Hanya Holm Teaches at Bennington College

Hanya Holm teaches a modern dance class on the lawn at Bennington College, circa 1937

In 1934, soon after Holm came to the United States to direct the Wigman School, she began teaching summer modern dance classes at the prestigious Bennington School of Dance. Some of the other teachers included Martha Graham, Charles Weidman, and Doris Humphrey, all of whom are now known as the “Big Four” in modern dance.

During her time at Bennington, Holm was a founding member of the Bennington Festival, which later became the American Dance Festival. The festival provided a venue for these modern dance educators to experiment and train students at the same time, which led to some of Holm's best known modern dance works, such as Trend (1937).

Maxine Munt, a company member who later founded the Changing Scene Theatre in Denver with husband and fellow company member Al Brooks, documented her time at Bennington in a scrapbookof photographs that she donated to the University of Denver. Munt's photographs provide an intimate and personal depiction of what life was like for students who were fortunate enough to study and perform at Bennington.