Deborah Zall

Person
Biography
Deborah Zall was a dancer/choreographer who both trained and taught at the Martha Graham School. She was born in 1934 and lived in Philadelphia until after high school, when she moved to New York City to train at Juilliard, the Neighborhood Playhouse, and at the Martha Graham School. She made her first Jacob’s Pillow appearance while she was still a teenager, performing in Richard Englund’s Winter Age as part of a shared Choreographers’ Workshop program in 1953. She returned to the Pillow with her own Deborah Zall & Company in 1961, presenting two of her works on a program anchored by Edward Villella and Patricia Wilde. Her final Pillow appearance was in 1991, performing two Ruth St. Denis solos on a program commemorating Ted Shawn’s centennial. She was a noted solo artist well into her 70s, with repertory including works created especially for her by Jane Dudley, Anna Sokolow, Stuart Hodes, Igal Perry, and Eleo Pomare. Considered a master teacher of the Graham technique, Zall taught workshops in the U.S. and internationally, including at London's Laban Centre and The Place, and in New York at the LaGuardia High School. She died of pneumonia in December 2018 at the age of 84.
Source of Biography
Written by Norton Owen for Jacob's Pillow Remembers.
Related Productions
Related Works
Shadow Of Her Sister (choreographer)
Stained Glass Windows (choreographer)
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