What: Dance Critics Convene for 33rd Year
When: June 16-17, 2007
Where: Dance New Amsterdam, 280 Broadway, (entrance at Chambers) New York, NY 10007
Contact: dancecritics@hotmail.com

New York, NY, USA: Katherine Dunham and Lincoln Kirstein were major influences on dance and the arts in the 20th century. New York, June 16-17 at the Dance Critics Association Conference, will be the place for new insights, conversations, and films related to their lives and the ways they created new standards and ways of thinking about dance. Katherine Dunham and Lincoln Kirstein: American Critics and Creators takes a fresh look at two giants of American dance, recently deceased, whose influences continue to resonate in the 21st century.

Dunham (1914 – 2006) — dancer, choreographer, anthropologist and teacher — was critical of contemporary society's structures. Kirstein (1907 – 1996) — writer, dance company director and aesthete — was concerned that mass society does not nurture individual sensibilities. Separately they left their marks on the artistic and cultural landscape of America and the world.

The DCA's Saturday sessions, June 16, will focus on Dunham's contributions with panels, rare film screenings, and a lecture/demonstration featuring Marcea Daiter, a certified Dunham teacher. The Sunday sessions, June 17, will focus on aspects of Kirstein's far-reaching achievements in a public interview with Martin Duberman, author of The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein (Random House), the forthcoming, and first, Kirstein biography. The Kirstein Centennial will be observed in other New York venues this year with special performances, exhibitions and symposia.

Elizabeth Aldrich, Dance Curator of the Music Division at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., will deliver the conference's keynote address on Saturday morning.
David Vaughan, critic, author and longtime archivist for the Cunningham Dance Foundation, will address the conference on Sunday, June 17 as 2007 recipient of DCA's Senior Critic Award.

Other activities at the DCA's 33rd annual meeting include a panel on journalism ethics featuring the New York Times Ethicist columnist Randy Cohen, and the popular Kamikaze Writing workshop, taught by dance critic and former Village Voice editor Elizabeth Zimmer.

The Dance Critics Association — the professional organization for dance critics and journalists — was founded in 1974 and has more than 260 active members from across North America and overseas. For further information on the DCA, visit www.dancecritics.org.

A conference brochure will be available shortly. Email: dancecritics@hotmail.com for a brochure.