Theater At The 14th St Y Celebrates Dance Critic Deborah Jowitt

In celebration of her career as a dance critic, writer, dancer, choreographer and educator, From the Horse's Mouth will dedicate its next theater/dance performance event to Deborah Jowitt, whose lifelong accomplishments exemplify a storied career spanning more than 50 years. Douglas Dunn, Carmen de Lavallade, Valda Setterfield and Martine van Hamel will join more than 30 artists in four performances.

TICKETS: 14StreetY.org/FromTheHorsesMouth 

The Deborah Jowitt Celebration will take place at the Theater at the 14th Street Y March 21, 22 and 23rd at 8pm, and Sunday, March 24 at 3pm. Dancers, choreographers, critics and friends of the legendary critic will participate. A special "Critic's Panel," with Ms. Jowitt and special guests, will be included on Wednesday, March 20 at 3pm at the same location. Moderated by Linda Murray, Curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Library for the Performing Arts, guests will include dance critics/writers Deborah Jowitt, Alastair Macaulay, Wendy Perron, Jack Anderson, Mindy Aloff, Marcia Siegel and Elizabeth Zimmer.

As one of the dance field's most respected writers and teachers, Deborah Jowitt first emerged as a dancer and choreographer and in 1967 started to write a weekly dance column for The Village Voice. Two collections of her reviews have been published, along with her "Time and the Dance Image" and her biography of Jerome Robbins. She currently posts her critical writing at artsjournal.com/dancebeat/. Winner of many awards, Deborah Jowitt has stood firm at a time when dance criticism has dwindled or been excised from many of our newspapers and periodicals. Her story is one of endurance and love for the art form.

"Dance is ephemeral; it doesn't hang about on walls to be revisited or wait by your bed with a bookmark in it.... a dance flows along like a slippery, shimmering fish; words can't capture it, only, with luck, convey something of its essence." - Deborah Jowitt

The intimate From the Horse's Mouth format provides the ideal vehicle in which to celebrate Deborah's extraordinary life and legacy. The sharing of stories, memories, anecdotes, and dance form the special tapestry that is a From the Horse's Mouth production. Rare film footage, videos and multimedia will enhance this edition of From the Horse's Mouth unique blend of movement and storytelling.

*Cast to include: Yoshiko Chuma, Emily Coates, Carmen De Lavallade, Douglas Dunn, Liz Gerring, Phyllis Lamhut, Wendy Perron, Rajika Puri, Valda Setterfield, Vicky Shick, Gus Solomons jr, Martine van Hamel and many more. *Cast subject to change

ABOUT Deborah Jowitt:

Deborah Jowitt began to dance professionally in 1953, to show her own choreography in 1962, and to write a regular dance column for The Village Voice in 1967. She currently posts her reviews at www.artsjournal.com/dancebeat/. Her articles on dance have appeared in numerous publications, among them The New York Times, Dance Magazine, Ballet Review, and Dance Research Journal, as well as in catalogues and anthologies. She has published two collections: Dance Beat (1977) and The Dance in Mind (1985). A third book, Time and the Dancing Image (William Morrow; paperback, University of California Press), won the de la Torre Bueno Prize for 1988. Her most recent book, Jerome Robbins: His Life, His Theater, His Dance, was published by Simon and Schuster in August, 2004. She is currently working on a critical biography of Martha Graham. SEE FULL BIO BELOW.

This From the Horse's Mouth production is presented in partnership with the Theater at the 14th Street Y.

"FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH" - CELEBRATING WRITER AND DANCE CRITIC DEBORAH JOWITTPERFORMANCES - Thursday, March 21, Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23 at 8pm; Sunday, March 24 at 3pm.
SPECIAL CRITIC'S PANEL, MODERATED BY LINDA MURRAY WITH Deborah Jowitt AND SPECIAL GUESTS - Wednesday, March 20 at 3pm. TICKETS: 14StreetY.org/FromTheHorsesMouth

The Theater at the 14th Street Y
344 East 14th St (between 1st and 2nd Avenues)
New York, NY 10003
$35 General Admission
$25 Seniors
$20 Students and 14Y Members
$10 Critic's Panel
General 14Y Information: 212-780-0800

ABOUT FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH:
Created by Tina Croll & Jamie Cunningham, this celebratory dance/theater experience has received standing ovations and rave reviews across the United States and Canada for its captivating storytelling and exceptional dancing.

