Wolz, Carl

Carl Wolz (1932-2002) was an influential choreographer, scholar, educator, and dance advocate. Born and educated in St. Louis, he served in the Navy during the Korean War and went on to major in Art History at the University of Chicago. He developed an interest in dance in college and began taking classes. He attended the Juilliard School for dance and began working with the Lucas Hoving Dance Company in 1960. He danced with the Hoving Company as well as for the St. Louis Municipal Opera in the summers.

In 1962 Wolz was awarded a fellowship to study Asian Dance at the University of Hawaii. After completing post-graduate work there, he joined the faculty of the university, expanding their dance division and creating a performance driven program. While in Hawaii, he was a performer with the Hawaii Dance Theatre.

Wolz spoke fluent Japanese and often taught seminars and classes in Japan. In 1983, he became Dean of Dance at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, and remained in that position for 10 years.

Wolz is best known for founding the organization that eventually became the World Dance Alliance. He served as the Alliance's president and then executive director from 1988 until the end of his life. He also wrote many articles on Asian dance and its preservation, as well as choreographing over 60 modern works and performing until late in his career.

Wolz received many awards during his lifetime including the Distinguished Alumni Award from the East West Center in Honolulu in 1992; the Professional Achievement Award from the University of Chicago in 1995; and an award for outstanding leadership in dance research from the Congress on Research in Dance in 1995.

In 1993, Wolz began a five-year professorship in the graduate program of the Japan Women's College of Physical Education, after which he returned to the United States, living in New York City and attending to the business of the World Dance Alliance until his death in 2002.

From the guide to the Carl Wolz papers, 1949-2001, (The New York Public Library. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.)