Murray Louis
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Murray Louis was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1926. Louis 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 The Bat Sheva 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 of 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.
