Mary Overlie facts for kids
Mary Overlie (born January 15, 1946 – died June 5, 2020) was an American choreographer, dancer, and theater artist. She was also a professor and author. Mary Overlie created a special method called the Six Viewpoints technique.
This technique is a way to understand and teach modern performance. It helps with directing, choreographing, dancing, acting, and even analyzing performances. The Six Viewpoints has been taught at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts since 1978.
Mary Overlie helped start several important art places. These include Danspace Project, Movement Research, and the Experimental Theater Wing at New York University.
Her dance performances, both solo and with her company (Mary Overlie Dance Company, 1978-1986), were shown all over Europe. In New York, she performed at famous places like The Kitchen and The Museum of Modern Art.
She won two Bessie Achievement Awards. One was for creating the Studies Project, and the other was for her amazing work in dance throughout her life. She also worked with many other famous artists like Lee Breuer and Anne Bogart.
Contents
Her Life and Work
Early Years (1950s-1960s)
Mary Overlie was born in Montana. When she was six, her family moved to Bozeman. There, she met artists Gennie and Robert DeWeese. They were modern painters who helped build the art community in Montana.
Montana's wide-open spaces and her time with the DeWeeses made Mary wonder: "What are dance and theater really made of?" This question later led to her Six Viewpoints technique. It became a special language to talk about performance art, much like how painters talk about their art.
Mary started learning ballet and improvisation with Harvey Jung. She studied theater, dance, and art in Montana. In 1962, she moved to Berkeley, California.
In California and at Connecticut College, Mary studied different dance styles. She learned techniques from famous dancers like Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. She also studied Transcendental Meditation and became a teacher in 1968. This practice helped shape the ideas behind her Six Viewpoints.
During her time in San Francisco, Mary danced with several companies. She also performed in works by Yvonne Rainer and Barbara Dilley.
Building a Career (1970s-1980s)
In 1969, Barbara Dilley invited Mary to perform at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Mary moved to New York in 1970. She joined Dilley's dance company, Natural History of the American Dancer.
This company performed at many places, including The Whitney Museum. In 1972, Mary started trying out early ideas of Contact Improvisation. From 1975 to 1979, she danced with the Judy Padow Dance Company. After that, she started her own company and performed solo.
In 1974, Mary Overlie helped start Danspace Project. This organization helps dancers show their work. She co-founded it with poet Larry Fagin and choreographer Barbara Dilley.
In 1977, Mary performed her "Window Pieces" at the Holly Solomon Gallery. She danced in the gallery's storefront windows for people on the sidewalk. That same year, she became one of the first teachers at the Experimental Theater Wing at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
In 1979, a magazine called Semiotext(e) interviewed Mary. This interview showed her as an important artist in the post-modern art movement.
The Mary Overlie Dance Company started in 1978. It included dancers like Paul Langland and Wendell Beavers. They performed Mary's dances, such as Painter's Dream (1978) and History (1983). Some of her works were performed at The Kitchen and the Museum of Modern Art.
In 1978, Mary also helped start "The School for Movement Research & Construction." This is now called Movement Research. It's a non-profit group that offers dance classes and performance chances in New York City. It focuses on improvisation and modern dance.
Mary worked a lot with the Mabou Mines Theater Company. She helped with dances and staging for plays like The Lost Ones (1979) and Red Beads (2000). She also worked with director JoAnne Akalaitis on plays like Dressed Like an Egg (1978).
She also worked with Anne Bogart, who started the SITI Company. Mary taught Bogart about the Six Viewpoints. Bogart later used these ideas to train her own company.
Later Years (Late 1980s-2010s)
From 1984 to 1998, Mary Overlie worked in Europe. She taught, choreographed, and performed.
She directed the Experimental Theater Wing Paris program from 1985 to 1987. She also helped create the Pro Series Internationale Tanz Wochen Wien in Vienna, Austria, in 1989. This event is now called ImPulsTanz. It invites famous choreographers to teach and create new works.
Mary was a choreographer at ETW Paris and the European Dance Development Center in Holland. She created works like Skies over America (1986) and Country (1992). She also toured with her solo dances, including Small Dance (1989).
She continued to perform in New York with Wendell Beavers and Paul Langland. They performed their improvisational works at places like Danspace and St. Mark's Church until 2001.
In 1999, Mary Overlie received another Bessie Achievement Award. This was for her lifetime work in dance. The award praised her unique way of creating dances that explored the body's place in time and space.
In 1998, a national meeting about the Viewpoints was held in New York. Mary founded the Six Viewpoints Studio at Tisch School for the Arts in 2006. She taught there until she retired in 2015 and moved back to Bozeman, Montana.
After 20 years of work, Mary finished her book, Standing in Space: Six Viewpoints Theory and Practice, in 2016. She lived in Bozeman, Montana, taught workshops, and planned an advanced Six Viewpoints School.
