Deborah Jowitt

In celebration of her career as dance critic, writer, dancer, choreographer, educator, and overall force of nature in the community of dance, From the Horse’s Mouth dedicated a theater/dance performance event to Deborah Jowitt, whose lifelong accomplishments exemplify a storied career spanning more than 50 years.

The production featured a SPECIAL “CRITIC’S PANEL” moderated by Linda Murray, Curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts.  The panel included Deborah Jowitt, Alastair Macaulay, Wendy Perron, Jack Anderson, Mindy Aloff, Marcia Siegel and Elizabeth Zimmer.

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. 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 catalogs 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 also working on a critical biography of Martha Graham. 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

Cast: Ella Baff, Patricia Beaman, Darrah Carr, Yoshiko Chuma, Emily Coates, Emily Coates, Ze’eva Cohen, Tina Croll, Jamie Cunningham, Douglas Dunn, Liz Gerring, Naomi Goldberg, Ellen Graff, Sara Hook, Djassi Johnson, Deborah Jowitt, Elizabeth Keen, Kenneth King, Phyllis Lamhut, Cherylyn Lavagnino, Marcia Lerner Hofer, James Martin, Madeleine Nichols , Norton Owen, Wendy Perron, Rajika Puri, Barbara Roan, Tamar Rogoff, Jan Schmidt, Valda Setterfield, John Mario Sevilla, Hala Shah, Vicky Shick, Robert Small, Gus Solomons jr, Andy Teirstein, Martine van Hamel, Elizabeth Zimmer

Dancers:  Lauren Hale Biniaris, Victoria  Dombroski, Kendra Dushac, Nico Gonzales, Luz Guillen, Nadia Khyarallah, Abby  Marchesseault, Lindsey Miller, Heather Panikkar, Adina Valerio