Murray Louis
Encyclopedia
Murray Louis is an American modern dancer and choreographer. He grew up in Manhattan
, not far from Henry Street
where his company was to be founded years later. At the same time, his sister took him to many of the early modern dance
concerts. After his discharge from the Navy in 1946, Mr. Louis, then a San Francisco resident, turned his attention to dance. He enrolled in Colorado College
's summer session conducted by Hanya Holm
. It was there that he met Alwin Nikolais
, who would become the single most important influence on his career. Mr. Louis returned to New York in 1949. While earning a Dramatic Arts degree at New York University
, Louis attended class with Mr. Nikolais at Henry Street Playhouse. That same year, Mr. Louis made his debut as lead soloist in Mr. Nikolais' newly formed Playhouse Dance Company (later renamed the Nikolais Dance Theater).
In 1951, Mr. Louis was appointed Associate Director to Mr. Nikolais and became a partner in the evolution of the aesthetic and pedagogic theory, which today is known as the Nikolais/Louis technique. The Murray Louis Dance Company was founded in 1953. In 1968, the Murray Louis Dance Company was chosen to represent the U.S. State Department on a two-month tour of India
.
On June 18, 2006, Mr. Louis was awarded the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award. Remarks were given by Charles L. Reinhart and Sebastian Scripps, and the award was presented by Doug Varone. Mr. Louis' 1973 piece "Index (...to necessary neurosis)" was performed.
He piloted the "Artist in School" program in 1972.
In 1978, he created two works for Rudolph Nureyev to premiere on Broadway
. Mr. Louis also created a program in which Nureyev danced opposite him as a special guest artist with the Murray Louis Dance Company. Mr. Louis has been commissioned by the 16th International Festival of Dance at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
in Paris, the Taorimina Art Festival in Sicily
, and the American Dance Festival
. He has been a continuous recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts
since 1969. Together with Alwin Nikolais
, he choreographed and staged Lenny and the Heartbreakers, a musical for Joseph Papp
's New York Shakespeare Festival. Mr. Louis has worked in television in the US and Europe, both creating and adapting works for the medium. He created Stravinsky
's "Pulcinello" for Batsheva Dance Company
for Israeli television in Tel Aviv
. He also choreographed and staged The Tales of Cri-Cri, starring Plácido Domingo
, for Televisa
, Mexico City
. In July 1987, PBS televised Christian Blackwood
's award winning documentary film, Nik and Murray, as part of the American Masters
series. During the summer of 1989, the Princeton Book Publishing Company released a home video entitled Murray Louis in Concert, a collection of solos. The company's 1984 New York City Center
season marked the premiere of a collaboration between The Murray Louis Dance Company and The Dave Brubeck Quartet. For four highly successful seasons, this full-length program was broadcast in the US, Europe, and Japan.
His collection of essays, Inside Dance, was published by St. Martin's Press
. Mr. Louis' five-part film series, Dance as an Art Form, has become a standard introduction series for Educational Arts programs in the United States. During the summer of 1989, he received a special citation from New York City's Mayor, which he shared with Alwin Nikolais
. His second book of essays, On Dance, has been published by A Cappella Books. In 1995, the Company performed at Carnegie Hall
for 10,000 children during their "LINK" program. Also, Mr. Louis choreographed an homage to the Swedish Ballet through the Guggenheim Museum
's "Works and Process" series. In 1996, Mr. Louis completed a five part video series, The World of Alwin Nikolais
. In 1998, Mr. Louis was selected as a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar for a "distinguished lecture" tour of 12 Universities and Colleges in the United States. Also in 1998, Mr. Louis was selected as a Lucia Chase Fellow. In 1999, Mr. Louis was a recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Performing Arts from Ohio University
in Athens
, Ohio
. In 2000, he received his second Honorary Degree from Rutgers University
in New Jersey. In 2005, Routledge Press published a manual of the Nikolais-Louis technique.
