Modern dance choreographer Cliff Keuter died peacefully at his home in Mesa, Arizona, on September 1st, 2020. He is survived by his admiring sons, theatre artists Matthew Mooney Keuter and Nathaniel Shaw, his brother Jerry Keuter, and his four grandchildren. He was 79 years old. Keuter began his life in the farming community of Nampa, […]

The brilliant dance writer Sally Banes, who pioneered a new way to write about dance as a social phenomenon, died on June 14, 2020 of ovarian cancer. Banes visited New York in October 1973 with a standard assignment: to write a book on modern dance for Chicago Review Press. Because of her curiosity about choreography, […]

Co-creator of Contact Improvisation, improviser extraordinaire, and founder and co-editor of Contact Quarterly, Nancy Stark Smith passed away on May 1. A force as a dancer and an educator, she created a network of love for improvisation on a global scale. She died in her home in Florence, MA, of ovarian cancer. Messages from all […]

David Lober, Sr, passed away December 25, 2019 at age 96. He was a dancer in the Broadway companies of such shows as Bloomer Girl, Touch and Go, Wonderful Town, Donnybrook, Here’s Love, Flower Drum Song, Fiddler on the Roof, and My Fair Lady. One of his early influences in dance was Lester Horton, whose […]

Ilona Murai (Kerman) died of COVID-19 and dementia on April 8 at the age of 96 at Parker Jewish in New Hyde Park, NY. Born Ellen Josephine Muray in Passaic, NJ, she changed her name to Ilona Murai when she started her career as a soloist for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. At 15 years old, […]