Anita Zahn

Anita Zahn
Anita Zahn, photographed by Arnold Genthe before 1943
Born(1903-10-25)October 25, 1903
Mannheim, Baden, Germany
DiedNovember 3, 1994(1994-11-03) (aged 91)
Grants Pass, Oregon, U.S.
Other nameAnita Zahn Bauman
OccupationsDancer, choreographer, dance educator

Anita Zahn (October 25, 1903[1] – November 3, 1994) was a German-born American dancer, choreographer, and dance educator, associated with the pedagogy of Isadora Duncan.[2][3] New York Times dance critic John Martin described Zahn in 1933 as "the first of the dancers in the Duncan tradition who has attempted to retain that tradition and at the same time to branch out into the more radical field of modernism."[4]

Early life and education

Zahn was born in Mannheim, Germany.[1][5] She was one of the child dancers who toured the United States with Isadora Duncan's sister, teacher Elizabeth Duncan.[6][7] The group stayed in America through World War I,[8] from 1914 to 1920.[9]

Career

1920s evening dress by Babani; gifted to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Anita Zahn in 1976

Zahn worked briefly in Switzerland from 1920 to 1922, then returned to the United States to dance and teach in New York City.[10] She was director of the Elizabeth Duncan School in New York,[11] and later opened the Anita Zahn School of Duncan Dancing in East Hampton, where she taught from 1936[12] to 1973.[13][14] She also taught in Siasconset and in Summit, New Jersey,[6] and at the Dalton School, and the Spence School for over twenty years.[15] Her students included socialites Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Gloria Vanderbilt,[13] writer Caroline Zilboorg,[16] and dance archivist Susan Braun.[17] Composer and pianist Mary Shambaugh provided accompaniment for Zahn's students.[12]

Zahn arranged musical collaborations and "elaborate" recitals for her dance group's performances. They performed at Town Hall with Georges Barrère and his symphony in 1935.[18] Her 1936 production was an anti-war program based in Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.[19] Her students and the Vienna Boys' Choir gave a joint recital as a benefit concert in 1938.[20] In 1940 she danced at the tercentenary celebration of Southampton.[21] She trained child dancers for a 1944 Christmas production designed by Robert Edmond Jones, with Leopold Stokowski as conductor.[22]

Dance critic John Martin described Zahn in 1933 as "a vital young person with a most agreeable stage presence" and as "the first of the dancers in the Duncan tradition who has attempted to retain that tradition and at the same time to branch out into the more radical field of modernism."[4] In 1942, Martin considered Zahn as one of the more successful Duncan method proponents.[23] "Nothing in the body should be mechanized," she told an interviewer in 1931. "One should move because an inner self wishes to come forth in movement, because something within asks for expression."[24]

Personal life

Zahn married pianist and composer Raymond Bauman in 1926,[25] and had a son, Edmond;[1] they divorced in the 1930s.[13] She moved to Grants Pass, Oregon, in 1986, and died there in 1994, at the age of 91.[15] Her papers are in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.[6] The Isadora Duncan International Archive presents the Anita Zahn Award for the Education of the Child to outstanding dance teachers in the Duncan tradition.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Birth date, birth place, and son's name from Anita Zahn Bauman's application for naturalization dated April 23, 1929, via Ancestry.
  2. ↑ "Anita Zahn". Isadora Duncan Archive. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  3. 1 2 Anderson, Jack (November 7, 1995). "Dance Review: Tribute to a Gifted Teacher And the Duncan Technique". The New York Times. p. 62. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  4. 1 2 Martin, John (May 12, 1933). "Anita Zahn Offers Dance Contrasts; Retains Duncan Tradition and Explores Field of Radical Modernism". The New York Times. p. 20. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  5. ↑ "Lifelong Pupil of Duncan Will Perpetruate Her Art". The Evening Sun. 1930-07-31. p. 16. Retrieved 2026-04-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 3 Anita Zahn professional and personal papers, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
  7. ↑ Kisselgoff, Anna (January 14, 1990). "Dance View; Isadora's Dances Take On a Life of Their Own". The New York Times. p. 201. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  8. ↑ "Little Exiles of the European War". The Pittsburgh Press. 1914-09-20. p. 47. Retrieved 2026-04-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Lue, Willard De (1927-08-08). "We Have With Us Today: Anita Zahn, Teacher of Personality". The Boston Globe. p. 12. Retrieved 2026-04-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Anita, Erna, and Katherine in Dance Recital". Music News: 16. February 15, 1929.
  11. ↑ "New York Recitals". Billboard: 38. February 9, 1929.
  12. 1 2 Sampson, Christine (August 31, 2023). "Overheard: The Wild Girls of Lily Pond Lane". The East Hampton Star. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  13. 1 2 3 Wedemeyer, Dee (October 12, 1976). "From Dancing Clouds and Little Frogs to Life at Stage Center". The New York Times. p. 53. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  14. ↑ Miller, Kenneth E. (2010-01-01). From Progressive to New Dealer: Frederic C. Howe and American Liberalism. Penn State Press. p. 345. ISBN 978-0-271-03743-1.
  15. 1 2 "Anita Zahn, 91, Teacher of Dance". The New York Times. 1994-12-19. p. B11. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  16. ↑ Zilboorg, Caroline (2025-03-06). A Psychoanalytic Childhood: A Memoir of Growing up in Mid-Twentieth-Century New York. Karnac Books. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-80013-342-6.
  17. ↑ "Susan Braun, 79, Dance Archivist". The New York Times. October 7, 1995. p. 10. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  18. ↑ "Zahn Dancers and Barrere Symphony; Gluck Number Is Performed as Tribute to Memory of lsadora Duncan". The New York Times. May 28, 1935. p. 29. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  19. ↑ Mishnun, Virginia (1936-05-04). "The Dance; 'Arouse and Beware!' by Anita Zahn and Group". Brooklyn Eagle. p. 13. Retrieved 2026-04-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "Vienna Choir Boys to Sing for Charity; Concert Dec. 18 Sponsored by Roosevelt Association". The New York Times. December 8, 1938. p. 36. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  21. ↑ "EAST HAMPTON PLANS CHILDREN'S PARTIES; Garden Club Benefit Will Be Held This Afternoon". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-04-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ "Stokowski Directs 'Christmas Story'; Public School Children, With City Symphony, Shaw Chorale Perform Impressively". The New York Times. December 22, 1944. p. 12. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  23. ↑ Martin, John (November 22, 1942). "The Dance, Duncan Style; Some Opinions on the Recent Congress of Followers of Isadora". The New York Times. p. 208. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  24. ↑ Cole, Celia Caroline (March 1931). "The Light Touch". The Delineator. 118: 25.
  25. ↑ "Noted Dancer Gives Recital at Nantucket; Anita Zahn Appears at Benefit for Island 'Neighbors'". The Standard-Times. 1933-08-20. p. 13. Retrieved 2026-04-03 – via Newspapers.com.
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