Dance Artist

Highlights

Past and Present

Photo: © Ott Gangl 

         Ellen Kogan is recognized in the dance world as a consummate performer with a virtuosic technique, emotional and intellectual intensity, and a deep curiosity to explore new work. 

         In keeping with her commitment to further and enhance the art of solo dance, Kogan’s repertoire of 15 dances demonstrates an unusual versatility of ideas of dance idioms, featuring the work of contemporary and postmodern choreographers, as well as reconstructions of founding members of modern dance. Both Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and The Charles Weidman Foundation have commissioned works for her. Most recently she was a guest with The John Mead Dance Company in Singapore where two of her signature pieces were put on the company as part of the company’s 12^th anniversary, celebrated at the Soto Studio Theatre. She has reconstructed works by Ruth St. Denis, (courtesy Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival), Doris Humphrey, and Helen Tamaris as well as a recollection and tribute to Loie Fuller and Dore Hoyer. At the request of The New Dance Group, she reconstructed Hadassah’s signature solo, “Shuvi Nafshi”. The work was coached by Donald McKayle and premiered in The New Dance Group’s Gala in New York City.  In exploring new directions, Ms. Kogan has also collaborated in performance art, combining elements of the dance and theatre world including “Hollywood Endings”, a theatre-dance project with Lynne Taylor Corbett.

         Ms. Kogan has taught her repertoire internationally. She is known for the exquisite care she takes with detail, her fidelity to the artistic merit of each choreographer’s work, and her deep respect for her dance tradition.

Photo: © Jack Mitchell

Photo: © Jack Mitchell

Negro Spirituals

Choreographer: Helen Tamiris

(coach: Bruce Becker)

Photo: © Jack Mitchell

Shuvi Nafshi

choreographer: Hadassah

(coach: Donald McKayle)

Photo: © Jack Mitchell

Waltz and Liebestraum

Choreographer: Ruth St. Denis

Rights granted by Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

(coach: Jane Sherman)

Photo: © Jack Mitchell

La Loie - A Tribute to Loie Fuller

Choreographer: Shela  Xoregos

  Commissioned by: The Charles Weidman Foundation

​

Historical Reconstructions funded, in part,

by the National Endowment of the Arts and the New York State Council of the Arts.

KOGAN SOLO DANCE CHOREOGRAPHERS 

MANUEL ALUM (1943-1993), born in Puerto Rico, came to the U.S. to study dance. For many years he was principal dancer, choreographer and assistant director for the Paul Sanasardo Company. He formed his own company in 1970 which performed at America's most prestigious dance festivals. The only American dancer ever to receive a US/Japan Friendship Commission, he was also the first foreign artist invited to perform at the National Education Theatre in Japan. Alum's choreography was commissioned by England's Ballet Rambert, Israel's Bat D'or Dance Company, Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Hartford Ballet. Somewhere Between Hours was commissioned by Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival especially for Ms. Kogan to premiere on the 1981 summer season.

ERNESTA CORVINO has danced with Maryland Ballet, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Radio City Music Hall Ballet Company, American Chamber Ballet, the Opera Theatre of New York, and the New York Baroque Dance Company. She performed as a guest artist internationally. In 1981 she formed her own company, ERNESTA CORVINO DANCE CIRCLE COMPANY and has choreographed over 20 works using a wide variety of subject matters and dance styles. She was teacher and co-director of her own school, Dance Circle in New York City, and teaching credits include Juilliard, Sarah Lawrence College, STEPS on Broadway and Suny/Purchase. She was ballet master for the Limón Dance Company between 2006-2016.  Ms. Corvino currently teaches open classes in New York City, conducts workshops throughout Europe, and is ballet master for Tanztheater Wuppertal/Pina Bausch.

LOIE FULLER (1862-1928)-The foundations of American modern dance may be said to have begun formally with Loie Fuller. She devised her own dance technique and became fascinated by the effects of varicolored lights on voluminous yards of silk in motion. Her original exploration of the possibilities of theatrical lights and her manipulation of fabrics established innovative and revolutionary uses of costuming and lighting that modern dance companies have improved upon ever since. She is often referred to as "The Fairy of Light." "La Loie" was commissioned for Ellen Kogan by the Charles Weidman Dance Foundation. The work was created after the work of Loie Fuller by Shela Xoregos.

ANNABELLE GAMSON is an American dancer and choreographer. She studied with Julia Levien, a pupil of Anna Duncan, May O’Donnell, Helene, Platova, and at the Katherine Dunham School. Gamson appeared first on Broadway before appearing regularly with the American Ballet Theatre. She also performed with Anna Sokolow and was in the original production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Pipe Dream”. In the early 1970’s Ms. Gamson, began focusing on the work of Isadora Duncan. She was critically acclaimed for her interpretations of Isadora’s work giving audiences an opportunity to deeply understand Duncan’s craftsmanship and apparent spontaneity. Gamson drew further acclaim for her performances of the works of German expressionist Mary Wigman and American choreographer Eleanor King.  Her own work has been lauded for its creativity and charm.

