Barry Martin, RIP

[Amy Reusch]

I am trying to find an obituary somewhere for choreographer Barry Martin who died over the weekend. Apparently for unexplained reasons he was left without an attendent.

If someone comes across an obituary anywhere, please post a link here.

Mr. Martin choreographed for the Ailey Company as well as his own Deja Vu Dance Theater.

Here's a review of Deja Vu from 1988

Reviews/Dance; Diversity of Styles In Deja Vu Program

Below is a synopsis of what happened to Barry in South Africa

Article on Barry Martin

After completing his regular schooling as well as his dance education under scholarship at the Alvin Ailey Dance School, he signed on with the British multiracial dance company, Hot Gossip. His future was promising and all was going well: He was embarking on his first world tour with the group, and garnering praise for his energetic, fluent, and technically flawless dancing. Their first stop was Sun City, South Africa. Eight weeks into their stopover in the Transvaal, Barry and a white dancer from the company were involved in a car accident. An ambulance came almost immediately but took only his White colleague. "I remember seeing an ambulance take Peter away. I didn't at the time realize that it had left me behind because it was an ambulance for whites." Although Black bystanders drove him to a "white" hospital that would ultimately refuse to treat him--they left him at the door as soon as they got him there. "I was sitting on a bench for hours," he explains after having walked in under his own power. "After hours of waiting, a political figure stepped into the situation and let them know who I was. They eventually transferred me to another hospital, 75 miles away." Despite what appeared to be a broken neck, Barry was given no neck brace and had no nurse travel with him to the second hospital. "At Paul Kruger Memorial in Pretoria, they sent me to the Black section of the hospital," he continues. "They were not equipped to treat me in the Black section, so they gave me honorary white status and allowed me to be admitted to the white section of that hospital."

"By the time I got to that hospital I was paralyzed. I'm convinced that all the things in between, combined with walking into the first hospital caused the end result," he says with no visible emotion. As Barry relates the story he speaks with a certain hint of disbelief, as if he's telling the story of someone else's life.

I had known Barry during his dancing years at SUNY Purchase. We were all horrified to learn of his accident and the cause of his paralysis. It was wonderful to read over the years of his managing still to be productive.

Despite the heading, Barry, I hope you are not resting in peace but rather dancing with exhuberance...

[Amy Reusch]

NY Times' Jennifer Dunning's obituary for Barry Martin

Barry Martin, Dancer and Choreographer, Dies at 44

Mr. Martin eventually returned to New York and began to choreograph in 1985, from a wheelchair, and earned a master's degree in arts administration from New York University. He formed a company he called Déjà Vu Dance Theater because, he said, dance was something he now saw again in a new way. He choreographed for his own and other troupes.

Mr. Martin, who taught dance privately and tutored children in the New York City public school system, had recently established a children's dance workshop whose members were drawn from the Ailey school, Dance Theater of Harlem and the School of American Ballet. At the time of his death, he was studying for a second master's degree at New York University, focusing on disabilities and the arts.

[drb]

A heartbreaking story, but an inspirational life. May he dance with the Angels forever.

[Amy Reusch]

It does seem a challenge, choreographing without ever being able to demonstrate what one wants.... a study in itself.