Hanya Holm

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Hanya Holm (1893 – 1992) was the professional name of Johanna Eckert, dancer, choreographer and teacher. Holm was one of the pioneers of modern dance.

A student and assistant of Mary Wigman and instructor at the Wigman School in Dresden, Germany Holm founded the New York Wigman School of Dance in 1931 (which became the Hanya Holm Studio in 1936) introducing the Wigman technique, Laban's theories of spatial dynamics, and later her own dance techniques to American modern dance. After 1974, she taught dance at the Juilliard School in New York.

An accomplished choreographer she was a founding artist of the first American Dance Festival in Bennington (1934). Holm's dance work Metropolitan Daily was the first modern dance composition to be televised on NBC and her labanotation score for Kiss Me, Kate (1948), was the first choreography to be copyrighted in the United States. She also worked on My Fair Lady (1956) and Camelot (1960). Holm choreographed extensively in the fields of concert dance and musical theatre.

Her students included Glen Tetley, Alwin Nikolais, and Alvin Ailey.