Sally Banes

Sally Banes is not only a dance critic and historian, but also played an active part in the development of contemporary dance in America. After studying ballet as a child, she took classes from acclaimed choreographers Martha Graham (1894–1991) and Merce Cunningham (1991–2009) during her student years. She has also danced in shows by Simone Forti, Kenneth King, and Meredith Monk—all featured in Terpsichore in Sneakers—made a documentary on Yvonne Rainer’s Trio A and choreographed several contemporary dance pieces herself. Banes has been writing on dance for American papers and journals, including Dance Magazine and Dance Research Journal, since the early 1970s, and has taught the history of dance in American universities since the early 1980s. She is the author of Democracy's Body: Judson Dance Theater, 1962–1964 (1993) and Dancing Women: Female Bodies on Stage (1998).