Cohen, Selma Jeanne, 1920-2005

Selma Jeanne Cohen was born in Chicago, IL in 1920. She received an A.A. degree from Stephens College and an A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. (in English) from the University of Chicago. Cohen was the only child of Frank and Minnie Cohen. Her interest in dance began early in her life, but her lack of natural talent turned her away from dancing to the study of the history of dance. In the late 1940s, after earning her doctorate in English Literature, she took her first teaching assignment at University of California at Los Angeles. She remained a teacher and lecturer throughout the 1950s and began publishing articles on the history of dance and theater in scholarly journals. Cohen took a position at the High School of the Performing Arts in New York in the 1950s. Cohen co-founded the Dance Perspectives quarterly journal in 1959. One of the first journals dedicated to international dance history, Dance Perspectives became a respected publication with Cohen as its editor from 1966-1976. During these same years Cohen authored her three major books, Modern Dance: Seven Statements of Belief in 1966, Doris Humphrey: An Artist First in 1972 and Dance as a Theater Art in 1974. She also authored articles in numerous publications, journals, encyclopedias, and anthologies. Cohen’s work with her Dance Perspectives Foundation culminated in her editing and compiling the International Dance Encyclopedia, a six volume, 4,000 page compendium published by the Oxford University Press in 1998. Cohen spent much of the 1960s teaching at the Connecticut College Dance Department, eventually becoming Founder-Director of the Connecticut College American Dance Festival Critics' Conferences in 1970-1972. Cohen held positions at Smith College and lectured for the Five College, Incorporated. In the 1970’s, Cohen held graduate seminars at Sarah Lawrence College and University of Chicago on dance history. She was Founder-Director of the University of Chicago Seminars in Dance History (1974-1976), a three-week course which was the first intensive seminar on dance history. Cohen also worked to development a dance history curriculum at University of California Riverside. Among the awards and honors received by Cohen have been a Rockefeller Foundation Research Grant (1969), the Professional Achievement Award, University of Chicago (1974), the American Dance Guild Award (1976), and the Dance Magazine Award (1981). She was a charter member of the Dance Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts (1966-1971).

From the guide to the Selma Jeanne Cohen papers, 1942-1993, (The New York Public Library. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.)

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