FLORA CUSHMAN
WHO SHE WAS,
Flora Cushman
Born: Vermont, U.S.A
1950 – 1955
Early training at Peaboy Conservatory of Music, Baltimore, Maryland
Ballet with Carol Lynn (Assoc. Dir. - Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival)
Performed with Conservatory Ballet Co. - Les Sylphides, Swan Lake – Act II, Denishawn ballets, etc.
Music with Grace Newson Cushman (my mother)
Jr. of Music Degree (theory, composition & performance)
1955
Named National Junior Composer of the year, 1955
(Awarded by National Federation of Music Clubs)
Chosen for Master Class series with Nadia Boulanger.
1957
Scholarship Student at St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland
(100 Great Books Programme – all studies from original texte)
Choreographed for student /faculty Shakespearean productions.
Music composition and couterpoint with Douglas Allanbrook.
Summer 1957 -
Connecticut College School of Dance
Dance technique – Jose Limon, Martha Graham, Alwin Nikolais and their company members.
Dance composition – Louis Horst
Music composition – Luois Horst ans Norman Lloyd
Repertory – Jose Limon
1957-59
Scholarship student at Maryland Art Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Bachelor of fine Arts Degree (Sculpture) June 1959
Modern Dance with Dale Sehnert (Pearl lang & Graham) at Peaboy.
Performed with Peaboy Modern Dance Co. In Baltimore, Washington area; lecture demonstrations with Mr. Sehnert on per-classic and moderne dance forms.
Taught Ballet and Modern for Peaboy Conservatory, Towson Branch, Sang in Conservatory chorus ans madrigal choir.
1959-62
Modern dance with Robert Cohan – Boston
Music literature and couterpoint with F.Judd Cooke
Faculty member -
New England Conservatory of Music, Boston
Taught music theaory, composition and piano.
Taugth modern dance (assistant to Cohan)
Part time pianist for Cohan's classes.
Taugth modern dance – Boston YMHA's and YMCA's
Brimer and May school, Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Boson Adult Education Centre.
Choreography:
1961
L*enfant et les sortilèges (for children and teens)
Jake Sonata – choreographed and performed with Gus Solomons, Jr.
Spirituals – American Negro Folk. Choreographed and performed.
(Commissioned by N-.E.C Alumni Assoc.)
1962 *
L'Histoire du soldat – Stravinsky. Choreographed and performed.
Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory
* ( performed by other groupe)
Original - Resume Flora Cushman
FLORA CUSHMAN
DANCE TEACHER, CHOREOGRAPHER, COACH, PAINTER, MUSICIAN and a wonderful SOUL.
MAURICE BÉJART, JOCHEN ULRICH, TANZ FORUM COLOGNE
In the late seventies, Flora first arrived as a guest teacher from “The Place” in London to teach at the Mudra School in Brussels, which was directed by Maurice Béjart. She offered us more than just Modern dance and the Graham technique she taught us how to breathe, to feel, and to express emotion. *See below a brief video clip featuring her class at Mudra.
After a few years, she became the artistic director until Maurice Béjart moved to Lausanne in 1988.
During this time, I was a dancer at Tanz Forum Cologne, and our Graham Technique teacher was leaving. I reached out to Flora, and since she was available, she introduced herself to the company, she became our daily teacher, assistant, coach, and so much more.
From 1993 she was a regular Teacher at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim where she was responsable for the Bachelor of Arts Dance / Dance pedagogic until 2002.
In 2000, when Jochen Ulrich moved to Austria, Flora chose not to follow him but instead decided to enjoy her well-deserved retirement in 2002.
Nevertheless, she continued to occasionally oversee freelance dance productions in Cologne.
Sadly, her health declined, and she passed away peacefully on April 12, 2014, in Cologne. She is buried at the Melaten Friedhof in Cologne.
Just for insider Mudristes & Co - Enjoy it!