Kenneth King (dancer)

Kenneth King (born April 1, 1948) is an American post-modern dancer and choreographer who is best known for his experimentations with dance and multimedia. A second-generation Judson Dance Theatre choreographer, much of King's experimental dance repertoire combines different movements styles with dramatic material and technological advances, emphasizing the importance of the human body through expressionism and symbolism.

King was born in Freeport, New York and became interested in theatre and the performing arts early in life after being cast as the lead in a musical production for his kindergarten class. As a child of the commonly referred to “TV Generation”, a period in American culture in which the television replaced the radio as the new household commodity, King became extremely fascinated with this new form of entertainment and was intrigued by theatrics behind popular television programs. While in high school, King aspired to be an actor, and during college, although a philosophy major at Antioch College in Ohio, he acted in summer stock productions for three consecutive years starting in 1959. King soon became an apprentice actor at Adelphi College, and it wasn’t until after attending a lecture by legendary American dancer and choreographer, Ruth St. Denis, that he became inspired to dance. King began his transformation from theater into dance by incorporating dance with speaking and props. By the early 1960s he was studying the art full-time. King studied with Sylvia Fort, The New Dance Group, Ballet Arts, Paul Sanasardo, and he also attended The Martha Graham School, while studying ballet with Mia Slavenska. By 1966, he was working with renowned dancers Merce Cunningham and Carolyn Brown.

Much of King's choreographic style is based on the idea of dance being a total theatrical experience. King’s work was both reflective and innovative in his time in that he developed choreography with generally non-technical based movement, unique to the 1960s post-modern era, but with the newfound technological approach - incorporating film, machinery, characters, text, speech, lighting, and costumes. King emphasizes expressionism and symbolism through the use of the body, while experimenting with space and time, but eliminating the post-modern idea of point of view. King believed that a dance could still have content even without point of view, stress and emotion. His works are often considered to be very personal and an overall poetic experience.

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