Robert Cohan Founder of 'The Place' Famous US Choreographer
Born in New York in 1925, Robert Cohan trained at the Martha Graham School, and began his professional career in dance when he joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in 1946. He quickly moved to soloist and then performed throughout the world as a partner to Graham herself. He left in 1957 to start his own small group of dancers and started his long career as a choreographer.
Returning to the Graham Company in 1962 for its European tour he soon became a Co-Director of the Company with Bertram Ross. In 1967, at the invitation of Robin Howard, he became the first Artistic Director of the Contemporary Dance Trust in London and as such was the founder Artistic Director of The Place, London Contemporary Dance School and London Contemporary Dance Theatre, (LCDT) which he directed for the next 20 years.
Robert Cohan’s influence on the development of modern dance in Britain has been considerable. Having pioneered the teaching of contemporary dance technique in Britain, he was instrumental in the development of a vast following, not only for the repertory of LCDT in the 70s and 80s but through his pioneering residencies throughout the country, which laid the groundwork for the many other British companies that have grown up in the last twenty tears.
“As an American, the first thing I noticed about British dancers was their intellectual response to movement. In countries like Israel, the USA, Australia and South Africa, the approach is much more athletic. People spend a lot of time outdoors, and play sports in clothing that exposes the body. Northern Europeans tend to be more introverted – more covered up in every sense.”