Beth Soll — Dancer Choreographer Teacher

Beth Soll received her early training from the Romanian modern dance artist Iris Barbura. Later she continued her studies in the European style of dance at the Kurt Jooss School in Germany, the Kreutzbergsschule in Switzerland, and the University of Wisconsin. With her company, which was formed in 1977, Beth Soll has performed in the United States, Europe, and Asia. She has worked or collaborated with many choreographers, composers, and visual artists. Her work has been supported by Choreography Fellowships and many Dance Company Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, grants from several Massachusetts state and civic agencies, and funding from numerous corporations. She has taught dance at 10 universities, including the Boston University, the Harvard Summer Dance Center, MIT, where she directed the Dance Program for 20 years, and UC Santa Barbara. In 1999, Soll earned a Ph.D. in the History and Theory of Modern Dance from the University Professors Program at Boston University. Her book, Will Modern Dance Survive? Lessons to be Learned from the Pioneers and Unsung Visionaries of Modern Dance was published in 2002.

I am often struck with the humbling realization that it isn’t me who makes dances; rather, life offers them to me, and they somehow enter my body and mind. Then, in the studio, I grapple with what I have been given, and with the help of my dancers, the dances become -- in a transitory, fleeting form -- visible to those who choose to watch them.