Once upon a time, Anna Halprin danced on Earth
She dances now in Paradise,
She danced with Lawrence on Dance Desk;
She and Daria danced on Tamalpais.
A Century of Dancing;
Dancer of a Century;
Dancing now in Paradise
Dancing with Nature,
Anna’s creations rose,
Rooted in earth, reaching to the sky
Circumstance, emotion, chance,
guided her steps, became her dance.
A new genre of artistic expression,
Postmodernism, came into being.
Innovation guided her steps,
Anna’s dances were transformational,
A moving tower of social change
Across her stage, a diversity of
Color, creed, and culture
“Systemic racism” not yet spoke,
A feeling of healing.
Healing. Anna made it so
Dances and classes for the ill —
HIV dancers; dancers with cancer,
And from cancer, Anna healed herself
She dances now in Paradise.
A Century of Dancing.
A Dancer of the Century.
Anna worked with poets, musicians, and audiences.
She taught her dances to many of the greats —
Merce Cunningham; Meredith Monk; Ilene Serlin;
They taught others who taught others who taught others.
She dances now in Paradise;
A Century of Dancing;
A Dancer of the Century.
Anna danced in parks and rooftops. She danced
At the Museum of Modern Art and the Venice Biennial.
She danced nude on the Silver Screen.
Anna danced into my heart; there she dances still;
Someday we both will dance in Paradise.
A Century of Dancing,
A Dancer of the Century.
******
As the New Age is birthed,
Blessed be the dancers.
Blessed be the healers
Blessed be the revealers.
Anna Halprin
Dancer, choreographer
Born: July 13, 1920, Winnetka, IL
Died: May 24, 2021, Kentfield, CA
Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., has held faculty appointments at Akamai University, Fordham University, Kent State University, New York University, Saybrook University, Sofia University, The University of Puerto Rico, Wagner College, and the California Institute for Integral Studies. He is the former Director of the Child Study Center, Kent State University in Kent, OH, and of the Dream Laboratory, Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. He has received lifetime achievement awards from the Parapsychological Association, the International Association for the Study of Dreams, and the Society for Humanistic Psychology. He is the past president of all three groups as well as the Society for Psychological Hypnosis which awarded him its 2002 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Professional Hypnosis. Krippner is a Fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, and five divisions of the American Psychological Association, which granted him its 2002 Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Development of Psychology. He is co-author of the award-winning book Personal Mythology, and co-editor of the award-winning book Varieties of Anomalous Experience and has published over 1,000 peer-reviewed articles. Since 2010, he has held international certification as an Advanced Alcohol and Other Drugs Counselor.