Anna Halprin – Breath Made Visible

A free talk accompanies this screening: Anna Halprin and Breathing Space – Artists in Conversation.

To celebrate 10 years of its pioneering Breathing Space dance-in-health programme, Dance Art Foundation is delighted to present a screening of Breath Made Visible, an inspiring 80min documentary on the life and work of dance maverick Anna Halprin.

Short and snappy documentary on the veteran dance pioneer with a great gusto for life.
The Guardian

Pushing 90 and still pushing boundaries, this avant-garde West Coast choreographer is finally packaged and immortalized in ‘Breath Made Visible,’ a well-deserved tribute to a woman who can’t stand still.
The New York Times

Breath Made Visible is the first feature length film about the life and career of Anna Halprin, the American dance pioneer who helped redefine modern art. This cinematic portrait blends recent interviews with counterparts such as the late Merce Cunningham and archival footage including Anna’s creation of the first multiracial company in the US and excerpts of the recent revival of her seminal performance, Parades and Changes at the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris, to weave a stunning and inspiring account of one of the most important cultural icons in modern dance.

Anna Halprin's diverse career has spanned the field of dance since the late 1930s. James Roose–Evans, author of Experimental Theatre, describes her one of the most important theatre artists of the 20th century. Anna fearlessly realised new directions for dance and courageously followed those paths into unknown territories, ever-willing to adapt her work to the present moment, a philosophy that led to a broad redefinition of dance. A recipient of a Lifetime Achievement in Modern Dance award from the American Dance Festival and named one of ‘America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures’ by the Dance Heritage Coalition, Anna continues to make important experimental work exploring the beauty of the aging body and its relationship to nature.

Anna Halprin’s seminal work with dance and those living with life-threatening illness inspired Dance Art Foundation’s Breathing Space programme. This special screening is part of Dance Art Foundation’s 10 year celebrations of its national Breathing Space dance-in-health programme: a series of events, performances, screenings and talks across 2012.