He has created over 100 works, toured five continents, and performed in every state in the United States of America. A variety of composers have created music for him. In addition he has choreographed to the music of Bach
, Brahms
, Schubert
, Stravinsky
, and Tchaikovsky
, amongst others. Mr. Louis has choreographed dances for the Royal Danish Ballet
, The Jose Limon Company
, The Hamburg Opera Ballet, The Scottish Ballet, The Berlin Opera Ballet, The Cleveland Ballet
, and for smaller companies in the United States and Canada.
Murray Louis continues to live and work in New York City.
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, not far from Henry Street
Henry Street (Manhattan)
Henry Street is a street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City that runs in a northeasterly direction one-way eastbound from Oliver Street in the south and west, passing underneath the Manhattan Bridge and on to Grand Street in the north and east. The street is named for Henry...
where his company was to be founded years later. At the same time, his sister took him to many of the early modern dance
Modern 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:...
concerts. After his discharge from the Navy in 1946, Mr. Louis, then a San Francisco resident, turned his attention to dance. He enrolled in Colorado College
Colorado College
The Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell...
's summer session conducted by Hanya Holm
Hanya Holm
Hanya Holm is known as one of the “Big Four” founders of American modern dance...
. It was there that he met Alwin Nikolais
Alwin Nikolais
Alwin Nikolais was an American choreographer.Nikolais studied piano at an early age and began his performing career as an organist accompanying silent films. As a young artist, he gained skills in scenic design, acting, puppetry and music composition...
, who would become the single most important influence on his career. Mr. Louis returned to New York in 1949. While earning a Dramatic Arts degree at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, Louis attended class with Mr. Nikolais at Henry Street Playhouse. That same year, Mr. Louis made his debut as lead soloist in Mr. Nikolais' newly formed Playhouse Dance Company (later renamed the Nikolais Dance Theater).
In 1951, Mr. Louis was appointed Associate Director to Mr. Nikolais and became a partner in the evolution of the aesthetic and pedagogic theory, which today is known as the Nikolais/Louis technique. The Murray Louis Dance Company was founded in 1953. In 1968, the Murray Louis Dance Company was chosen to represent the U.S. State Department on a two-month tour of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
On June 18, 2006, Mr. Louis was awarded the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award. Remarks were given by Charles L. Reinhart and Sebastian Scripps, and the award was presented by Doug Varone. Mr. Louis' 1973 piece "Index (...to necessary neurosis)" was performed.
He piloted the "Artist in School" program in 1972.
In 1978, he created two works for Rudolph Nureyev to premiere on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. Mr. Louis also created a program in which Nureyev danced opposite him as a special guest artist with the Murray Louis Dance Company. Mr. Louis has been commissioned by the 16th International Festival of Dance at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is a theatre at 15 avenue Montaigne. Despite its name, the theatre is not on the Champs-Élysées but nearby in another part of the 8th arrondissement of Paris....
in Paris, the Taorimina Art Festival in Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, and the American Dance Festival
American Dance Festival
The American Dance Festival is a six and four-week school for dance and a six-week summer festival of modern dance performances, currently held at Duke University and the Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, North Carolina....
. He has been a continuous recipient of grants 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...
since 1969. Together with Alwin Nikolais
Alwin Nikolais
Alwin Nikolais was an American choreographer.Nikolais studied piano at an early age and began his performing career as an organist accompanying silent films. As a young artist, he gained skills in scenic design, acting, puppetry and music composition...
, he choreographed and staged Lenny and the Heartbreakers, a musical for Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in downtown New York . "The Public," as it is known, has many small theatres within it...
's New York Shakespeare Festival. Mr. Louis has worked in television in the US and Europe, both creating and adapting works for the medium. He created Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
's "Pulcinello" for Batsheva Dance Company
Batsheva Dance Company
The Batsheva Dance Company is an internationally acclaimed dance company based in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was founded by Martha Graham and Baroness Batsheva De Rothschild in 1964....
for Israeli television in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
. He also choreographed and staged The Tales of Cri-Cri, starring Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
, for Televisa
Televisa
Televisa is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate, the largest mass media company in Latin America and in the Spanish-speaking world. It is a major international entertainment business, with much of its programming airing in the United States on Univision, with which it has an exclusive contract...
, Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
. In July 1987, PBS televised Christian Blackwood
Christian Blackwood
Christian Blackwood was an American film director and cinematographer.He was initially a child actor, then a cinematographer acclaimed for his work in Charlotte Zwerin's Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser. But his major work was as the director of over 80 films, mostly documentaries, over a...
's award winning documentary film, Nik and Murray, as part of the American Masters
American Masters
American Masters is a PBS television show which produces biographies on the artists, actors and writers of the United States who have left a profound impact on the nation's popular culture. It is produced by WNET in New York City...
series. During the summer of 1989, the Princeton Book Publishing Company released a home video entitled Murray Louis in Concert, a collection of solos. The company's 1984 New York City Center
New York City Center
New York City Center is a 2,750-seat Moorish Revival theater located at 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It is one block south of Carnegie Hall...
season marked the premiere of a collaboration between The Murray Louis Dance Company and The Dave Brubeck Quartet. For four highly successful seasons, this full-length program was broadcast in the US, Europe, and Japan.
His collection of essays, Inside Dance, was published by St. Martin's Press
St. Martin's Press
St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in the Flatiron Building in New York City. Currently, St. Martin's Press is one of the United States' largest publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under eight imprints, which include St. Martin's Press , St...
. Mr. Louis' five-part film series, Dance as an Art Form, has become a standard introduction series for Educational Arts programs in the United States. During the summer of 1989, he received a special citation from New York City's Mayor, which he shared with Alwin Nikolais
Alwin Nikolais
Alwin Nikolais was an American choreographer.Nikolais studied piano at an early age and began his performing career as an organist accompanying silent films. As a young artist, he gained skills in scenic design, acting, puppetry and music composition...
. His second book of essays, On Dance, has been published by A Cappella Books. In 1995, the Company performed at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
for 10,000 children during their "LINK" program. Also, Mr. Louis choreographed an homage to the Swedish Ballet through the Guggenheim Museum
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...
's "Works and Process" series. In 1996, Mr. Louis completed a five part video series, The World of Alwin Nikolais
Alwin Nikolais
Alwin Nikolais was an American choreographer.Nikolais studied piano at an early age and began his performing career as an organist accompanying silent films. As a young artist, he gained skills in scenic design, acting, puppetry and music composition...
. In 1998, Mr. Louis was selected as a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar for a "distinguished lecture" tour of 12 Universities and Colleges in the United States. Also in 1998, Mr. Louis was selected as a Lucia Chase Fellow. In 1999, Mr. Louis was a recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Performing Arts from Ohio University
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...
in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. In 2000, he received his second Honorary Degree from Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
in New Jersey. In 2005, Routledge Press published a manual of the Nikolais-Louis technique.
He has created over 100 works, toured five continents, and performed in every state in the United States of America. A variety of composers have created music for him. In addition he has choreographed to the music of Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
, and Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
, amongst others. Mr. Louis has choreographed dances for the Royal Danish Ballet
Royal Danish Ballet
The Royal Danish Ballet is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world. Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, it originates from 1748, when the Royal Danish Theatre was founded, and was finally organized in 1771 in response to the great popularity of French and Italian styles of dance...
, The Jose Limon Company
José Limón
José Arcadio Limón was a pioneer in the field of modern dance and choreography. In 1928, at age 20, he moved to New York City where he studied under Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. In 1946, Limón founded the José Limón Dance Company...
, The Hamburg Opera Ballet, The Scottish Ballet, The Berlin Opera Ballet, The Cleveland Ballet
Cleveland Ballet
The Cleveland Ballet was founded in 1972 by Dennis Nahat and Ian Horvath as a dance school, the School of Cleveland Ballet. They subsequently recruited professional dancers who by 1975 were previewing performances around Cleveland. The company first performed at the Hanna Theatre November 16, 1976...
, and for smaller companies in the United States and Canada.
Murray Louis continues to live and work in New York City.