Over the past 21 years "From the Horse's Mouth" has been presented in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Honolulu, Minneapolis, Miami, Philadelphia, Boston, and Toronto, as well as Jacob's Pillow and the American Dance Festival. To date over 1,000 dancers, from ages 13 to 94, have participated, including Magda Salah, Mary Anthony, Brenda Bufalino, Roxane Butterfly, Jane Comfort, Grover Dale, Gemze de Lappe, Carmen De Lavallade, David Dorfman, Viola Farber, John Jaspers, Kwikstep & Rokafella, Carol Lawrence, Yvonne Rainer, Gus Solomons jr and Martine van Hamel.

"Heightened emotions and serendipitous dance moments mingle with belly laughs and bittersweet anecdotes." -Los Angeles Times
"Like dying and going to dancer's heaven." -The New York Times

Deborah Jowitt FULL BIO:

Deborah Jowitt began to dance professionally in 1953, to show her own choreography in 1962, and to write a regular dance column for The Village Voice in 1967. She currently posts her reviews at www.artsjournal.com/dancebeat/. In the 1950's and 1960's, she appeared in works by Mary Anthony, Valerie Bettis, Harriette Ann Gray, Doris Humphrey, Pauline Koner, Pearl Lang, José Limón, Sophie Maslow, Anna Sokolow, Helen Tamiris, and others. In the mid-1960s, she became affiliated with the then-collaborative group, Dance Theater Workshop, presenting her choreography and dancing in works by colleagues such as Jeff Duncan and Art Bauman. In the 1990s, she performed in concerts by Phyllis Lamhut, Victoria Marks, and Marta Renzi, and created an autobiographical solo, Body (in) Print, that she has shown in many venues both in the United States and overseas, most recently in 2014 at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Her articles on dance have appeared in numerous publications, among them The New York Times, Dance Magazine, Ballet Review, and Dance Research Journal, as well as in catalogues and anthologies. She has published two collections: Dance Beat (1977) and The Dance in Mind (1985). A third book, Time and the Dancing Image (William Morrow; paperback, University of California Press), won the de la Torre Bueno Prize for 1988. She also edited and wrote the introduction for Meredith Monk (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997) and the introductions for the revised and expanded edition of Jill Johnston's Marmalade Me and for José Limón's An Unfinished Memoir (both from Wesleyan University Press). Her most recent book, Jerome Robbins: His Life, His Theater, His Dance, was published by Simon and Schuster in August, 2004. She is currently working on a critical biography of Martha Graham.

She has presented papers at conferences, lectured, taught, and/or conducted workshops at institutions both in the United States and abroad -- among them Princeton, Barnard, the University of Copenhagen, York University (Toronto), National Taipei University of the Arts Taiwan, Ewha Woman's University (Seoul, Korea), the Universities of Iowa and Utah, and Ohio State -- and taught in the Dance Department of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts from 1975 to 2012. A founding member of the Dance Critics Association, she served at various times as its treasurer, newsletter editor, and co-chairman. From 1969 to 1972, she was a member of the Dance Advisory Panel to the National Council on the Arts, and its co-chair in 1972-72.

Dance Theater Workshop awarded her a "Bessie" in 1985 and again in 2008 for her contributions to dance criticism, and the American Dance Guild honored her in 1991. In 1998, she received an "Ernie" -- an award reserved for dance's "unsung heroes" -- from Dance/USA. The Congress on Research in Dance (CORD) made her its 2001 honoree for her "Outstanding Contribution to Dance Research." She was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002 and was a Dance Magazine awardee in 2010. In 2016, Mark DeGarmo Dance honored her as an "Educational Visionary," and she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Martha Hill Dance Fund.

Banner collage credit: David Gordon