Jan Erkert
Encyclopedia
Jan Erkert is a dance-maker, teacher, author and Head of the Department of Dance at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.1
s. Ms. Erkert’s work has been seen throughout the United States
as well as in Germany
, Mexico
, Taiwan
, Japan
, Uruguay
and Israel
. Ms. Erkert and the company have been honored with numerous awards including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts
and the Illinois Arts Council
, and Ruth Page
Awards for choreography
and performance. She has received two Fulbright Scholar Awards and served on the Fulbright panel.1
and Asia
.1
Her teaching philosophy combines the concepts of yield/push and reach/pull to differentiate qualities of effort and the focus of energy. Yielding to gravity—not flopping, but finding the yield and push-"dance students begin to discover that yielding isn't always about the places in your body you're thinking about. I'm asking them to wake up their nerve cells and touch sensations."2
from 1990–2006, she garnered many awards including the 1999 Excellence in Teaching Award, and was a nominee for the U.S. Professor of the Year sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation.
After a long history of guest teaching at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, Erkert became department head of the Department of Dance in 2008 where she teaches today.1
and Amnesty International
. She recently traveled around the world to study perceptions of the body and gender as experienced in communal bathing. She is currently writing a screenplay for television about these experiences. Laura Molzhan, in The Chicago Reader, writes that "Jan Erkert is the best kind of magician, conjuring up feeling without ever grabbing for heartstrings or resorting to throbbing violins. Instead the dry, hard, everyday facts of the dance accumulate until they're like a mound of stones on the heart--and we're forced to notice our own sorrow. Then, just as magically, noticing takes the sorrow away and leaves the heart free and open."3
Dance Company
As Artistic Director of Jan Erkert & Dancers from 1979–2000, she created over 70 modern danceModern dance
Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...
s. Ms. Erkert’s work has been seen throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as well as in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Ms. Erkert and the company have been honored with numerous awards including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
and the Illinois Arts Council
Illinois Arts Council
The Illinois Arts Council is a government agency of the state of Illinois formed to encourage development of the arts throughout Illinois. Founded in 1965 by the Illinois General Assembly, the Illinois Arts Council provides financial and technical assistance to artists, arts organizations, and...
, and Ruth Page
Ruth Page
Ruth Page was an American ballerina and choreographer, considered a pioneer in creating works on American themes. To the classical ballet vocabulary she added movements from sports, popular dance and everyday gestures....
Awards for choreography
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
and performance. She has received two Fulbright Scholar Awards and served on the Fulbright panel.1
Dance Writing
Throughout her career she has devoted much of her energy to advancing teaching and learning. She authored Harnessing the Wind: The Art of Teaching Modern Dance, which was published in 2003 by Human Kinetics.1Master Teacher
Erkert has been a master teacher at universities and colleges throughout the United States, Mexico, EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
.1
Her teaching philosophy combines the concepts of yield/push and reach/pull to differentiate qualities of effort and the focus of energy. Yielding to gravity—not flopping, but finding the yield and push-"dance students begin to discover that yielding isn't always about the places in your body you're thinking about. I'm asking them to wake up their nerve cells and touch sensations."2
University Teaching
As a professor of dance at Columbia College ChicagoColumbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago is one of the largest art colleges in the United States with nearly 12,000 students pursuing degrees within 120 undergraduate and graduate programs...
from 1990–2006, she garnered many awards including the 1999 Excellence in Teaching Award, and was a nominee for the U.S. Professor of the Year sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation.
After a long history of guest teaching at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, Erkert became department head of the Department of Dance in 2008 where she teaches today.1
Choreography and other media
Her political and community work includes partnerships with the Kovler Center for Survivors of Torture, The Peace MuseumThe Peace Museum
The Peace Museum in Chicago was founded in 1981 by Mark Rogovin and Marjorie Craig Benton, a former US UNICEF representative. It was one of two peace museums in the US. The other is the Dayton International Peace Museum...
and Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
. She recently traveled around the world to study perceptions of the body and gender as experienced in communal bathing. She is currently writing a screenplay for television about these experiences. Laura Molzhan, in The Chicago Reader, writes that "Jan Erkert is the best kind of magician, conjuring up feeling without ever grabbing for heartstrings or resorting to throbbing violins. Instead the dry, hard, everyday facts of the dance accumulate until they're like a mound of stones on the heart--and we're forced to notice our own sorrow. Then, just as magically, noticing takes the sorrow away and leaves the heart free and open."3