Viola Farber

Born in Germany, Viola Farber emigrated to Texas with her family at the age of seven. Coming across Merce Cunningham by chance, she became one of his dancers most in the limelight, leaving him the day she could no longer bear the classic public-interpreter relationship. At the same time, she followed the classical lessons of Margaret Craske, “of effective harshness”, and of Enrico Cechetti, and, from the outset, stood out from the universe of Martha Graham and “from her proud suffering”. While she acknowledges that what touches her most with a dancer, is effort, she adds that, without grace, that effort would be meaningless. Overturning the conventional idea that expects a good dancer to adapt to all styles, she reminds us that each technique muscles and models the body differently.