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ORIGINS

Since the early 1960s, dancer/sisters Carolyn Adams and Julie Adams Strandberg have played active and innovative roles in the dance field, Adams, as a principal dancer with The Paul Taylor Dance Company from 1965 to 1982, and Strandberg, as founding director of the dance program at Brown University and artistic director of the Rhode Island Dance Repertory Company. In 1973, they, along with their parents, established The Harlem Dance Foundation, to "nurture an endangered art form in an endangered community." Over the course of 20 years, they produced performances and events and developed innovative arts education programs both at the studio and in communities throughout the Northeast. These activities were aimed at integrating dance across the generations, between the dance field and broader population, and into the educational curriculums, recognizing that contemporary dance, an indigenous American art form, is highly representative of the diverse people who shape and define our cultural landscape. Adams and Strandberg's basic philosophy has always been that dance, while the least known or appreciated of all the arts, has the potential to provide all people, not just dancers, with kinesthetic and historical knowledge and understanding of the evolving American culture.

By the early 1990s the dance field was in crisis. The confluence of the deaths of many of our dance pioneers, and the demise of a young generation of dancers who fell victim to the AIDS epidemic, caused the field to become conscious of the value of dance preservation and documentation. In addition to this, with the drastic reduction in public funding for the arts, dance institutions were most significantly impacted by this policy shift since they were the least funded to begin with. Many fine companies folded, most with works undocumented. Decreased touring limited the exposure for those remaining, and audiences were dwindling. It was in this climate that the national education Goals 2000 emerged, carrying with it an arts/education mandate, requiring that the arts be included as part of the academic curriculum in every school in the United States. The dance field was in no position to comply with this mandate because there was no dance content, no established achievement standards, and no codified professional development resources to train teachers to fulfill this mission.

As the dance field began to articulate concerns about preservation, kindergarten-university arts education, and audience development, it became increasingly clear that dance was the only art form seeking to educate the next generation and perpetuate its legacy without providing practitioners and the public with ongoing access to dance repertory and materials. The lack of public access to dance repertory was the first issue Adams and Strandberg addressed. Adams, believing that her artistic growth over 17 years with Paul Taylor was the result of long-term access to superior repertory, wanted to ensure that all dancers would have ongoing access to seminal dance works. Strandberg recognized this need from the perspective of a dance educator and director of a repertory company. From a series of ensuing workshops, think tanks, and residencies over a four-year period with dance colleagues Ruth Andrien, Danny Grossman, and Donald McKayle, Adams conceived the Repertory EtudeTM.

Repertory EtudesTM are short dances based on signature dances of American choreographers and are available to the public for study, viewing, and performance on an ongoing basis with no royalties and minimal restrictions. Repertory EtudesTM stand on their own as performance pieces and also serve as challenging tools for improving dance technique and performance skills. As the larger work and the choreographer are explored through reflection and performance, individuals learn of the richness of American culture through dance. Now, just as musicians perform Bach and Duke Ellington and actors perform Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams, dancers can perform works by historical and contemporary choreographers. In 1994, Adams and Strandberg created the groundbreaking Repertory EtudesTM Collection and commissioned, published and disseminated its first Repertory EtudeTM, choreographed by Donald McKayle, based on his 1959 classic, Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder.

The lack of access to repertory was not just an issue for dancers and dance students. Without access to dance resources, the field of dance education was incapable of teaching dance adequately in K-12. With the increased support of the educational community to make the arts integral to the education of every child, the lack of dance repertory and resources was glaring, so in 1996, Adams and Strandberg edited and published Dancing Through the Curriculum, a guide to dance videotapes curated and designed to enrich the school curriculum. Further as Repertory EtudesTM were introduced to dance educators, the Etudes provided the equivalent of what science educators have always taken for granted in laboratories: kinesthetic material for exploration. Most adults, even those who have not pursued the sciences, can still remember the feel and odor of the lab as they weighed and dissected. Comparably deep tactile understanding is now a reality for current and former dance students.

Amidst the development of these revolutionary materials, Adams and Strandberg established the American Dance Legacy Institute (ADLI) at Brown University to house, promote, and expand these efforts. Joining the team in the early years were videographers Peter Etnoyer and Amy Montali, notator Mary Corey, performer and scholar Mary Anne Santos Newhall, K-12 educators Diane McGhee and Pam Sofras, and administrator Laura Bennett. At the same time, ADLI worked in conjunction with other institutions, namely the New York State Education Department, The Harlem Dance Foundation, and The Juilliard School.

Since inception, ADLI has built on its two keystone materials to support its mission to enable all individuals to participate, as primary collaborators, in the creation and perpetuation of America's dance heritage. Dancing Through the Curriculum acts a model for the development of ADLI's educational resources. ADLI-produced documentaries add another level of insight into some of America's greatest dances and to the dancers who created and performed those works. As the Repertory EtudesTM Collection evolves and spans a range of choreographic periods and styles, the Etudes allow dancers of all backgrounds, geographies, and generations access to some of the greatest American dance works and our choreographic lineage. Further, ADLI continues to explore and enhance a methodology for the teaching and learning of the multi-dimensional aspects of great work. The methodology builds kinesthetic literacy, investigates authenticity, and fosters an individual relationship to the dances. ADLI's materials and methods are shared and enriched through programs and events that emphasize hands-on experiences and break down traditional barriers between audiences and performers.

ADLI looks forward to continually expanding access for dancers, students, educators, scholars and the general public through the dissemination of its existing materials and programs, and the ongoing development of new ones.


SUMMARY OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS

ADLI has completed nine Repertory EtudesTM, six documentaries, and three research-based curricular guides. These materials have provided thousands of dancers internationally with unprecedented access to masterworks. Further, ADLI has developed codified methods that are used across its programs: Repertory EtudeTM Workshops, Professional Development, and Workshops for All Populations.

Since the early 1990s, ADLI has hosted annual MiniFests in Saratoga Springs, New York and in Providence, Rhode Island since 2000. These events, designed to build connections within the dance field and between the field and the general public, provide dancers, students, educators, and general audiences with a variety of shared participatory activities. Each MiniFest culminates in a public performance and is often followed by a reception for all performers and audience members.

In 2002, ADLI compiled the New Dance Group Anthology, which includes Repertory EtudesTM, documentaries, and curriculum guides on influential dancers who came together as the New Dance Group in New York City in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Supported in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and produced in collaboration with the SouthEast Center for Dance Education, the Anthology highlights and documents important artists who were heretofore under-recognized even within the professional dance community. The Repertory EtudesTM based on works by Donald McKayle, Sophie Maslow, Pearl Primus, and Anna Sokolow have been particularly effective in bringing knowledge about these artists and their colleagues to a wide and diverse population through residencies, workshops, and performances.

In 2005, ADLI hosted the Dancing Rebels conference in conjunction with the highly acclaimed Dancing Rebels exhibit at the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs, New York. Curated by ADLI co-founders Strandberg and Adams, the Dancing Rebels exhibit showcased the influential collective of choreographers from the New Dance Group. The conference was attended by approximately 50 dancers, choreographers, and educators, including surviving members of the New Dance Group - Donald McKayle, Mary Anthony, Jean-Leon Destiné, Muriel Manings, and Billie Kirpich.
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