In Context

The work that Anna Halprin has done over her long career has always been steeped in social and historical context. Many of her dances include commentary on social issues that she felt strongly about. Being Jewish has had an impact on her dances, from a young age she was inspired by her heritage, especially by her traditionally Jewish grandfather. She used to watch her grandfather rock back and forth as he prayed to God, she remembers thinking "I thought God was a dancer". She has stated that her dance company that she formed in the 1960's was very influenced by her Jewish heritage, because it was one of the only multiracial companies at the time. She has always accepted other races and religions, she herself growing up in a community that was not particularly accepting of her Jewish roots.



Anna's time spent at college also had a big influence on her work. Her husband Lawrence Halprin was a well known social activist, and they were both involved in political activism. Her dances have reflected her passion for equality of everyone, saying "I danced for the fun of it. I danced to rebel. I danced with my children. I danced for social justice," Halprin says in the film. "We broke as many barriers as we possibly could."

In her older years, she began to back away from what was popular in modern dance. Many people criticized her for this because they said that she was in the prime of her career, and instead of making dances that probably would have been well recieved, she decided to take another direction. She began to experiment with improv and other forms of dance that at the time were not as popular as some of the other forms at the time. She was very interested in nature, her dance lab being an outdoor deck that her husband built her in the woods around their San Francisco house. Still though, Anna remained interested in including social comentary and popular culture into her works, keeping her pieces relevent in an ever changing community.