Susan Manning
Susan Manning is an internationally recognized historian of modern dance whose writings have been translated into German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Polish. She is the author or co-editor of seven books, most recently "Critical Histories of Modern Dance: a Retrospective," forthcoming from the University of Michigan Press. She is the Bergen Evans Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University.
Lizzie Leopold
Lizzie Leopold is a Lecturer in Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago and the Executive Director of the Dance Studies Association. She has worked extensively in the film archives of mid-century modern dance luminary Sybil Shearer, cataloguing 700+ reels for the Chicago Film Archives. Beyond the forthcoming "Dancing on the Third Coast: Chicago Dance Histories," Leopold's research focuses on the political economy of choreographic production - asking questions about value, labor, and dance commodities.
John Neumeier
John Neumeier was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and studied in his native city as well as in Chicago, Copenhagen, and London. In 1963, John Cranko invited him to join Stuttgart Ballet, where he progressed to soloist and continued his choreographic development. Appointed Director of Ballet Frankfurt in 1969, he soon caused a sensation with his new interpretations of such well-known ballets as The Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet. In 1973, he became Director and Chief Choreographer of the Hamburg Ballet. Under his direction, the Hamburg Ballet became one of the leading ballet companies on the German dance scene and soon received international recognition.
As a choreographer, Neumeier has continually focused on the preservation of ballet tradition, while giving his works a modern dramatic framework. His ballets range from new versions of full-length story ballets to musicals and symphonic ballets as well as choreographies to sacred music. His latest creations for the Hamburg Ballet are “Ghost Light” in 2020, “Beethoven Project II”, “Hamlet 21” and the new production of “The Sleeping Beauty” in 2021. In addition to his great commitment to the Hamburg Ballet, he regularly works as guest choreographer with the most renowned international ballet companies.
In 1975, John Neumeier conceived the Hamburg Ballet Days as a climax and end to each season. Three years later, he founded The School of the Hamburg Ballet. Today more than 80 % of the company’s dancers are graduates from the school. In 2011, Neumeier founded Germany’s National Youth Ballet, a creative and young company that finds its performing spaces in schools, retirement homes and prisons.
John Neumeier has received some of the most prestigious international awards. He holds the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany as well as the French Order of Arts and Letters and the Legion of Honor. In 2015, the Inamori Foundation presented John Neumeier with the Kyoto Prize for his contributions to the Arts and Philosophy. In 2017, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Awards of the Prix Benois de la Danse and the Prix de Lausanne as well as the Erich Fromm Prize. In 2019, he received the People's Republic of China Friendship Award. In 2021, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark awarded John Neumeier the Medal of Honor, a personal honor bestowed by the Danish royal house on outstanding personalities in the field of arts and scientists.
In 2006, Neumeier established the John Neumeier Foundation with the aim of preserving and eventually making available to the public his collection of dance and ballet-related objects.
