Zella Wolofsky

Last updated

Zella Wolofsky
Born1947 (age 76–77)
Canada
Education McGill University,
Simon Fraser University,
University of Toronto
Known for Modern dance, dance research, human-computer interaction research, teaching
Spouse
​
​
(died 2020)​

Zella Wolofsky (born 1947) [1] is a Canadian modern dancer, [2] researcher, columnist, and educator. During her dance career, she danced with various dance companies including Dancemakers, [3] Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers, Burnaby Dance, Laura Dean, and independent choreographers such as Jean Pierre Perrault, Muna Tseng, Elizabeth Chitty as part of 15 Dance Labs, founded by Miriam Adams and Lawrence Adams in Toronto, Canada.

Contents

Her research became the launchpad for applying computer interpretation to Labanotation at Simon Fraser University, [4] [5] which led to the development of LifeForms, the computer program used by Merce Cunningham in the later part of his career. [6] [7] Journalist Robert Sarti described her research as a way for choreographers to eventually be able to try out new movements, similar to how a composer might "doodle" on a piano. [8]

Biography

Zella Wolofsky was born in 1947 in Canada. She was known for her reconstruction and performances of Doris Humphrey 1931 iconic masterpiece solo, Two Ecstatic Themes, [9] [10] and was the first to perform this solo widely in Canada. Clement Crisp, the dance critic at The Financial Times praised her performance of this solo when he saw it at The Place, in London UK. [11] She studied modern dance with Merce Cunningham, Viola Farber, Peggy Baker, Ruth Currier, Milton Myers, Bella Lewitzky and ballet with Alfredo Corvino and Maggie Black.

She received a 1967 B.Sc. degree from McGill University, a 1974 M.Sc. degree from Simon Fraser University, [6] [12] and after she retired from performing, a Doctorate in Education from University of Toronto in 1990. Her graduate studies were supported by Canada Council Humanities Grant, [8] National Research Council Canada Award, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship. LifeForm software was the brainchild of Wolofsky and Tom Calvert, and later, Thecla Schiphorst. [6] Wolofsky was the first person who applied Labanotation, a system of human movements, to computers, which was part of her masters thesis. [4] [13] [8] She had been interested in the creation of computer animation of dancers and their movement. [14]

Wolofsky was on the Board of Directors of Dancer Transition Resource Centre and Peggy Baker Dance Projects and served as Board Secretary for both organizations. While in Vancouver in the 1970s, she wrote for Dance Magazine as Foreign Correspondent from Vancouver. She taught modern dance part time during her dance career at University of Waterloo, Simon Fraser University, York University, and George Brown College

Personal Life

She was married to Douglas Tyndall Wright, first Dean of Engineering and 3rd President of University of Waterloo. [15] They had met when she taught at University of Waterloo in the late 1970s, but only started dating in 1987 after she began her doctoral studies. He died in May 2020. [15] She was close friends and dated the Canadian filmmaker Donald Shebib, who's 1970 feature Goin' Down the Road , was seminal to English language Canadian film. Wolofsky providing guidance on the beginning and ending of his last film Nightalk. [16] She and his son Noah shared Don's primary caregiving during his last weeks.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merce Cunningham</span> American dancer and choreographer (1919–2009)

Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other disciplines, including musicians John Cage, David Tudor, Brian Eno, and graphic artists Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Nauman, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, and Jasper Johns; and fashion designer Rei Kawakubo. Works that he produced with these artists had a profound impact on avant-garde art beyond the world of dance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Labanotation</span> System for analyzing and recording human movement

Labanotation is a system for analyzing and recording human movement, invented by Austro-Hungarian choreographer and dancer Rudolf von Laban, who developed his notation on movements in the 1920s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skybridge (TransLink)</span> Cable-stayed bridge in Metro Vancouver, Canada

The SkyBridge is a cable-stayed railway bridge in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Built between 1987 and 1989, it carries trains of the Expo Line of TransLink's SkyTrain across the Fraser River between New Westminster and Surrey. The SkyBridge opened for revenue use on March 16, 1990, with the second half of the Phase II extension of SkyTrain to Scott Road station.

Marguerite LeWars is a Jamaican actress and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Jamaica 1961 and represented her country at Miss Universe 1961. While serving in that capacity, she played the role of Dr. No's photographer, Annabel Chung, in the first James Bond film Dr. No, in 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann Hutchinson Guest</span> American dance notator (1918–2022)

Ann Hutchinson Guest was an American authority on dance notation and movement analysis, long based in the United Kingdom. She studied more than 80 dance notation systems and translated 20 to Labanotation. This gave her access to a number of dance works in their original version – such as Vaslav Nijinsky's L'Après-midi d'un Faune. Her extensive research, performing, and teaching career led her to establish the "Language of Dance" approach to empower educators, artists, researchers, and other professionals in their study and use of Motif notation to engage and deepen movement understanding.

Deborah Hay is an American choreographer, dancer, dance theorist, and author working in the field of experimental postmodern dance. She is one of the original founders of the Judson Dance Theater. Hay's signature slow and minimal dance style was informed by a trip to Japan while touring with Merce Cunningham's company in 1964. In Japan she encountered Noh theatre and soon incorporated nô's extreme slowness, minimalism and suspension into her post-Cunningham choreography. Sometimes she also imposed stressful conditions on the dancers, as with her "Solo" group dance that was presentation at 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modern dance</span> Genre of western concert or theatrical dance

Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was considered to have been developed as a rejection of, or rebellion against, classical ballet, and also a way to express social concerns like socioeconomic and cultural factors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Taylor (choreographer)</span> American choreographer (1930–2018)

Paul Belville Taylor Jr. was an American dancer and choreographer. He was one of the last living members of the third generation of America's modern dance artists. He founded the Paul Taylor Dance Company in 1954 in New York City.

