Deborah Jowitt

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Deborah Jowitt is an American dance critic, author, and choreographer. Her career in dance began as a performer and choreographer. Jowitt has received several awards for her work, including a Bessie (New York Dance and Performance Award) for her work in dance criticism.

Beginning in 1967, she wrote a weekly dance column for the Village Voice , providing frequent reviews of dance performances in New York City. From some time in the 1970s until 1994, the Voice had a page and a half for dance coverage: Jowitt contributed 1600 words or a full page of this, week after week, plus occasional features. Collections of her reviews from the Voice and numerous other publications have appeared as books – Dance Beat: Views and Reviews, New York: Marcel Dekker (1977) and The Dance in Mind: Profiles and Reviews, 1976–1983, Boston: David R. Godine (1985).

In 2007, Jowitt's column in the Village Voice was increased in length to 3/4 page, having been earlier reduced to a half-page; in 2008, her position as dance critic was converted from full-time to freelance. However, Jowitt continues to write 3/4 page reviews for the Voice and writes reviews for the Voice on-line edition. She is a faculty member at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University (NYU).

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