Mimi Kagan
Mimi Kagan, in Watt solo
Born
Miriam Gabrilovna Kagan

(1918-01-17)January 17, 1918
Samara, Samara Oblast, Russian Empire
DiedFebruary 22, 1999(1999-02-22) (aged 81)
Oakland, California, U.S.
Resting placeMountain View Cemetery
Other namesMiriam Gabrilovna Odza,
Miriam Odaz,
Miriam Gabrilovna Kim,
Mimi Kagan Kim
Occupation(s)Dancer, educator, writer, choreographer
Known forModern dance
Spouse(s)Theodore Odza (1940–1958; divorce),
Earl Kim (1958–?; divorce)
Children2

Mimi Kagan (1918–1999; née Miriam Gabrilovna Kagan, and also known as Miriam Odza, Mimi Kagan Kim) was a Russia-born American modern dancer, choreographer, educator and dance journalist. She was the founder of the avant-garde Mimi Kagan Dance Group and was active and influential in modern dance and choreography in New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, Princeton, New Jersey and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Early life

Kagan was born in Samara in the Russian Empire and moved to the United States as a young child.[1] Her family was Jewish.[2]

Career

New York City

Kagan trained for dance under Hanya Holm, one of the "Big Four" founders of American modern dance. She later became part of the Hanya Holm Dance Company.[1][2][3] Kagan danced in Trend (1938), Holm's first United States performance.[4] Other dancers in the Holm company included Louise Kloepper and Henrietta Greenhood (later known as Eve Gentry).[5]

Kagan was the dance director at Henry Street Settlement Playhouse (now Abrons Arts Center) in New York City.[6]

San Francisco Bay Area

She later moved to Berkeley, California, and worked as a co-director of Dance Associates. She founded her own company, the Mimi Kagan Dance Group, and in 1947 also worked under the name the San Francisco Dance League alongside Anna Halprin.[6][7] She received an award from the San Francisco Arts Commission for dance presentation.[6] She also taught dance at the California Labor School in San Francisco.[8]

In 1957, the Mimi Kagan Dance Group was named as a "Communist group" by Herbert Philbrick.[9] In 1961, the House Un-American Activities Committee targeted and blacklisted the Mimi Kagan Dance Group as a "subversive organization", which was part of a list published in national newspapers.[10]

Princeton, and later Cambridge

In 1971 and 1972, she collaborated with her second husband, the composer Earl Kim, on the work "Exercises en Route", which toured and featured text by Samuel Beckett, and the soprano soloist Benita Valente. The show had Kagan dancing and four other dancers from Boston Ballet, including Anamarie Sarazin, Eileen O'Reilly, Robert Steele and Anthony Williams.[11] In the 1970s, Kagan was a dance correspondent for The Boston Globe daily newspaper.[12]

Kagan died in 1999 in Oakland, California, and is buried at the Mountain View Cemetery. Her students included Murray Louis,[13] and she designed choreography for Adrienne Hawkins.[14]

Personal life

Kagan was married twice, in 1940 to the sculptor Theodore Odza, and in 1958 to the composer Earl Kim. Both marriages ended in divorce.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 San Francisco Classroom Teachers Journal. 30 (1): 13. 1946 https://books.google.com/books?id=gJYmAQAAIAAJ – via Google Books. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. 1 2 Wigman, Mary (2003). Liebe Hanya: Mary Wigman's Letters to Hanya Holm. Univ of Wisconsin Press. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-0-299-19074-3 – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ Ingber, Judith Brin (June 23, 2021). "Modern Dance Performance in the United States". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Hanya Holm Dance Concert Set at CC". Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph. August 4, 1973. p. 77. Retrieved March 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ McPherson, Elizabeth (June 13, 2013). The Bennington School of the Dance: A History in Writings and Interviews. McFarland. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-4766-0295-0 – via Google Books.
  6. 1 2 3 "Local Arts: Abbey Simon, Bob and Ray, and New Beckett Work On Tap". The Central New Jersey Home News. New Brunswick, New Jersey. October 22, 1971. p. 21.
  7. ↑ "Across the Bay". Oakland Tribune. January 12, 1947. p. 72. Retrieved March 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Inventory of the California Labor School Collection, 1942 - 1957". Online Archive of California. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  9. ↑ Philbrick, Herbert A. (November 19, 1957). "Reds Linked With Deaths of Students". The Columbia Record. Herald Tribune Service. Retrieved March 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ United States House of Representatives (March 8, 1964) [December 1, 1961]. "Guide to Subversive Organizations and Publications". Casper Star-Tribune. pp. 20–23. Retrieved March 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Steinberg, Michael (January 10, 1971). "Harvard's Kim Premiers His 'Exercises' Friday". The Boston Globe. p. A-72, A-75. Retrieved March 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ Steinberg, Michael (March 8, 1973). "Critic Will Be Guest Artist of Concert Dance Company". The Boston Globe. p. 23. Retrieved March 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ Kisselgoff, Anna (December 17, 2005). "Savoring the Steps Behind His Dance". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  14. ↑ Temin, Christine (November 7, 1985). "An Impulse Becomes Dance Career for Adrienne Hawkins". The Boston Globe. p. 102. Retrieved March 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ Harvard Bulletin. Harvard Bulletin, Incorporated. 1970. p. 41 – via Google Books.
    - Anderson, Martin (December 2, 1998). "Obituary: Earl Kim". The Independent. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
    - "Licenses Issued". Oakland Tribune. June 21, 1958. p. 16. Retrieved March 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
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