Elizabeth Auclair

Originally from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Auclair received her dance training through scholarships at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, where she also completed the teacher training program. She was a Principal Dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company, and she performed with them from 1993 through 2009. Among the roles she performed in the Graham repertoire are: Medea in Cave of the Heart, Jocasta in Night Journey, Cassandra in Clytemnestra, Ariadne in Errand into the Maze, the Chief Celebrant in Acts of Light, The Lament in Acts of Light,  the Woman in White in Diversion of Angels, the principal role in Heretic, The Virgin in Primitive Mysteries, the principal role in Sketches from Chronicle 1914, The Martyr in Seraphic Dialogue, The Attendant in Herodiade, Lilith in Embattled Garden,  Mary in El Penitente, the Pioneering Woman in Appalachian Spring, the lead role in Steps in the Street, and the solos Frontier, Lamentation, and Deep Song.  She was also featured in commissioned original works created on the Graham Company by Martha Clarke, Larry Keigwin, Susan Stroman, and Robert Wilson.

Auclair has also performed with numerous other choreographers and companies, both in New York and overseas, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Asian American Dance Alliance, City Contemporary Dance Company (Hong Kong), Dankmeyer Dance, Jean Erdman Dance Company, Keith Lee and Dancers, Labyrinth Dance Theater, Pascal Rioult Dance Theater, Pearl Lang Dance Theater, and Sandra Kaufmann Dance.

Auclair’s film credits include Rhythm of Destiny (1991, Hong Kong), and The Dark Angel (Sasha Spielvogel, 2001, New York).

In 2002 Auclair was named Director for the arts-in-education outreach project, “Expression of Emotion Through the Art of Dance”, a program created in response to the events of September 11, 2001, in New York City, and designed to give children in highly affected areas access to the expressive possibilities contained within the unique movement language of Martha Graham.

Auclair has served as Associate Director for Graham II (junior company), as Rehearsal Director for the Pearl Lang Dance Theater, and as Assistant Rehearsal Director for the Martha Graham Dance Company. She was a founding member of 13 Carat Productions (NY), where she acted as Assistant Director on several dramatic productions, for both stage and film. Most recently, she has held the post of rehearsal director for an Italian tour of Cercando Picasso, a collaborative stage production involving both the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Rosetti Theater group in Italy, based on the life of Picasso, and featuring the renowned Italian actor, Giorgio Albertazzi.

Auclair is currently on the faculty of the Martha Graham School and continues to be an annual guest at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, where she began teaching in 2004. She served as adjunct faculty at Marymount Manhattan College from 2000-2003, as well as at University of the Arts in Philadelphia for the autumn semester of 2009, and at Hofstra University (autumn 2010). She has taught technique, repertory, and master classes at numerous schools and universities, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, CAP 21 Conservatory, Dance St. Louis, Frostburg State University (Maryland), Herbert H. Lehman College, The Joffrey New School, Long Island University (Brooklyn), Motion 41 Dance (Omaha, Nebraska), the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, The Snowy Range Summer Dance Festival (University of Wyoming), University of North Carolina - Greensboro, and the Youth Contemporary Ballet of Saskatchewan; as well, she has taught at the Boston Conservatory, where she also served as Regisseur setting the Graham ballet Appalachian Spring. Additionally, she has acted as Regisseur setting the Graham ballets Errand into the Maze for the Dutch National Ballet, Maple Leaf Rag for Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, the Helios section of Acts of Light for University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Steps in the Street for University of North Carolina - Greensboro and Hofstra University, and Lamentation and Primitive Mysteries for University of North Carolina - Charlotte.

In 2007 she completed the professional training program at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City to become a Certified Holistic Health Counselor.

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