The Bennington Summer School of the Dance Oral History Project, 1978–1979: A History of Sensibilities

Abstract

In line with the thinking of Laurence Louppe calling for a reevaluation and problematisation of oral sources within a dance history framework, this paper sets out to examine the extensive archive of the Bennington Summer School of the Dance Oral History Project, conducted between 1978 and 1979 and housed today at Columbia University. By taking as a starting point the dancer's voice at the heart of the educational project conceived by Martha Hill and Mary Jo Shelly, a different dance history of the thirties begins to emerge, bringing to the fore the dancer's evolving experience that constitutes a true Bennington archive, set against the backdrop of the “Big Four” ultimately not part of the project.