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Jean Erdman and the Dance of Mythology: The Imagination in the Body with Teddy Hamstra, Ph.D., Begins
Three Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
DATE TBD
7pm-8:30 pm Eastern
$150 Paid Patreon Members / $175 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time.
Jean Erdman (1916–2020) lived to the rather mythic age of 104, which is appropriate for an artist who sought to encapsulate the magic and mystery of mythology in her choreography and modern dance works.
This course will trace the evolution of mythic inspiration across her career, from her early tutelage under the titan of modern dance Martha Graham, through her marriage to—and creative partnership with—the renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell, and finally through her late career pieces which were infused with literature, art history, anthropology, and much more.
Erdman approached dance as a way to give body and movement to stories and ideas, weaving mythology and the mystical into each step. We’ll look at how she brought mythic figures like Medusa, Hamadryad, and Ophelia to life, and how she engaged with New York’s lively postwar art scene, collaborating with icons such as Graham, John Cage, Isamu Noguchi, and Maya Deren. We will embark on an in-depth exploration of what many believe to be her masterwork, “The Coach with the Six Insides” from the 1960s, Erdman’s remarkable dance-theater adaptation of James Joyce’s famously challenging novel, "Finnegans Wake". We will also examine later works by Erdman which worked with lunar and solstice mythologies, adapting literary sources such as W.B. Yeats and William Blake.
Drawing from rich archival discoveries from the instructor’s time at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, this course will offer a unique window into Jean Erdman, the woman who made mythology dance.
Teddy Hamstra, Ph.D., is an author, professional mythologist, and creative consultant based in Los Angeles. He works with the Joseph Campbell Foundation, and recently completed a PhD program at the University of Southern California in English Literature and Visual Studies with the dissertation "Enchantment as a Form of Care: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Mysticism."
Three Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
DATE TBD
7pm-8:30 pm Eastern
$150 Paid Patreon Members / $175 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time.
Jean Erdman (1916–2020) lived to the rather mythic age of 104, which is appropriate for an artist who sought to encapsulate the magic and mystery of mythology in her choreography and modern dance works.
This course will trace the evolution of mythic inspiration across her career, from her early tutelage under the titan of modern dance Martha Graham, through her marriage to—and creative partnership with—the renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell, and finally through her late career pieces which were infused with literature, art history, anthropology, and much more.
Erdman approached dance as a way to give body and movement to stories and ideas, weaving mythology and the mystical into each step. We’ll look at how she brought mythic figures like Medusa, Hamadryad, and Ophelia to life, and how she engaged with New York’s lively postwar art scene, collaborating with icons such as Graham, John Cage, Isamu Noguchi, and Maya Deren. We will embark on an in-depth exploration of what many believe to be her masterwork, “The Coach with the Six Insides” from the 1960s, Erdman’s remarkable dance-theater adaptation of James Joyce’s famously challenging novel, "Finnegans Wake". We will also examine later works by Erdman which worked with lunar and solstice mythologies, adapting literary sources such as W.B. Yeats and William Blake.
Drawing from rich archival discoveries from the instructor’s time at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, this course will offer a unique window into Jean Erdman, the woman who made mythology dance.
Teddy Hamstra, Ph.D., is an author, professional mythologist, and creative consultant based in Los Angeles. He works with the Joseph Campbell Foundation, and recently completed a PhD program at the University of Southern California in English Literature and Visual Studies with the dissertation "Enchantment as a Form of Care: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Mysticism."