Deborah Jowitt is an American dance critic, author, and choreographer. Her career in dance began as a performer and choreographer. Jowitt has received several awards for her work, including a Bessie (New York Dance and Performance Award) for her work in dance criticism.
Beginning in 1967, she wrote a weekly dance column for The Village Voice, providing frequent reviews of dance performances in New York City. From some time in the 1970s until 1994, the Voice had a page and a half for dance coverage: Jowitt contributed 1600 words or a full page of this, week after week, plus occasional features. Collections of her reviews from the Voice and numerous other publications have appeared as books – Dance Beat: Selected Views and Reviews, 1967–1976[1] and The Dance in Mind: Profiles and Reviews 1976–1983.[2]
In 2007, Jowitt's column in the Village Voice was increased in length to 3/4 page, having been earlier reduced to a half-page; in 2008, her position as dance critic was converted from full-time to freelance. However, Jowitt continued to write 3/4 page reviews for the Voice until 2011.[3] She was a faculty member at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts.[4]
Her biography of the dancer Martha Graham, Errand into the Maze, was published in 2024.[5] Jowitt took the title from Graham's 1947 ballet of the same name.
Awards edit
- 1985, a special citation from the SDHS for The Dance in Mind.
- 1988, the de la Torre Bueno Prize for the best book in the field of dance studies for Time and the Dancing Image.
- 2001, the "Outstanding Contribution to Dance Research" award from Congress on Research in Dance (CORD).
- 2005, a special citation from the Society of Dance History Scholars (SDHS) for her 2004 book, Jerome Robbins: His Life, His Theater, His Dance.
References edit
- ^ Jowitt, Deborah (1977). Dance Beat: Selected Views and Reviews, 1967–1976. New York: Marcel Dekker. ISBN 9780824765064.
- ^ Jowitt, Deborah (1985). The Dance in Mind: Profiles and Reviews 1976–1983. Boston: David R. Godine. ISBN 9780879235345.
- ^ "The Village Voice Author: Deborah Jowitt". Archived from the original on November 18, 2011.
- ^ "Faculty Directory: Deborah Jowitt". Tisch. Archived from the original on January 21, 2005.
- ^ Jowitt, Deborah (2024). Errand into the Maze: The Life and Works of Martha Graham. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 9780374709143.