Bella Lewitzky

Bella Lewitzky (January 13, 1916, Los Angeles, California – July 16, 2004, Pasadena, California) was a modern dance choreographer, dancer and teacher.

Bella Lewitzky

Biography

Born to Jewish Russian immigrants, Lewitzky spent her childhood on a ranch in San Bernardino[1] and in a utopian socialist colony in the Mojave Desert. She moved back to Los Angeles in her teens, and briefly studied ballet. In 1934, she joined Lester Horton's company,[1] became its lead dancer,[2] and was instrumental in the development of the Horton Technique.

In 1946 Lewitzky founded Dance Theater of Los Angeles[2] with Horton. The Dance Theater was one of the few institutions in the United States to house both a dance school and theater under the same roof. She left the company in 1950 to pursue her own interests and an independent career. She appeared as a specialty dancer in the 1943 Technicolor adventure film White Savage, and she choreographed the films Bagdad (1949) (with Lester Horton), Tripoli (1950), and Prehistoric Women (1950).

In 1951, she was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee to answer questions about communist activities in the arts. "I'm a dancer, not a singer", she replied.[3]

In 1955 Lewitzky gave birth to her only child, her daughter Nora. The same year she moved her rehearsals to Idyllwild, California, a small town in the San Jacinto Mountains outside of Los Angeles. In 1956 she became the founding chair of the dance department at the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts, which has since been renamed the Idyllwild Arts Academy.[4] She taught at the school until 1972.[4] Her daughter, Nora, joined the dance faculty in 2003 and continues teaching Lewitzky technique. The Idyllwild Arts Academy is one of the few dance programs in the United States that offers Lewitzky Technique as part of their curriculum.

In 1966, she founded the Lewitzky Dance Company. Under her artistic guidance, the company became one of the leading international modern dance companies, performing to critical acclaim in forty-three states across the U.S. as well as twenty countries on five continents. Among her dance associates was the former television child actress Noreen Corcoran of Bachelor Father.

In 1970, she was the founding dean of the dance program at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia, California. In 1990 Lewitzky crossed out the anti-obscenity clause on the acceptance form of a $72,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant.[5] She successfully sued NEA-chairman John Frohnmayer to have the grant reinstated.[6] The New York Times quoted her as saying in response, "I've been struggling in dance for 28 years. To exist merely to exist is stupidity. To exist to make art is a pretty grand act."[7]

Personal life

Lewitzky was married to Newell Taylor Reynolds, an architect and set designer whom she met while they were dancers at Lester Horton's company. Reynolds designed sets for the Lewitzky Dance Company.[2]

Their wedding reception was in the Samuel Freeman House, which they frequented as part of an avant garde salon.[8]

Awards and honors

Lewitzky received many awards including honorary doctorates from California Institute of Arts (1981), Occidental College (1984), Otis Parsons College (1989), and the Juilliard School (1993). In 1991 she was a recipient of the Heritage Award from the National Dance Association. In 1996, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.[9]

Quote

"Great control of every motion and placement," she says, "is a kind of self-care. It's self-love in the best sense. I make a contract with the dancers (not literally, of course) to keep them alive and well and progressive-doing level best to see that they're not injured." One must bear in mind, she says, that "dancing is not normal, that only a strong, knowledgeable body can protect against damage." - Bella Lewitzky, from an interview with Donna Perlmutter, Dance Magazine (January 1997)

References
  1. Sulcas, Roslyn (7 November 2019). "For a Los Angeles Dance Festival, Reviving a Homegrown Modernist: Bella Lewitzky's "Kinaesonata" from 1970 is nothing short of a revelation". New York Times. New York City, United States. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  2. Rourke, Mary (21 April 2007). "Newell Reynolds, 91; Lewitzky Dance Company set designer". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, United States. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  3. Anderson, Jack (19 July 2004). "Bella Lewitzky, 88, Dancer Who Pushed for Artistic Freedom". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  4. "Bella Lewitzky". Jewish Women's Archive (JWA). Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  5. "Arts Grants' Anti-Obscenity Clause Ruled Unconstitutional by U.S. Judge". The New York Times. 10 January 1991. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  6. Bella Lewitzky Dance Foundation v. Frohnmayer, 754 F. Supp. 774 (C.D. Cal. 1991).
  7. Knapp, Danial (8 March 2005). "Lewitzky Exhibit Draws Record Crowd". USC News. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  8. Schindler, Rudolph M.; Gebhard, David; Schindler, R. M.; Berns, Marla C.; Gebhard, Patricia; Berns, Marla (1997). The furniture of R.M. Schindler - Rudolph M. Schindler, David Gebhard, Patricia Gebhard, Marla C. Berns - Google Books. ISBN 9780942006308. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  9. Lifetime Honors, National Medal of Arts Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, nea.gov; accessed 11 June 2017.

Further reading
  • "Bella Lewitzky." State of the Arts: California Artists Talk about Their Work. Ed. Barbara Isenberg. Chicago, IL: Ivan R. Dee, 2000. 3-7. ISBN 1-56663-631-0.
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