Everything about Martha Hill totally explained
Martha Hill (
December 1,
1900 –
November 19,
1995) was an influential
American dance instructor. She was the first Director of Dance at the
Juilliard School, and held that position for 34 years.
Biography
Hill was born in
East Palestine, Ohio. She attended the Battle Creek Normal School of Physical Education in
Battle Creek, Michigan, graduating in 1920. She took over the position of dance instructor, teaching ballet and Swedish gymnastics for the next three years. In 1923, she was hired as dance instructor at
Kansas State Teachers College. Hill taught there for three years, moving to
New York City in 1926.
After arriving in New York, she studied with various dance teachers; one of note was
Martha Graham who would have a lasting impact on Hill. She was hired in 1927 as Assistant Professor of Dance at the
University of Oregon where
Bessie Schonberg was one of Hill's student.
By 1929, Hill had saved up enough money to move back to New York. She joined the
Martha Graham Dance Company, completed a BS degree from
Teachers College, Columbia University, and began teaching high school students at the
Lincoln School of Teachers College. She was hired to teach at
New York University in the Physical Education Department of the School of Education in
1930, soon becoming Director of Dance. Hill reluctantly left the Martha Graham Dance Company in
1931 because of an increasing teaching schedule. In
1932, Hill was hired by the brand new
Bennington College in
Bennington, VT, as Chairman of the Dance Department. She held the positions at NYU and Bennington College simultaneously until
1951.
In the summer of
1934, Hill initiated a summer dance festival on the Bennington College campus, named the "Bennington School of the Dance", which ran until
1942, with a brief interlude at
Mills College in
1939.
Doris Humphrey,
Martha Graham,
Charles Weidman, and
Hanya Holm were key faculty members.
Hill received her Masters degree from
New York University in
1941. In
1948 she formed a School of the Dance at
Connecticut College calling it the "Connecticut College School of the Dance". The new summer festival employed many of the same teachers/choreographers from the Bennington festival. Hill was a co-director of the festival until
1952. The festival was later renamed the
American Dance Festival and is currently housed at
Duke University in North Carolina.
In
1951,
William Schuman, president of The Juilliard School, hired Hill to be the first Director of Dance. Schuman and Hill had the bold new concept of creating a training ground for dancers that would be equally split between ballet and modern dance.
Hill married Dr.
Thurston Davies in
1952. Davies died in
1961.
Hill remained the director of dance at Juilliard until
1985, training generations of dancers to the highest level of technique and artistry. Her students included
Paul Taylor,
Muriel Topaz,
Pina Bausch,
Daniel Lewis,
Linda Kent,
Bruce Marks,
Mercedes Ellington,
H.T. Chen, and
Laura Glenn. Hill was named Artistic Director Emeritus in 1985, but continued to teach at Juilliard for several years.
She died on November 19, 1995.
Further Information
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