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Laura Dean
Laura Dean is a postmodern dancer and choreographer who is known for her minimalist style of dance. She often incorporates repetitive phrases, geometric patterns, spinning, unison movements, and canon phrases into her choreography. Dean’s signature movement is creating circles within circles which can be seen in her famous works, Spiral and Dance.

Biography and Background History
Laura Dean was born on December 3rd, 1945 in Staten Island New York and graduated from New York’s High School of the Performing Arts in 1963. She began her training with Lucas Hoving when she was seven years old. . Dean also attended the School of American Ballet as well as the Third Street Music School where she studied piano and music.

Dean replaced famous dancer Twyla Tharp in the Paul Taylor Dance Company in 1965, and danced in the premier of From Sea to Shining Sea.

Dean in the 1970’s
After a two-year hiatus in San Francisco she traveled back to New York City and formed her first company, Laura Dean and Dance Company in 1972. Dean created a multitude of pieces which premiered between 1971 and 1975 that were accompanied by the music of Steve Reich .The Dean Dance and Music Foundation was formed in 1972, to help support the creation of music and dance by Laura Dean.

Christopher Reardon, a writer from the New York Times, stated Dean had, “made her mark in the 1970's by stripping dance to a set of elemental gestures and patterns, [she] regards movement as an end in itself.”. It was not uncommon during the 1970’s for a postmodern minimalist choreographer to strip the stage of costumes, lighting, music or scenery in an attempt to make the movement seem more important. Dean’s works embodied the ideals of minimalism which dominated this era and influenced the post modern choreographers of the 1970’s. By the late 1970’s, Dean had become renowned for her spirals, continuous circling movements of the body,spinning, which would become her legacy.

Choreography and Movement Interests
Most of Dean’s movement involves geometric patterns, spinning and cannon phrases -- the same phrase of movement performed successively one dancer after another -- and often is viewed as abstract and energetic. Dean’s dances have a strong connection in their movement to folkloric dance. In fact, published in an article for Dance Magazine in 1994, Marilyn Hunt stated, “the usual folklike quality of Dean's work is still present in the simple repeated steps, geometric floor patterns, and sense of community.”.  Ecstasy and Infinity, the two pieces Hunt writes about in her article, are good examples of how Dean incorporated her classic motifs into more modern works with styles that differ from here earlier pieces. This might have something to do with the versatility of her motifs, which are easily adapted to different styles of dance. Although she has created many different works of individualistic choreography, it is easy to see some of her most famous motifs, such as spinning and cannons, continuously within her works. This connection remains, no matter which style of dance the movement was set for.

Awards and Featured Works
Dean created a piece entitled Night for the Joffery Ballet Company in 1980. She was also featured on a PBS special program Dance in America, “Beyond the Mainstream”. In 1993, Dean was one of four choreographers to work on Billboards, a full length ballet created for the Joffery Ballet Company. She has received two Guggenheim fellowships and has published articles in Drama Review, Dance Scope, and Contemporary Dance.