HADASSAH (1909-1992), a pioneer of Israeli and Indian dancing in America, was a faculty member, board member and chairwoman of the ethnic division of the New Dance Group Studio in Manhattan. She was a popular teacher, known for her great warmth and caring. A performer of special eloquence, she made her professional debut in 1945 and continued to perform Indian, Israeli, Javanese and Balinese dance through the mid-1970's. Hadassah appeared at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival four times in the 1950's. As a choreographer, she is best known for her solo Shuvi Nafshi as well as Tagore Suite. The work was commissioned by The New Dance Group, coached by Donald McKayle and premiered as The New Dance Group Retrospective Gala in NYC, June, 1993.

DORIS HUMPHREY (1895-1958), one of the main influences in the development of modem dance, was a leading dancer with the Denishawn Company before founding her own company and school with Charles Weidman. During her career, she created many enduring works, formed a distinctive approach to dance movement and codified both technique and theories in her book, "The Art of Making Dances". Doris Humphrey was both teacher and mentor for José Limón and, after retiring as a dancer in 1954, served as co-artistic director of the Limón Dance Company. Valse Caprice was choreographed in 1919 and performed in Denishawn concerts. It was the first professional solo she created. Ellen Kogan reconstructed the piece with the help of Jane Sherman.

CLIFF KEUTER (1940-2020), a founding member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company, established the Cliff Keuter Dance Company in 1969 which toured nationally and internationally for ten years. He later returned to the Bay Area, where he had previously lived as a teenager, and formed the New Dance Company, where he continued to choreography and teach. A choreographer of immense range, Keuter’s body of work includes well over 200 full-length ballets. A recipient of many NEA choreographic fellowships and several New York State Arts Council awards, Mr. Keuter’s choreography has appeared in the repertoires of companies around the world including the Netherlands Dans Theatre, Ballet Rambert, Australian Dance Theatre, Bat-Dor Dance Company, and others. 

IGAL PERRY, born in Israel, is a choreographer, ballet master and educator. Upon arriving in the United States, Mr. Perry joined Dennis Wayne’s Dancers as ballet master and choreographer. During that period, he was also John Butler’s assistant and staged Mr. Butler’s works throughout the world. Mr. Perry’s own choreography has been seen internationally including Florence Dance Festival, Invito Alla Danza, Batsheva and Bat-Dor Dance Companies, Karmiel Dance Festival, Ailey II and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. From 1981-1992, he headed the ballet department at Jacob’s Pillow. In 1983, he launched his dance school, Peridance Capezio Center, now one of New York City’s leading dance institutions. A year later he founded Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, for which he has choreographed over 50 works, with performances at BAM, The Joyce Theatre and City Center. He has served as guest faculty/choreographer at The Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The Ailey School, Marymount Manhattan College and Juilliard and continues to teach and choreograph internationally.

HEINZ POLL (1926-2006) was the artistic director of Ohio Ballet. After dancing with the Municipal Theatre in Goettingen and the Berlin State Opera Ballet as soloist, he joined the Chilean National Ballet where he spent ten years as principal dancer, teacher and choreographer. When the company came to the U.S. on tour in 1964, Poll stayed in New York and soon became one of the most sought-after teachers on the staff of the National Academy of Ballet. He went on to choreograph three works for the National Ballet of Canada, and to mount a full-length production of The Sleeping Beauty on the Pennsylvania Ballet. In 1967, he co-founded the Dance Institute at the University of Akron and in 1968, formed his own company, the Ohio Ballet, which was regarded as one of the best regional companies in the United States.

JIM SELF first danced with the Chicago Dance Troupe and was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1976-1979. As an independent choreographer, he has received many choreographic fellowships and his work has been performed throughout the U.S. and Europe. Jim Self and Dancers participated in a European tour co-sponsored by the American Centre in Paris, the Holland Festival Tanzforum in Koln, and the Kitchen Center for Music, Video and Dance. He and Frank Moore are recipients of a Bessie Award in choreography and film. His work includes collaborations with such visual artists as Edward Henderson, Ken Tisa and, since 1980, Frank Moore. Blue Grotto was commissioned by the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival especially for Ms. Kogan to premiere on the 1981 summer season. 

TED SHAWN (1891-1975) Both Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis have been called "the mother of American Dance", but there is no question that its father was Ted Shawn. When he married Ruth St. Denis in 1914, theirs became a magical partnership that was applauded in theatres around the world. Perhaps more importantly, together they established the Denishawn School as the first systematic and sustained attempt to provide a substantial alternative to ballet. Many of the founding members of modem dance came out of the Denishawn School. "Papa" Shawn's establishment of the Jacob's Pillow School and Festival was the crowning achievement of his many years as choreographer, performer and teacher.

