New York Theatre Ballet presents Between the Acts: Dance Preservation

New York Theatre Ballet presents Between the Acts: Dance Preservation on Friday, March 26, 2021 at 12pm ET on Zoom. Diving into the art of preserving dance history, this installment of Between the Acts will feature curator of dance for the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Jane Pritchard, Director of Preservation for Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Norton Owen, and curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, Linda Murray. The conversation between Jane Pritchard, Norton Owen, Linda Murray, and NYTB Artistic Director Diana Byer will cover curation, tradition, the future of dance, and more. RSVP to ezahlmann@nytb.org to receive a Zoom link prior to Friday. Following the live event, the conversation will be available to view on Vimeo and social media.

Normally held during intermission, Between the Acts has been recast as a preseason virtual discussion series. Last month featured a discussion with Diana Byer with Sir Richard Alston and Steven Melendez and can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/515105172 and one on Antony Tudor with Jane Pritchard, Amanda McKerrow, John Gardner, Elena Zahlmann, and Diana Byer, available at https://vimeo.com/523480688.

Linda Murray is the fifth curator in the history of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division and manages all aspects of its collections and public service. She has previously worked with the dance collections at the Library of Congress and ran a multi-disciplinary arts organization in Washington, DC for seven years. Areas of specific interest include 20th century ballet and gender in performance, but Linda is also available for general consultations at the Library for the Performing Arts. A native of Dublin, Ireland, she has an undergraduate degree in French and Russian from Trinity College Dublin and holds postgraduate degrees in performance and library science from University College Cork and Clarion University respectively.

Norton Owen is a curator, writer, and archivist with nearly 50 years of professional experience in dance. He has been associated with Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival since 1976 and has been Director of Preservation since 1990, overseeing the PillowTalks series as well as all activities involving documentation, exhibitions, audience engagement, and archival access. He is the curator of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive, an acclaimed online video resource, and host of a podcast entitled PillowVoices. In addition to his work at Jacob’s Pillow, he was Director of the Limón Institute for 14 years and served as Resident Curator for the National Museum of Dance. In 2000, Dance/USA selected him for its Ernie Award, honoring “unsung heroes who have led exemplary lives in dance.” He has also received awards from the Martha Hill Dance Fund, Dance Films Association, the José Limón Dance Foundation, and the Theatre Library Association. Currently the President of the O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, he is a past chair of both the Dance Heritage Coalition and the Dance Panel of the New York State Council on the Arts. In recognition of his 40th anniversary at Jacob’s Pillow, the Norton Owen Reading Room was dedicated in his honor.

Jane Pritchard is curator of dance for the Victoria and Albert Museum where she co-curatedDiaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, 1909–1929 and edited the accompanying book. Previously she was archivist for Rambert Dance Company and English National Ballet and created the Contemporary Dance Trust Archive. Her other exhibitions include Les Ballets 1933, Rambert Dance Company at 75, A Flash of Light: The Dance Photography of Chris Nash, Anthony Crickmay: Photographing People and Performance and Hand in Glove, a performed costume exhibition of the work of Lea Anderson and currently On Point: The Royal Academy of Dance at 100. She has curated seasons of dance films, presented on radio and contributed to numerous publications, including theOxford Dictionary of National Biography, The Annual Register, Dance Chronicle, Dance Research,and The Dancing Times and lectured internationally. She was a recipient of a Churchill Travel Fellowship and the Anthony Denning Research Award.  She was awarded an MBE for services to the arts in the 2014 New Year’s Honours.

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With its ever-expanding repertory, New York Theatre Ballet’s cutting-edge programming brings fresh insight to classic revivals paired with the modern sensibilities of both established and up-and-coming choreographers. Going strong for 40 years, New York Theatre Ballet’s diversity in repertory explores the past while boldly taking risks on the future.