Holm, Hanya

Holm, Hanya (b. Johanna Eckert)

(1893–1992) modern dancer, choreographer; born in Worms, Germany. After studying with Mary Wigman in Dresden, she came on tour to New York in 1931, where she opened the Wigman studio, renamed the Hanya Holm Studio in 1936. Forming her own company, she performed her most famous work Trend (1937), later establishing a dance center in Colorado Springs. In the late 1940s she began choreographing on Broadway, most notably Kiss Me Kate (1948), going on to create dances for 13 musicals. She also directed and choreographed operas such as The Ballad of Baby Doe (1956). She was still teaching in her nineties.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.