King, Kenneth, 1948-

Kenneth King is an American postmodern dancer-choreographer and writer who was born in Freeport, New York on January 11, 1943. He received a B.A. in religion and philosophy from Antioch College in 1965.

King studied dance at the Martha Graham School, Ballet Arts, and with Merce Cunningham, Paul Sanasardo, Mia Slavenska, and Syvilla Fort. His first New York dance was presented in 1964, with the title cup/saucer/two dancers/radio; it has been called the first “Pop Art” dance. He has since presented a variety of multimedia, pure dance, and dance theater works at such places as Judson Church, St. Mark's Poetry Project and Danspace, The Kitchen, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Autumn Festival in Paris. His works often incorporate videotapes, films, projections, music, and word-texts. He has written original voice and word scores and texts for some of his danceworks.

King has received fellowships and grants from such organizations as the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Creative Artists Public Service Program, and the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

King has lectured, taught, and/or performed at universities throughout the United States, including New York University, University of Maryland, University of Wisconsin/Madison, Trinity College and C.W. Post College.

King was one of the 7 postmodern choreographers included in Making Dances, the 1980 film by Michael Blackwood. Space City was a 1981 film choreographed and performed by King with film-makers Robyn Brentano and Andrew Horn. He has also appeared in underground movies by Gregory Markopoulos, Andy Warhol, and Jeff Norwalk.

King's books include a published limited edition of Time Capsule, and two unpublished manuscripts. His writings have appeared in magazines, journals, and books such as Ballet Review, Eddy, Paris Review, Young American Writers, and The New Art.

In his dance works and writings, Kenneth King has used numerous aliases such as Zora Aster Zash, Pontease Tyak, Patrick Duncan, Mater Harry, and Sergei Alexandrovitch.

At present, King is working on two manuscripts, DANCING WORDS and FOUR APPRECIATIONS (Nietzsche, Susanne K. Langer, Merce Cunningham and Maria-Theresa Duncan).

From the guide to the Kenneth King papers, 1964-1981, (The New York Public Library. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.)