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Pearl Lang (May 29, 1921 – February 24, 2009) was an American dancer, choreographer and teacher renowned as an interpreter and propagator of the choreography style ofMartha Graham, and also for her own longtime dance company, the Pearl Lang Dance Theater. She is known forAppalachian Spring (1944),American Masters (1985) andDriven (2001).
A native of Chicago, Lang began her dance training as a child and studied acting at theGoodman Theatre. Her dance teacher was Frances Allis who taught movement for actors as well as her own modern dance technique which has many similarities to Graham's. Lang studied Allis technique and performed with her company in Chicago. In 1938, at the age of 17, she enrolled in a program for gifted students at theUniversity of Chicago, where she remained until 1941, the year of her move to New York. Born Pearl Lack, she adopted thestage name, "Pearl Lang", she studied with Martha Graham andLouis Horst and joined theMartha Graham Dance Company where she remained as a soloist from 1942 to 1952, and as a guest artist from 1954 through the late 1970s.[1] She was the first woman to dance Martha Graham's roles in seven dances of Graham repertoire which she performed intermittently for thirty years to critical and audience acclaim. She was an original cast member inDeaths and Entrances,Punch and the Judy,Land Be Bright,Imagined Wing,Diversion of Angels,Canticle for Innocent Comedians,Ardent Song,Dark Meadow,Night Journey,Eye of Anguish, andAppalachian Spring. She was also a featured dancer in Broadway productions ofCarousel (1945–47),Finian's Rainbow, andPeer Gynt.[2]
In 1952, she founded her own company, Pearl Lang Dance Theater, for which she choreographed sixty-three works, thirty-six of which were based onJewish themes. She choreographed for film, opera, and television and her works have been performed by theDutch National Ballet,Boston Ballet, and theBatsheva Dance Company of Israel. In 1970, she invitedAlvin Ailey and his company to share a three-story building with her dance company at 229 East 59th Street in Manhattan where, together, they co-directed the American Dance Center as a joint school.[3] Pearl Lang Dance Theater's last New York season was held at theDanny Kaye Playhouse in 2001.
Among the many citations and awards that Lang received are twoGuggenheim Fellowships for Choreography; the Martha Graham Award for Performance and Choreography; TheWorkmen's Circle Award for her contribution to Jewish Culture through Dance; the Achievement Award from the Artists and Writers for Peace in the Middle East; the Achievement Award from the Congress for Jewish Culture; the Cultural Achievement Award from theNational Foundation for Jewish Culture;Queens College Award for Excellence in Jewish Art, and from theJuilliard School, an HonoraryDoctor of Fine Arts on May 19, 1995. In 1997, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the International Committee for The Dance Library of Israel. In 2001 at theAmerican Dance Festival she received the award for "Lifetime Distinguished Teaching".[4]
As a teacher, Lang reached generations of young dancers. She served on the faculties ofYale University from 1954 to 1968, Juilliard School of Music from 1952 to 1969,Connecticut College andNeighborhood Playhouse from 1963 to 1968, and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance up until shortly before her death. Among her many students were singerMadonna and choreographerPina Bausch.[5]
Lang was recuperating from hip surgery when she died of a heart attack in Manhattan, at age 87. She lived on theUpper West Side with her husband, actorJoseph Wiseman, to whom she had been married since 1964.[6] Wiseman himself died less than eight months later, on October 19.
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