As a dancer I greatly admired the fluidity of movement characteristic of the Harkness Ballet. After working with several of JoAnna Kneeland's students, I finally met her in 1980. She was truly a force of nature and absolutely a marvel at identifying just the right correction needed. In 1985 she set her full-length Coppelia on our company, Metro Dancers in Portland, Oregon. It is still in our rep and was performed this past season. She introduced the character of Brigitta, a barmaid who was a love interest for Dr. Coppelius. This gave him more humanity and warmth. She was a regular guest artist at our Summer Intensives from 1985 until her passing. We were working together on a video series to illustrate her methodology at the time of her death. A great loss to the dance community that we never had time to finish the project. To keep her choreography alive, she left us with the rights to perform and stage Coppelia . I would be interested to know if anyone else has productions of her other work still in their rep.
Claudia Cravey in London
in Dancers
Posted
As a dancer I greatly admired the fluidity of movement characteristic of the Harkness Ballet. After working with several of JoAnna Kneeland's students, I finally met her in 1980. She was truly a force of nature and absolutely a marvel at identifying just the right correction needed. In 1985 she set her full-length Coppelia on our company, Metro Dancers in Portland, Oregon. It is still in our rep and was performed this past season. She introduced the character of Brigitta, a barmaid who was a love interest for Dr. Coppelius. This gave him more humanity and warmth. She was a regular guest artist at our Summer Intensives from 1985 until her passing. We were working together on a video series to illustrate her methodology at the time of her death. A great loss to the dance community that we never had time to finish the project. To keep her choreography alive, she left us with the rights to perform and stage Coppelia . I would be interested to know if anyone else has productions of her other work still in their rep.