The terms dance technology and Dance and Technology refer to application of modern information technology in activities related to dance: in dance education, choreography, performance, and research.

Eve Gentry was a modern dancer, and later a Pilates master instructor. She was an original disciple of Joseph Pilates, and a master teacher of his technique to generations of instructors. She helped found the Dance Notation Bureau in New York City and later in 1991 she co-founded the Institute for the Pilates Method in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diane Gromala</span> Computer scientist

Diane Gromala is a Canada Research Chair and a Professor in the Simon Fraser University School of Interactive Arts and Technology. Her research works at the confluence of computer science, media art and design, and has focused on the cultural, visceral, and embodied implications of digital technologies, particularly in the realm of chronic pain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valerie Sutton</span> American dancer and inventor (born 1951)

Valerie Sutton is an American developer of movement notation and a former dancer.

Margaret "Maggie" Lowe Benston (1937–1991) was a professor of chemistry, computing science, and women's studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She was a respected feminist and labour activist, as well as a founding member of the Vancouver Women's Caucus, in 1988, the Euphoniously Feminist and Non-Performing Quintet in 1970, Simon Fraser University's Women's Studies Program in 1975, and Mayworks in 1988. For thirty years, Benston worked locally, nationally, and internationally writing articles, giving speeches, and lobbying politicians on behalf of the women's and labour movement. Benston died of cancer on 7 March 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peggy Baker</span>

Peggy Laurayne Baker is a Canadian modern dancer, choreographer and teacher. She has been awarded the Order of Canada and she was the first person to receive the Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.

Jennifer Wootton Mascall is a modern dance choreographer, performer, and teacher. After completing a formal training at York University, she went on to work with several dance companies, and as an independent dancer and choreographer in parts of Europe, the U.S and Canada. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Vancouver dance company Mascall Dance Society where she teaches and choreographs.

Thecla Schiphorst is a Canadian digital media artist and academic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen Jamieson</span> Canadian dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher

Karen Jamieson is a Canadian dancer, choreographer, and mentor located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The Centre for Investigative Journalism Award (1986–1990) was given for excellence in investigative journalism by Canadian journalists. It was administered by the Canadian Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ).

Judith Rose Marcuse is a Canadian dancer and choreographer. She created over 100 choreographic works many of which are focused on community-engaged art for social change. Marcuse's performance and choreographic work has been recognized in Canada and around the world.

Jacqueline Challet-Haas was a French dancer and professor.

References

  1. ↑ "Wolofsky, Zella, 1947-". viaf.org. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  2. ↑ Wyman, Max (April 26, 1974). "Dancers of Vancouver". The Vancouver Sun . p. 96. ISSN   0832-1299 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ Studies in Dance History. Society of Dance History Scholars. 1994. p. 69.
  4. 1 2 Wilke, Lars; Calvert, Tom; Ryman, Rhonda; Fox, Ilene (2003). "Animating the Dance Archives". The 4th International Symposium on Virtual Reality. doi:10.2312/VAST/VAST03/093-100. ISBN   978-3-905673-08-1.
  5. ↑ Guest, Ann Hutchinson (1984). Dance Notation: The Process of Recording Movement on Paper. Dance Books. p. 172. ISBN   978-0-903102-75-9.
  6. 1 2 3 Salter, Chris (2010). Entangled: Technology and the Transformation of Performance. MIT Press. p. 264. ISBN   978-0-262-19588-1.
  7. ↑ Schibsted, Evantheia (October 1, 1996). "LIfeform". Wired.
  8. 1 2 3 Sarti, Robert (January 16, 1973). "Shall We Dance to Computer". The Vancouver Sun. p. 29. ISSN   0832-1299 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Goodwin, Noel (November 7, 1982). "Giselle and the Umbrella". The Observer . London, England. p. 31 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Wyman, Max (November 6, 1981). "Dancemakers strong on versatility". The Province . Vancouver, Canada. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Simpson, Jeffrey (November 2, 1982). "RWB dancers praised, but choreography criticized". The Globe and Mail. p. 17. ProQuest   1240645360.
  12. ↑ Canadiana. Vol. 2. National Library of Canada. 1975. p. 1409.
  13. ↑ Tongpaeng, Yootthapong; Rattanakhum, Mongkhol; Sureephong, Pradorn; Wicha, Satichai (2017). "Implementing a Tool for Translating Dance Notation to Display in 3D Animation: A Case Study of Traditional Thai Dance". Advances in Artificial Intelligence: From Theory to Practice. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 10351. pp. 22–26. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-60045-1_3. ISBN   978-3-319-60044-4.
  14. ↑ Mann, Stephen; Gutwin, Carl (2006). Graphics Interface 2006. Taylor & Francis. p. 1. ISBN   978-1-56881-308-0.
  15. 1 2 MacKay, Susan Ferrier (June 12, 2020). "Brilliant structural engineer Douglas Wright had a talent for building metaphorical bridges". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  16. ↑ "Zella Wolofsky". IMDb. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.