Person
Biography
Pearl Lang was a major exponent of Martha Graham's repertory as well as an accomplished teacher, choreographer, and company director in her own right. She was born in Chicago in 1921, where she created her first dance at the age of ten. After moving to New York, she danced with Graham full-time from 1941 to 1952, returning as a guest artist well into the 1970s. She created the Woman in Red in Graham's
Diversion of Angels, and memorably performed Graham's own roles in
Appalachian Spring,
Letter to the World, and
Clytemnestra. She entered the Pillow full force in 1954, teaching for six weeks and performing on three Festival programs. She also created a world premiere that season with a cast that included Paul Taylor, Bruce Marks, Cora Cahan, and Harvey Lichtenstein. Other prominent personalities who later studied with her included Eliot Feld and Madonna. Lang returned to the Pillow in 1959 (performing on a program shared with Alvin Ailey and Ruth St. Denis), and again in 1970 and 1974. She taught at Yale and at Juilliard, and led classes at the Graham school up until two months before her death in February 2009 at the age of 87.
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