DAFNA SOLTES is the founding director of Libaynu, a theatre/dance  company. She made her New York City debut as a choreographer in 1979 at the Recital Hall of the Abraham Goodman House. As a choreographer, performer and lecturer, her work is focused on Jewish themes and has been performed throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Greece and Israel.

RUTH ST. DENIS (1877-1968) began her career in the 1890's. After a highly acclaimed solo career, she and Ted Shawn founded the Denishawn School and Company which, technically, was the beginning of modern dance in America. Ruth St. Denis was a major influence in inspiring the future leaders of the American modern dance world. Her sense of theater brought a whole new dimension to dance as a creative art. Waltz and Liebestraum was reconstructed by Ellen Kogan with the help of dance historian Jane Sherman and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival.

CLAY TALIAFERRO, professor of the practice of dance at Duke University, is dedicated through the expressive powers of human movement to the exploration of "what is dance?" For ten years Mr. Taliaferro was principal dancer and guest artist with the Limón Dance Company. He has had extensive involvement with American modern dance for the past three decades as a performer, teacher and maker of dances throughout the Americas, Europe and the former Soviet Union. He continues his professional life beyond the Duke campus through choreography commissions, teaching residencies and guest performances.

HELEN TAMIRIS (1905-1966) belongs with the other great pioneers of modern dance in the late 1920's. Indicative of the revolutionary spirit of this period was her thought that there were no general rules and that each work had to create its own code; that each age creates its own art which however international it may be, must carry the stamp of its environment. In 1929, Tamiris began to attract attention with her Negro Spirituals. Later she became a well-known choreographer of American musicals and then in the 1950's returned to choreograph for the modern dance stage. Negro Spirituals was reconstructed by Ellen Kogan with the help of Bruce Becker.

LYNNE TAYLOR-CORBETT is a choreographer, director, lyricist, and composer. She works in theatre and film (most notably, receiving critical acclaim for her work on the Herbert Ross film “Footloose”) and choreographs for dance companies, both ballet and modern. Her dance works have been commissioned throughout the world, including New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. She is currently the principal guest choreographer for Carolina Ballet. Credits on and Off Broadway include the “Titanic”, “Chess”, “Cougar: The Musical”, “Wanda’s World”, “Hats”, and “Flight of the Lawn Chair Man”. Taylor-Corbett was nominated for the 2000 Tony Award, Best Direction of a Musical and Best Choreography for the musical, “Swing!” and a 2000 Drama Desk Award nomination for outstanding Choreography. She received a Drama Desk Award nomination for “My Vaudeville Man”. “Hollywood Endings”, a theatre/dance piece was created collaboratively by Ms. Kogan and Ms. Taylor-Corbett. The work was premiered at the Anderson Center Suny Binghamton.

JAMES WARING (1922-1975) was a leader of choreographers in the 1960’s and made a significant impact on traditional modern dance. His work was a unique form of pictorial theatre. Waring choreographed over 135 works for his own company from 1954-69 and later for such companies as the Netherlands Dance Theatre, the Pennsylvania Ballet, and the Eglevsky Ballet. Among Waring’s best works are: “Phrases,” “Dances Before The Wall” and “Amoretti”.

​SHELA XOREGOS is a freelance choreographer, theatre director and Artistic Director of the Xoregos Performing Company.  She has discovered and premiered one acts by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt and many works by Harlem Renaissance playwrights. Ms. Xoregos directs and choreographs for regional theaters as well as for New York companies. Her productions have played at numerous museums and festivals, both indoor and al fresco including Smithsonian Institution, SF MoMA, the Bronx Museum of the Arts and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum.

Ellen with Barton Mumaw, pioneer of modern dance, who studied at Denishawn and was one of the original Ted Shawn’s Men Dancers.

Photo taken at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, 1981.

A special summer surrounded by great artists and influencers at Jacob's Pillow 1980

With Igal Perry in Singapore

Ellen and John onstage with the JMDC company for the final bow

of John's piece "Infinite". 

A 2015 reunion with the University of California at Irvine Dance Department.

Ellen with Donald McKayle, history maker, professor of dance and Artistic Director for the University of California at Irvine Dance Department. McKayle coached Ellen in the reconstruction of Hadassah's Shuvi Nafshi. The work was commissioned by The New Dance Group and premiered at The New Dance Group Retrospective Gala in NYC.

Group picture: Donald McKayle, Ellen, Lisa Naugle (Chair) and students of University of California at Irvine Dance Department. The program was started in 1967 by

Eugene Loring, Ellen’s mentor and she was its first graduate.

Mr. Loring taught:

1) Be excellent so you can make a living.

2) Learn many styles so you can work with any choreographer.

3) Be a thinking dancer.