Historical Photos
Previously Featured on Bearnstow Journal
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The company takes bows after a performance of Tower (ca. 1977). From left to right are: Suzy MacDermaid Fridell, Gerald Otte, Beth Bagnold, Alwin Nikolais, Jim Teeters, and Karen Sing. Tower was the third act of Vaudville of the Elements, which premiered at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneopolis on December 10, 1965.
Photo by Patrick Berthelot, courtesy of Christine Reisner
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To give his Playhouse students performing experience Nikolais produced dance plays for children. The first to be produced at the Playhouse was the Fable of the Donkey (Aesop) in 1948 (originally created in Colorado Springs in 1946).
Fable was followed in the 1950s by such varied productions as The Lobster Quadrille (Alice in Wonderland) and numerous original works: Indian Sun, St. George and the Dragon, Tale of the Winds, and Merry-Go-Elsewhere.
These dance plays were presented not only at the Playhouse but also in school auditoriums throughout the Metropolitan area and in such prestigious venues as the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, and the Philadelphia Academy of Music.
Pictured from left to right are: Martha Howe, Murray Louis, Nancy Robb, Gladys Bailin (on the floor), Luke Bragg and Al Srnka (with arms raised), Sheldon Ossosky (the donkey), Jack Spencer (on the floor), Toby Glanternick (with her hair held up), Ruth Grauert, Anita Lynn, Phyllis Lamhut, and Gino Mortenghi.
Photo: Playhouse Dance Company, ca. 1950–51; Courtesy Nikolais-Louis Dance Collection, University of Ohio, Athens
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Pictured is a class at the Henry Street Playhouse in 1949. Identified persons are, at lower left, Alwin Nikolais; back row standing: Ruth Grauert, Luke Bragg, and Martha Howe; second row: ***, ***, and Sheldon Ossosky; seated in front: Anita Lynn, Phyllis Lamhut, Nancy Robb, and ***. Dancers in motion are Murray Louis and Gladys Bailin.
Photo courtesy Nikolais-Louis Dance Collection, University of Ohio, Athens
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If you are able to name any unindentified person in these two class photos, please contact Webmaster.
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Another class photo at the Henry Street Playhouse taken in 1949. Identified persons are, on left standing: Luke Bragg, Sheldon Ossosky, and Murray Louis; front seated: Anita Lynn, Phyllis Lamhut, ***, Nancy Robb (front), Martha Howe (rear), Murray Gitlin, and ***; on right: Alwin Nikolais and Gladys Bailin.
Photo courtesy Nikolais-Louis Dance Collection, University of Ohio, Athens
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If you are able to name any unindentified person in these two class photos, please contact Webmaster.
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Pictured is the Playhouse Comany at the Henry Street Settlement Playhouse in 1953. See some of these dancers today in photos of The Horse’s Mouth, a special centennial celebration in memory of Nik. Men in back row: Murray Louis, Alwin Nikilais, Floyd Gaffney, and Bill Frank. Women standing: Florence Deutsch, Ellen Griegas, Debby Klein (née Cohen), Gladys Bailin, Phyllis Lamhut, Ruth Grauert, and Nancy Robb. Down front: ***, ***, ***, Billy Shulman, Lenny Landau, and ***. Can you help us with the unidentified persons? If you know who they are, please let us know.
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In Galaxy, 1965, Nikolais made extensive use of blacklight. Ultraviolet light enabled him to create moving elements without revealing the mechanics of the motion.
Photo: Herbert Migdoll
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In “Mantis” from Imago, 1963, Nik drew from Nature (here horse hooves) wherein he focused not on the literal objects but on their shape. Here shape dictates motion, time and rhythm, exchange between dancers, and their connection to one another and to the space beyond.
Photo: Nikolais Dance Theater
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Somniloquy premiered in February 1967 at the Guggenheim Museum, whose small stage devoid of lighting instruments prompted Nik to develop miniature battery-powered Linnebach projectors, which each dancer carried. The hand-held lantern was controled with an “Ohmite” variable resister as a dimmer. Center figures are Phyllis Lamhut and Murray Louis.
Photo: Bob Moreland (first published in Time Magazine, 03/15/1968)
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Alwin Nikolais coaches the Trio from Vaudeville of the Elements on the set of a French televison studio in May 1978. From left to right are Jessica Sayre, Chris Reisner, and Lisbeth Bagnold. Vaudeville premiered in 1965.
Photo by Patrick Berthelot, courtesy of Christine Reisner
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On July 20, 1969, the Nikolais Dance Theater performed Tensile Involvement before the Roman Temple of Bacchus in Baalbeck, Lebanon in the Quatorzieme Festival International de Baalbeck. During the first intermission, the festival director came onstage to make an announcement to the audience of 5,000. In Arabic, French, and English, he told us that the Apollo 11 astronauts had just taken their first steps on the Moon. Just above the towers of the Temple of Jupiter (the 6 colums on the right) the crescent of the Moon was shining brightly.
Photo courtesy Nikolais-Louis Dance Collection, University of Ohio, Athens
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