Guest, Ann Hutchinson

Ann Hutchinson Guest, born November 3, 1918 in New York, is an American dancer and dance notator. Her initial dance training began in the mid 1930's at the Jooss-Leeder School at Dartington Hall, England. When World War II broke out in Europe, she returned to New York where her continued training included ballet, modern, tap, and ethnic dance. In the 1940's she danced with the Welland Lathrop Company and in Broadway musicals, including One Touch of Venus, Billion Dollar Baby, and Kiss Me, Kate. In 1947, she returned to London and worked closely with Rudolf Laban. She is credited with coining the term Labanotation and, in 1954, published her book of that title. A prolific writer, she also has created games, wall charts, and other aids for teaching notation to children. Ms. Hutchinson Guest has notated many major choreographic works including those by George Balanchine, Kurt Jooss, Marius Petipa, Antony Tudor, Hanya Holm, and Doris Humphrey. She was one of the founders of the Dance Notation Bureau and served as its president until 1961, when she moved to London, where she founded the Language of Dance Centre in 1967. A recipient of three Rockefeller Foundation grants for the research and writing of Labanotation textbooks, she also has received honorary doctorates from Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan, and Ohio State University. In 1987, Ms. Hutchinson Guest inaugarated the Language of Dancer series of publications, whose output has included Nijinsky's “Faune” Restored. She is married to dance historian Ivor Forbes Guest.

From the guide to the Ann Hutchinson Guest papers, 1948-1961, (The New York Public Library. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.)