts
- Solitary song . Duke University Press 1989, ISBN 978-0-8223-0878-2 . ( Autobiography ).
- Elements of performance: A guide for performers in dance, theater and opera . Harwood Academic Publishers, London 1993.
literature
- Judith B. Alter: Dance and Creativity . In: Encyclopedia of Creativity . Ed. Mark A. Runco & Steven R. Pritzker. Volume I. Academic Press, San Diego etc. 1999, ISBN 0-12-227076-2 , pp. 469-481. / For Pauline Koner see especially p. 476.
- Camille Hardy: Pauline Koner . In: American National Biography . Supplement 2nd Ed. Mark C. Carnes, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2005, ISBN 978-0-19-522202-9 , pp. 322-324. / There is also a list of references and sources in the appendix.
Web links
- Obituary of the New York Times of 9 February 2001 (English).
- Photographs of Pauline Koner as a dancer.
Individual evidence
- ↑ See the article in the American National Biography (see literature section ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Koner, Pauline |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American dancer and choreographer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 26, 1912 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 8, 2001 |
| Place of death | New York City |