American Dance Guild

The Guild of Creative Teachers of Children's Dance, a forerunner to the American Dance Guild, was founded in January 1956 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City by twelve dance teachers concerned with services to the dance community. Over its first decade, the organization changed its name three times - to the Dance Teachers Guild (1956), National Dance Teachers Guild (1963), and National Dance Guild (1966) - until deciding upon the American Dance Guild in 1969.

Initially devoted to the teaching of dance, the organization was born to address the need for teaching standards, public education, standards in working conditions, a teaching library, as well as the need for a forum to exchange ideas and information.

The organization grew rapidly; chapters sprang up around New York City that sponsored local workshops and seminars targeted for dance educators. As it grew, the organization realized that to be most effective, it needed to become a national organization and to expand its membership to all dance professionals. The Guild grew to include international members as well as members of all dance related professions, including performers, choreographers, critics, historians, notators, and therapists, as well as educators.

A hallmark of the organization was its willingness to collaborate with other organizations, returning to its initial mission of exchanging ideas and information. According to their own history, the Guild has been involved in the development of the National Endowment for the Arts, Congress on Research in Dance, American Dance Therapy Association, and the American College Dance Festival Association. Instrumental in the growth of dance as a serious art form, the Guild encouraged the development of dance in American colleges and universities. Guild members played a significant role on government committees, in curricular revisions at every educational level, and promoted better working and living conditions for dance professionals.

As a service organization, the American Dance Guild focused on what it could provide for its members. Guild activities included a career counseling program; the Job Express Registry, a subscription service listing employment opportunities; dance film series; scholarships; and an annual dance award honoring a distinguished member of the dance community. Publications were an important activity; in addition to monographs and its Newsletter, later known as American Dance, the Guild published Dance Scope from 1965-1981. A noted journal, Dance Scope, covered all areas of dance - history, criticism, technique, choreography, education, and philosophy - in addition to interviews and contributions by top dance professionals.

Fitting for an organization born out of a conference, the most noteworthy service activities of the American Dance Guild have been the conferences, seminars, and workshops produced since the Guild's inception. Annual conferences addressed contemporary issues in dance and presented opportunities for exchanges of information, while seminars and workshops provided smaller educational opportunities to the Guild's members.

Still active in 2011, the American Dance Guild is continuously dedicated to uniting the dance community. The Guild hosts an annual festival in New York City that features work by 30-40 international choreographers and honors two master choreographers. The Guild now focuses on offering performance opportunities through "bare bones" productions and at its annual festival; it also awards a scholarship to Jacob's Pillow each summer.

Sources: American Dance Guild. "History." Accessed October 4, 2011. http://americandanceguild.org/?page_id=2

Kolcio, Katja Pylyshenko. Movable Pillars: Organizing Dance, 1956-1978 . Wesleyan University Press, 2010: 58.

Kayla Zalk was born October 21, 1931 in Bronx, New York. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from the University of Michigan and took graduate courses in dramatic arts at Columbia University. Zalk began studying dance with Doris Humphrey and Jose Limon, then branched out into general movement studies. Zalk’s career centered around her expertise in movement analysis. In 1965, she earned a certificate in the first Effort/Shape Training Program taught by Irmgard Bartenieff at the Dance Notation Bureau, the Precursor of the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS).

She served as president of the American Dance Guild and founded the Westbury, Arts Center in Westbury New York which established a community based curriculum of art, pottery, dance and music training for children and adults. When her daughter Mara was killed in a car accident, Zalk founded the Newton, Massachusetts branch of Compassionate Friends, an organization that helps families who have lost children find a positive resolution of their grief.

Zalk was a member of the faculties at New York University, Brandeis University, The State University of New York-Purchase, Lesley College and The University of California at San Diego. At the time of her death she was on the faculty at The Boston Conservatory. Zalk died on November 16, 2001 in Newton, Massachusetts.