Happy Birthday, Anna Halprin!

July 12, 2017

Postmodern legend Anna Halprin is 97(!) today, and, as luck would have it, her work is currently being celebrated in three major exhibitions around the world:

“Radical Bodies: Anna Halprin, Simone Forti, Yvonne Rainer in California & New York, 1955–1973”

UCSB Dance Company performed Halprin’s “Paper Dance” at a Radical Bodies Event at Kaye Playhouse. Photo Reiko Yanagi.

The exhibition, which moved from UC Santa Barbara to New York City in May, traces the impact of Halprin and two of her iconic students on the American postmodern dance scene. New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Through Sept. 16.

documenta 14

Anna Halprin’s Score for Male and Female Dance Rituals is on display at documenta 14. Photo by Mathias Völzke, Courtesy documenta 14.

Halprin’s inclusion in the international contemporary art exhibition, which runs for 100 days every five years, emphasizes her collaborative work with her husband, architect Lawrence Halprin, and her impact on the San Francisco Bay Area, with scores for events dating back to the ’60s on display. Athens, Greece, through July 16. Kassel, Germany, through Sept. 10.

Viva Arte Viva

The Venice Biennale’s international arts exhibition will highlight Halprin’s Planetary Dance, an annual community event for peace enacted all over the world that marked the opening of the exhibition on May 12 and had its 37th Bay Area iteration in June. Through Nov. 26.