Green, Ray

Ray Green (1908-1997) was an American composer who created works for dance companies as well as orchestral, choral, and children's pieces. Green was born in Livingston Country, Missouri and began piano lessons at 14. He studied composition as a young man in California with Ernest Bloch, Albert Elkus, and E.G. Stricklen. He also traveled to Paris and studied with Darius Milhaud, Nadia Boulanger and Pierre Monteux. Green received his break after having an entire issue dedicated to his music in Henry Cowell's New Music Quareterly. He concentrated on creating a sound that was distinctly American.

In 1937, Green met his future wife, dancer and choreographer May O'Donnell, for whom he wrote a large number of pieces for dance. These include Of Pioneer Women (1937) and Suspension (1942). He also provided the Martha Graham Dance Company with such works as Processional Dance for Symphonic Band (1938) and American Document (1938). Green's later compositions for dance include Dance Sonata (1953), There Is a Time for Innocence (1983) and Powers of Ten (1983).

After a creative break in the 1960s, Green returned to music and continued composing until his death in 1997. One of his last works was Concerto in D (1995) which he premiered in China with the Shanghai Philharmonic Symphony. Green died in New York City in 1997.

May O'Donnell (1906-2004) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. She began her early dance career in San Francisco studying and performing with Estelle Reed. In 1932, she moved to New York City to study with Martha Graham, and soon after became a member of her company.

Returning to California in 1939, she founded the San Francisco Dance Theatre with her husband Ray Green and Gertrude Shurr, a former Graham Dancer. In 1941, she joined the José Limón Dance Company. She worked with the Martha Graham Company again from 1944 to 1952 as a guest artist, creating roles such as the Pioneering Woman in Appalachian Spring, and Attendant in Herodiade (1944). In the mid 1940s she established the O'Donnell-Shurr Modern Dance Studio with Gertrude Shurr and continued the development of her own dance repertory. O'Donnell established her first company, The May O'Donnell Dance Company, in 1942.

Throughout her career O'Donnell created 50 works, from 1937 to 1988. Some of the most notable are Suspension, Sunday Sing Symphony, and Drift. Many of her works were choreographed for her first company in the 1950s and restaged under her second company in the 1970s and 1980s. O'Donnell retired from performing in 1961, but continued to choreograph and teach through 1988.

From 1961 to 1974, O'Donnell disbanded her dance company. She taught for seven years at the High School of Performing Arts in New York City, before restaging Suspension for the Alvin Ailey Dance Company in 1971. In 1974, she reestablished her company as the May O'Donnell Concert Dance Company.

In 1974, the May O'Donnell Modern Dance Center was opened and became the basis for her revitalized dance company. She was an influential teacher who taught Robert Joffrey, Ben Vereen, and Gerald Arpino among many others. Her original dance technique influenced generations of modern dancers. O'Donnell died in Manhattan in 2004.

From the guide to the May O'Donnell and Ray Green papers, 1890-2004, 1940-1988, (The New York Public Library. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.)