Susan Rethorst, born in 1951 in Washington D.C., began modern dance studies at an early age with Erika Thimey, a contemporary of Mary Wigman. She continued dancing at Bennington College where she met Judith Dunn, a participant in the early Judson Church performances. Tutorials with Dunn laid the groundwork for Rethorst's artistic sensibility. From 1975, Rethorst steadily created dances out of New York City. Since 1995, she has divided her time between New York and Amsterdam, teaching choreography throughout Europe and Scandinavia and continuing to make work in both Europe and America.
Rethorst's work has been presented by The Museum of Modern Art; The Kitchen Center, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Saint Marks, The Downtown Whitney Museum, among others, as well as at various dance theaters, universities, and festivals throughout the U.S. Internationally her work has been produced by The Holland Festival, Spazio Zero Rome, The Kunsthalle Basel, The Aix-en-Provence Festival, Jerusalem's Room Festival, among others. She has ongoing teaching relationships with Dansens Hus in Copenhagen, at Dartington College in England, at Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD) in Austria and at Firkin Crane in Cork, Ireland. This past year she initiated, along with three others, a Master's program for the Amsterdam School of the Arts
Rethorst was among the first to receive a New York Dance and Performance Award ('Bessie') for Outstanding Achievement in 1985. In further recognition of her choreographic achievements, she has been the recipient of many grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (1979-1989, 1992-1995), as well as support from the Creative Artist's Public Service Program (1979), the New York State Council on the Arts (1979-1983), the Foundation for Contemporary Performance (1988 and 2003), the New York Foundation for the Arts (1989,1993), the Ernie Pagnano Memorial Fund (1991), the Joyce Mertz Gilmore Foundation (1992),and a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1999).
Rethorst has lectured on dance and choreography at Dartington College in England, Arizona State University, New York University and the Amsterdam School of the Arts. She is currently at work on a book tentatively titled 'A Sober Passion'.In 2005 she started a summer program devoted to the study of choreography in Pennsylvania co-sponsored by Wilson College titled Studio Upson in Pennsylvania (SUPA).
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