Hawkins began his own school and
company in 1951 creating a stunning,
quintessentially American repertoire.
As an unprecedented collaborator with
contemporary artists, sculptors, and
designers, Hawkins worked with Isamu
Noguchi, Helen Frankenthaler, Louise
Bourgeois, Stanley Boxer, Ralph Lee,
Robert Motherwell, and most notably
sculptor Ralph Dorazio. Hawkins also
commissioned many distinguished
American composers among them were
Virgil Thompson, Alan Hovhaness,
Lou Harrison, David Diamond,
Wallingford Riegger, Ross Lee Finney,
Dorrance Stalvey, Micho Mamiya, and
Ge Gan-ru.
His most significant collaboration
began in 1953 with composer
Lucia Dlugoszewski. The Hawkins
Dlugoszewski collaboration lasted until
his death and included Openings of
the Eye (1953), Here and Now with
Watchers (1957), 8 Clear Places (1960),
Early Floating (1961), Cantilever (1963),
Geography of Noon (1964), Lords
of Persia (1965), Black Lake (1969),
Of Love (1971), Angels of the Inmost
Heaven (1971), Cantilever Two (1988),
and Each Time You Carry Me This Way
(1993). Hawkins has been honored with
a Mellon Foundation Award (1975),
a Guggenheim Fellowship (1978),
The Dance Magazine Award (1979),
Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from
Western Michigan University (1983),
The Samuel H. Scripps American
The Danielson Dry Goods Building
Dance Festival Award for his lifetime
achievement in modern dance (1988),
International Society for the Performing
Arts Distinguished Artist Award (1994),
and Master Teacher/Mentors Grant
from Jane Alexander and Sali Ann
Kriegsman of the National Endowment
for the Arts (1994), and the National
Initiative to Preserve American Dance
underwritten by the Pew Charitable
Trusts to document his exclusive
technique (1994). Princeton Books
published Erick Hawkins’ collection of
essays, The Body is a Clear Place, with
a foreword by Alan Kriegsman in 1992
and The Erick Hawkins Modern Dance
Technique and video in 2000. South
Carolina Educational
Erick Hawkins
Television produced Erick Hawkins’
America in 1988 and in 1993 Kentucky
Educational Television produ