Anna Halprin
We have gathered some writings, performance videos, and photographs of Anna Halprin’s extensive and diverse career, honoring a life of dance. With this permanent gallery, you may revisit the experience and her artistic work again and again. Enjoy!
Videos
Inner Landscapes – Documentary on the lives and careers of landscape architect Lawrence Halprin and dancer Anna Halprin, who are husband and wife. Their works are explored as manifestations of the “California aesthetic”, as avant-garde art, and as expressions of their deeply held belief in art as a community activity.
This is currently only available on VHS and can be checked out from a library.
Remembering – duet created and performed by Anna Halprin and her grandson Jahan Khalighi. This piece was performed for Anna’s 95th birthday celebration, and was one of Anna’s last performances.
Anna dances The Courtesan and the Crone and talks about art-making afterward.
Remembering danced by Anna Halprin and grandson Jahan Khalighi
Princess Printemps by Richard Broughton, performed by Anna Halprin
ADF Director Emeritus Charles L. Reinhart recounts the impact Ms. Halprin made in early 1960s modern dance.
Breath Made Visible documentary on Anna Halprin by Reudi Gerber
My Grandfather Dances from Douglas Rosenberg on Vimeo.
Anna Halprin | Dancing at 96 from Jens Wazel Photography
In the Kitchen with Anna Halprin from Jens Wazel Photography
A Morning with Anna Halprin by Jens Wazel Photography
Anna Halprin Tribute by Lian Wilson, Tamalpa UK
Writings & Articles
Click on the titles to read the full articles.
Experiments in Environment: The Halprin Workshops, 1966–1971
In the summer of 1966, renowned American landscape architect Lawrence Halprin (1916–2009) and his wife, dance pioneer Anna Halprin (born 1920), began a series of experimental, cross-disciplinary workshops in northern California that offered a new approach to environmental awareness. Drawn from architecture, ecology, music, cinematography, graphics, choreography, and lighting, Experiments in Environment brought together artists, dancers, architects, and environmental designers in avant-garde environmental arts experiences.
Anna Halprin’s Planetary Dance: People power for peace
Halprin has influenced generations of dancers and artists with her unique integration of dance and healing work, as well as her use of performance to explore social issues. One of her lasting contributions is the Planetary Dance. It’s been performed on the mountain for 30 years, and has grown into a global movement. Halprin describes it as a community dance ritual. The difference between a dance ritual and a dance performance, she says, is in the intention. “It’s not a pretend experience, it’s not make-believe,” she explains. “It’s not done––art for art’s sake. It’s done actually to create some kind of change, or to honor some particular event.”
Jews are a Dancing People
Photographer Sue Heinemann remembers traveling to Israel with the postmodern dance legend Anna Halprin in the fall of 2014: “There she completed her trilogy Remembering Lawrence, honoring her late husband, who helped found an early kibbutz and designed several Jerusalem landmarks. Anna led over a hundred Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Druze women on a silent peace walk along the Goldman Promenade, designed by Larry, situated between East and West Jerusalem.”
This interplay between Anna’s dances and Lawrence’s landscape designs was one of the hallmarks of their marriage and professional relationship. That it occurred in Israel is a natural expression of the Halprins’ global connections and relationship to their Jewish heritage.
Photos
