Read about the origin of Kitchen Choreography +

After her long tenure as the director of the dance program at Sarah Lawrence College Bessie Schönberg spread her wisdom and knowledge among a wider group. In addition to her annual choreography workshops at Jacob’s Pillow and The YARD, she taught at Juilliard and Dance Theatre of Harlem. This wide exposure earned her the love and affection a wide swath of the dance world and it is entirely fitting that the Bessie Award, given for exceptional achievement in dance, is named for her. One afternoon, circa 1992, before her weekly class in Studio III at Dance Theatre of Harlem, Bessie Schönberg, stopped by my desk to say hello which was her habit. She boasted that the night before she had dined at the table of choreographer Merce Cunningham and that he was a very good cook. It is well known that Meredith Monk and Lucinda Childs had been her students—but it is less known that Merce Cunningham (and Jerome Robbins, too!) had been her student.

I had heard stories of George Balanchine’s talents as a cook and so I asked Bessie if there was a connection between cooking and choreography. And she answered, “Of course. And it is easy to explain. Both are expressions of creativity.” Later Tanaquil Le Clercq’s The Ballet Cook Book (1966) which contains recipes from the circle of ballet stars in her orbit crossed my path. It was a revelation—culturally and culinarily.

Now, in this period of the Covid-19 pandemic, when so many people are stuck at home, especially dancers, choreographers, dance writers, dance presenters and dance audiences, I have made room for Kitchen Choreography as a blog on this website. Any person who is associated with the dance world is welcome to pass along a recipe as another opportunity to make a creative expression. Two things most humans have in common: our bodies move and we must be fed. Let's dance and let's eat well!