Creator Halprin, Anna
Call number (S)* MGZMD 297
Physical description 1.42 linear feet (1 box, 1 volume)
Preferred Citation Anna Halprin papers, (S) *MGZMD 297. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library.
Repository
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
Access to materials
Some collections held by the Dance, Music, Recorded Sound, and Theatre Divisions at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts are held off-site and must be requested in advance. Please check the collection records in the NYPL’s online catalog for detailed location information. For general guidance about requesting offsite materials, please consult: https://www.nypl.org/about/locations/lpa/requesting-archival-materials
Anna Halprin, an American dancer known for her innovative and experimental technique, is a leading figure of the postmodern dance movement. This collection documents the artist’s career with print materials, press clippings, biographies, San Francisco Dancers’ Workshop newsletters, award programs, and photographs.
BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Anna Halprin is an American postmodern dancer known for her innovative and experimental technique. Born Anna Schuman in Winnetka, Illinois, in 1920, Halprin began studying dance at the age of five. At the University of Wisconsin, Halprin studied formally under instructor Margaret H’Doublier. Before graduating from college in 1942, Halprin married landscape architect, Lawrence Halprin, with whom she had two daughters: Daria and Rana.
In the early 1970s, Halprin began to engage in dance therapy as a means for healing and restoration. She authored several books on the subject, including: Dance as a Self-Healing Art (1977) and Movement Ritual: An Organization of Structural Movement to Encourage Creative Exploration (1979). In 1978, Halprin and her daughter, Daria, founded the Tamalpa Institute, a non-profit organization for dance and expressive arts therapy based in San Rafael, California.
Halprin also founded the San Francisco Dancers’ Workshop (1955) and instructed an array of notable dancers such as Trisha Brown, Simone Forti, Meredith Monk, and Yvonne Rainer.