Bay Area Dancing, the early years, 1915-65, documents a little known but fascinating story… the story of dance in the San Francisco Bay Area.
It is a story of performers, teachers and choreographers, who, through their pioneer experiences, established those organizations and events that are the foundation of today’s diverse dance community. It is a community, cultural and personal history since for the last forty years, this author has been part of the story as an educator, performer, choreographer, reviewer and now, historian.

Dancers and choreographers are rarely noted for their accomplishments, since, except for programs and reviews, and until film and videotape, there has been no clear record of their work. But, along with California’s engineers, financiers visual and literary artists and, these dance artists and educators, professionals, amateurs, audiences and students, have helped make the Bay Area an American cultural center. They were and still are an extraordinary group of men and women, California natives and immigrants, who, with creativity and innovative drive, revised and vitalized the image of San Francisco as the ‘Wild West’.

The text, hopefully with accompanying video documentary, seeks to detail the development of ballet, modern, ethnic and folk dance during a fifty year period, going “Beyond Isadora”, the legendary San Francisco dancer. Eight major dance leaders have been interviewed. A symposium and performance of ‘reconstructed works’ was held to kick off the project in 2001.The text is accompanied by archival material, photos and programs, from many Bay Area public and private collections. Publication is planned for 2006/7. The video documentary, hopefully, will be ready in 2008.