Pauline Koner (1913-2001)
Pauline Koner, born in New York in 1913, was the daughter of Russian immigrants. As a toddler, she would dance whenever she heard music. After a performance by the great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova left a lasting impression on her, the child’s destiny seemed to be decided. Shortly afterwards, a family friend recommended that she studied under Michel Fokine, the Russian-born ballet teacher. But Pauline’s parents were dismayed to find he charged $5 a lesson, an unheard-of sum in the 1920s. Pauline’s father, a well-known lawyer, came to an agreement with Fokine: he would offer his legal services in exchange for the ballet lessons. Pauline loved Fokine, but classical ballet was not quite for her. ‘I couldn’t express what I wanted in toe shoes,’ she recalled. ‘My feet hurt too much.’
Pauline went on to study Spanish dance and several types of Asian dance, and she performed with Japanese dancers who combined Asian dance with their own particular modern movements. In 1930, Pauline was offered her first solo concert. This so delighted John Martin, an influential critic on The New York Times, that he declared that the programme ‘exhibited her unquestionable fight to stand alone.’ Pauline continued to dance solos around the world, touring Egypt and Palestine in 1932. She also taught and performed in the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1936, one of the first American dancers to appear there.
Pauline Koner was always curious about the customs, costumes and dances of other nations. As a child, she would paste National Geographic photos into scrapbooks. She thought that she was able to ‘absorb’ divergent styles and influences because, as she put it: ‘Dance was so much my life that when I studied a dance form, I was really living that way of dancing and not just keeping in shape.’ She was convinced that students could also ‘absorb’ other dance forms provided that ‘they do not allow themselves to be overwhelmed by a single technique.’
Working as a soloist, sometimes offering programmes of twelve to fourteen items, taught her much about performing. She said: ‘I soon ealized that before the curtain rises, you must go into a state of inner focus so that nothing exists for you except that one moment. Then, when the curtain opens, you and the audience must seem linked together.’ Because she valued this feeling of union, Pauline preferred to use the term ‘magnetism’ rather than ‘projection’. ‘You must attract the audience to you,’ she said. ‘I never wanted people just to look at me; I wanted them to feel with me.’
Although usually considered a modern dancer, Pauline enjoyed pointing out that she had never had a modern dance lesson in her life. Rather, she had developed her own modern style after studying a remarkable variety of other styles. But why did she never study modern dance? Pauline answered that question with a bit of history. In the late 1920s, modern dance was so new that there were few modern dance schools in America. By 1930 there were some, but Pauline had already established herself as an artist: she had, in effect, become a modern dancer entirely on her own.
Then in 1945 came a momentous change in Pauline’s artistic life. After one of her programmes, a modern dance choreographer called Doris Humphrey, whom she particularly admired, sent Pauline a note filled with praise. Yet it also contained some criticism. Pauline found this so perceptive that she asked Humphrey to be her choreographic adviser, her ‘outside eye’, as she liked to call it. Doris Humphrey served as artistic adviser to the Limon Dance Company in the 1940s and 1950s, and she and Limon found Pauline such a kindred spirit that they invited her to be what they called a ‘permanent guest artist’ with the troupe.
After leaving the Limon company, Pauline became increasingly active as a teacher. Today, she is especially known for her book Elements of Performance, written in 1993, in which she carefully analyses the qualities that make performances remarkable. The personal aura of great performers is surely inimitable. But the principles upon which their art is built can be learnt. And, by teaching them, Pauline Koner was helping a new generation go its own way with flair and authority.
1
How did Pauline Koner feel about Michel Fokine’s lessons?
a) She wondered whether her parents couldn’t really afford them
b) She felt they didn’t really bring out her real talent
c) She feared they would damage her physically
d) She felt they were her only choice to learn
2
What do we learn about Pauline in the second paragraph?
a) She challenged the political leaders of her time
b) She was better known abroad than in her own country
c) She received some praise for her attempt to be different
d) She was finding it difficult to create a style that suited her
3
What did Pauline say about her way of ‘absorbing’ different styles?
a) It came naturally to her
b) She was criticized for it
c) She had a unique talent for it
d) It improved her technique
4
Pauline talked about ‘a state of inner focus’ in order to stress
a) Her contact with the audience
b) Her deep concentration
c) Her initial nervousness
d) Her magnetic appeal
5
When modern dance schools became available, Pauline felt that
a) Their standards were low
b) She did not have need of one
c) She would like to start one herself
d) There were still not enough of them
6
What overall impression does the article give of Pauline Koner?
a) She felt misunderstood by her contemporaries
b) She found it difficult to express emotions
c) She valued originality over technique
d) She believed art cannot be taught
Answer sheet:
1/b
2/c
3/a
4/b
5/b
6/c