The Six Viewpoints
What are the Six Viewpoints?
The Six Viewpoints is a way of thinking about and practicing performance art. It helps us understand modern dance and theater. This method breaks down a performance into six main parts, or "Materials." These are: Space, Shape, Time, Emotion, Movement, and Story.
Historically, these six parts were often arranged in a strict order. Story and emotion were most important in theater, while shape and movement were key in dance. The Six Viewpoints changes this. It lets these "Materials" be explored freely, without a fixed order. This helps artists work with each part on its own.
Mary Overlie believed this shift changed how artists create. Instead of just "creating" something, artists become "observers" and "participants." They watch and interact with the materials, letting the structure of the performance appear naturally. She saw this as a move from modern art to post-modern art.
The Six Viewpoints has two main parts: The Materials and The Bridge.
The Materials (SSTEMS)
When artists work with the Materials, they learn not to try and control them too much. They are challenged to work closely with each material as if it were its own thing. Mary Overlie suggested that artists should gather as much "useless" information as they can and take their time to explore.
The six materials are often remembered by the acronym SSTEMS:
- Space
- Shape
- Time
- Emotion
- Movement
- Story
The Bridge
The Bridge is a series of nine "laboratories" or workshops. These workshops help artists understand the ideas behind the Viewpoints and how to use the Materials. The Bridge teaches how to break down a performance and then put it back together in new ways.
The nine laboratories of The Bridge are:
- News of a Difference: Learning to notice small differences.
- Deconstruction: Taking apart a performance to see its parts.
- The Horizontal: Creating without a strict order.
- Post-modernism: Understanding the ideas behind this art movement.
- Reification: Thinking about creativity, talking, and language.
- The Piano: How the artist and audience connect.
- The Matrix: All the ingredients are ready to mix.
- Doing the Unnecessary: When the SSTEMS parts blend together.
- The Original Anarchist: A new and old idea about freedom in art.
Overall, The Six Viewpoints helps artists see the stage and performance as a powerful force, like nature itself.
Choreography and Collaborations
Her Choreography
Mary Overlie created many dance pieces. Here are some of them:
- 2012: "The Bunny Tail Range" in Basin, Montana.
- 2009: "Fellini World" at the New Museum, New York.
- 1998: "Location Of Love" at Danspace in New York and Burgh Theater in Vienna.
- 1996: "Dances For Prepared Bodies" in Arnhem, Holland.
- 1992: "Country" in Arnhem.
- 1989: "Small Dance II" in Vienna.
- 1987: "Prairie Dance" outdoors in Montana.
- 1986: "Skies over America" in Paris.
- 1984: "Small Dance" and "Tap Dance" in New York.
- 1983: "Hero II" and "History" at The Kitchen in New York.
- 1981: "Adam and Eve" at Dance Theater Workshop.
- 1979: "The Figure II" at the Museum of Modern Art.
- 1978: "Painters Dream" at The Kitchen.
- 1977: "Window Pieces" and "Glassed Imaginations" at Holly Solomon Gallery.
Dance Collaborations
Mary Overlie often worked with other dancers and artists:
- 1993-2001: Performed improvisation with Wendell Beavers and Paul Langland at various New York venues.
- 1993: Video Dance Project with Cathy Weiss in Arnhem.
- 1988: "Coffee" with Paul Langland in Amsterdam.
- 1977: Improvisation with Daniel Lepkoff and Christine Svane at Paula Cooper Gallery.
- 1974: Improvisation with The Natural History company at St. Mark's Church.
- 1972: Performed with The Natural History at The Whitney Museum.
- 1971: First Contact Concert with Steve Paxton and Nancy Stark Smith.
Theater Collaborations
Mary also contributed to many theater productions:
- 1999-2000: "Red Beads" with Lee Breuer at Mass MoCA.
- 1986: "South Pacific" with Anne Bogart in New York.
- 1984: "Artouist" with Anne Bogart in New York City.
- 1983: "Dead End Kids" with JoAnne Akalaitis at Public Theater.
- 1979: "The Lost Ones" with Lee Breuer and David Warrilow at Public Theater.
- 1978: "Dressed Like An Egg" with JoAnne Akalaitis at Public Theater.
- 1977: "Cascando" with JoAnne Akalaitis at Public Theater.
- 1975: "Saint and the Football Players" with Lee Breuer and Mabou Mines.
Some of these theater productions won Obie Awards, which are special awards for off-Broadway theater.
Awards and Honors
Mary Overlie received several awards for her contributions to dance and theater:
- 1998: Bessie Achievement Award, for her lifetime work in dance.
- 1995: Arnhem City Council Grant.
- 1989: Danish Cultural Ministry Project Grant.
- 1986: NEA/Dance, a grant for choreography.
- 1984: Bessie Achievement Award, for creating the Studies Project of Movement Research.
- 1979: Caps Grant.
See also
