James Saunders (dancer)
James Saunders (14 July 1946 in Wilmington, Delaware – 24 August 1996 in Cologne, Germany) was an US-American dancer, choreographer and movement teacher.
Personal life
Born and raised as the son of Mary Lee and Major Saunders in Wilmington, Delaware, Saunders studied painting and sculpture at the Philadelphia College of Art (bachelor's degree). In 1968, at the age of 22, Saunders took his first dance class[1] and studied thereafter ballet with the Pennsylvania Ballet Company under the teachers Benjamin Harkavy, Edward Caton and Hector Zaraspe. He was later a student of Irene Bartos, Rosella Hightower and Anna Price. In 1973 Saunders left the United States and settled in Europe. Saunders had a fatal accident on August 24, 1996 during an upswing on a stair banister as part of his performance "Basstanz - Bilderwelten" which he performed with the musician Enrique Dias in the Museum Ludwig in Cologne. Saunders is buried on the Gracelawn Memorial Park cemetery Wilmington / Delaware.
Career
Saunders was a member of the Pennsylvania Ballet (1972-1973), in Maurice Béjart's Ballet des XX. Century (1973), in the Tanz-Forum Cologne (1973-1977)[2] and most recently in his dance cariere first soloist in the Frankfurt Ballet (1977-1980)[3]. He has danced leading roles in works by George Balanchine, Hans van Manen, Heinz Spoerli, Glen Tetley, Christopher Bruce and Talley Beatty.
After further educational training with Gabriela Taub Darvash[4] in New York, James Saunders ended his solo career in 1980 and worked as a visiting professor at the Darvash School in New York. In the early 1980s he became artistic director of the Deutsche Ballett-Bühne e.V.,[5] the founding association of Ballett International magazine. In 1984 he founded the Tanzprojekte Cologne with Christiane Ruff and Kajo Nelles - Creativity through Movement. He brought amateurs[6] with dancers and choreographers together on stage and worked with his holistic approach to art: everyone is a dancer, a mover. Thousands of people participated in those projects form 1984 to 1994.[7] From 1985 to 1991 he directed his own dance training projects in-house, which contributed significantly to the development of a lively dance scene in Germany. From 1989 to 1994 he carried out the Creating Movement Projects[8] in Johannesburg and Soweto a long term project supporting young leaders in the field of art. This was the first cultural project in southern Africa sponsered by th Goethe Institut.[9] Beside his regularly teachings in his own studio (Tanzprojekte Köln) Saunders taught at Dance Instituts in Johannesburg,[10] Soweto, New York, Jerusalem, Osaka, Arnhem, Vienna and he developed Solo works for himself and for dance collegues. In 1996 Saunders received the Cologne Dance Theater Prize for his life's work.[11]
1992 he became a member of the Board of Advisers of the "Soweto Community Dance Project".
His estate is in the German Dance Archive in Cologne[12].
Selected works
- The unanswered question (1976)
- Animus (with a composition of Volker Blumenthaler, 1977)
- Horla (with Ilka Doubek, 1979)
- Birds (with members of the Ballet Basel, 1980)
- Songs, 1991
- Aura (with body sculptures of Noam ben Jacov, 1991)[13]
- Eye (with sculpture of Martin Schilken, 1994)[14]
- Wanderer - Spaces like Home (with a composition of Mashiro Miwa)[15]
- Basstanz ( with the musicians Jean-Claude Jones, Nicolaus Hoffmann, Enrique Dias and Peter Kowald, 1995/96)
- Observation Suite, 1996[16]
Further reading
- Kajo Nelles: James – Leben, Werk und Visionen des Tänzers, Choreographen und Bewegungslehrers James Saunders. Königsförde 1999, ISBN 3-933939-10-0 Search this book on
..
External links
- Biographie und Fotos, vom Deutschen Tanzarchiv Köln
- Literatur von und über James Saunders im Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek
- Tödlicher Unfall bei Performance. In: Neues Deutschland. 26. August 1996
- Videos von James Saunders
References
- ↑ Area man member of Pa. BalletThe Morning News, Wilmington, Delaware,17 June 1972
- ↑ Traguth, Fred. Modern Jazz Dance (in German). Heinrichshofen’s Verlag. p. 40. ISBN 3-7959-0444-7.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
- ↑ Heil, Helga (1986). Frankfurter Ballett von 1945 bis 1985 (in German). Konrad Theiss Verlag. p. 9. ISBN 3-8062-0460-8.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
- ↑ Dunning, Jennifer (2002-04-28). "DANCE; Before Dancers There Must Be Dance Teachers (Published 2002)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
- ↑ Bringing up Dance, Interview Rolf Garske mit James Saunders, ballett international 07/08/ 1986
- ↑ Wie Laien „Lebenstänze“ üben Kölnische Rundschau, 31 March 1982
- ↑ Kurzportrait Kreativität durch Bewegung/Tanzprojekte Köln, Ballett International, 4/88
- ↑ Encouraging local groth (Marilyn Jenkins)The Citizen, Johannesburg, 03 April 1992
- ↑ Dancing back to his roots, Adrienne Sichel, The Star, Johannesburg, 26 Feb. 1991
- ↑ Diverse techniques in dance workshop, Adrienne Sichel, The Star Tonight, 21 Feb. 1991
- ↑ Lessons on a ladder of life, Adrienne Sichel, The Star, Johannesburg, 13 March 1997
- ↑ https://www.deutsches-tanzarchiv.de/archiv/nachlaesse-sammlungen/s/james-saunders
- ↑ Posen in Zeitlupe (bi), in: Kölner Stadtanzeiger 22. 10. 1991
- ↑ To Reach Every Spectator, Yael Efratti in: Ha’aretz, Jerusalem, Nov. 1994
- ↑ Wearied by the Narcissistic Side of Dance, Josef Schlossmacher in: ballett international / tanz aktuell 12/1995
- ↑ Der Rückzug auf den eigenen Körper, Josef Schoßmacher in: Kölner Stadtanzeiger (KStA), 9. 2. 1996
This article "James Saunders (dancer)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:James Saunders (dancer). Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
|
This page exists already on Wikipedia. |
