Recognized as one of the great dance artists of contemporary dance, Sara Rudner became a founding member of Twyla Tharp’s dance company in 1965. She collaborated and performed with Tharp for 20 years, then directed the Sara Rudner Performance Ensemble. In this evening event, Wendy Perron and Jodi Melnick—two dance artists who worked with Rudner in different decades—speak with Sara Rudner about her career and the ways in which she challenged the conventions of concert dance.  They present video excerpts of Rudner from the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, as she appears in Tharp’s Eight Jelly Rolls, Bix Pieces, and The Catherine Wheel, as well as in her own works like Dancing Parttime, and the 1999 version of Dancing-on-View.

Jodi Melnick says, “Being with Sara in this dance world is to engage in pure brilliance. The body, the brain, the heart, all shining and pumping at the same time.” Mikhail Baryshnikov called Rudner’s dancing “hypnotic” and asked to perform her iconic solo Heart Beat. Her ecstatic improvising is immortalized in Carolyn Brown and Jim Klosty’s 1975 film Dune Dance. She has choreographed for theatre and opera productions at venues such as the Salzburg Festival and the Paris Opera. As director of dance at Sarah Lawrence College from 1999 to 2019, she has been a beacon of light and a mentor to young dancers.