Martha Hill

Martha Hill ( born December 1, 1900 in East Palestine, Ohio; † November 19, 1995 in New York) was one of the most important and influential dance teachers of the 20th century in the United States of America.

Life

Martha Hill was for a short time dancer in the company of Martha Graham, but ended her active dance career at an early stage to introduce the dance as an independent study at universities. Originally set as a dance teacher in the sports department at New York University, she became in 1930 director of the company founded by her dance area. She created the program Dance at Bennington College in Vermont. From 1934 she invited there a major choreographers of her time to participate in the annual summer festival and to teach. In addition to Graham came Hanya Holm, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman and many others. After the Second World War, Hill founded the " Connecticut College School of Dance", from which the ' American Dance Festival ' was born. In 1951 she was appointed the first director of the new course of study dance at the Juilliard School in New York and gathered the best teachers of the dance world around. To their faculty included Antony Tudor, Anna Sokolow, Jose Limon and many more. She remained director until 1985 and taught until 1992 at Juilliard. The list of her students is a veritable "Who's Who " of the dance world. Among them are German choreographers such as Pina Bausch and Henning Rübsam.

Hill married in 1952 Dr. Thurston Davies ( † 1961).