ABSTRACT
Growing up in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, Illinois, Ann Carlson took classes in ballet and modern dance. She majored in dance at the University of Utah, where she studied with John Wilson, who taught Margaret H’Doubler’s anatomical and exploratory method of dance, and with Joanne Woodbury and Shirley Ririe. By following John Wilson to the University of Arizona at Tucson, she became the first graduate student in the new dance program he was developing. From graduate school she made her way to New York, where she evolved a choreographic style that is based on her predilection for what she calls “unadorned gesture.” Despite her strong technical training, she has found her life’s work in the exploration of movements arising from ordinary life. Her work presents imagery that seems nature-based but has cultural commentary embedded within it.
