Canadian Modern Dance Pioneer Anna Wyman, dies at age 92
For dancers who do not know of this marvel of dance – you should do yourself a favour and take the time to get ‘churched’ on her major contribution to the world of dance.
Excerpt from article : Publishing date:Jul 14, 2020 | Vancouver Sun | READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE]
Vancouver choreographer, artistic director and dance teacher Anna Wyman, an influential figure in the development of modern dance in Canada and the leader of the first modern dance company from the Western world to tour China, died at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver on Saturday, July 11. She was 92.
For much of the 1970s and 1980s the Anna Wyman Dance Theatre was regarded as one of Canada’s foremost modern-dance companies. I n 1975 it became the first modern dance troupe to tour Canada and went on to become one of the most travelled companies in North America . It took Canada-made modern dance to India, Southeast Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico. It made TV specials, appeared in films and headlined at the National Arts Centre.
Anna Wyman was born Anna Schalk in Graz, Austria, in 1928. She took dance classes from the age of four, and in her teens danced with the Graz Opera Ballet company and at the State Opera in Vienna.
She also studied the work of the Austro-Hungarian movement theorist Rudolf von Laban, whose research influenced the development of early European modern dance, and continued those studies when she moved to England in 1952. Laban’s teachings influenced her own creative thinking when she began to choreograph in Canada.