Sasha Anawalt

Sasha Anawalt (born 1956), born Marcia Evelyn Cunningham, is an educator, dance critic and former journalist who founded several arts journalism programs at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in Los Angeles, including a master's degree program in arts journalism (2008). She is author of The Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Dance Company.

Sasha Anawalt
Sasha Anawalt
Born
Marcia Evelyn Cunningham
Alma materBarnard College
OccupationArts journalist; professor; critic; author

Early life

Born in 1956,[1] Marcia "Sasha" Cunningham grew up the daughter of a painter and arts school founder, Francis Cunningham, and a dance critic and librarian, Kitty Cunningham. She attended Brearley School and graduated from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and Barnard College. In 1980, she married William Anawalt.[2]

Career

Anawalt wrote about dance, theater and television for publications including The New York Times,[3] National Public Radio's affiliate in Santa Monica, KCRW[4] as well as for the L.A. Weekly.[5]

In 1996, her cultural biography The Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Dance Company was published by Scribner.[6][7] The highly anecdotal book took her nearly six years to write.[8] Kirkus Reviews called it "an intelligent, fair, fascinating portrait of a seminal figure in American ballet", praising Anawalt's writing: "Unusual among dance critics, she never hides behind a professional dance vocabulary. She also ventures worthwhile observations on contextual issues, such as the uncomfortable coupling of dance with business in this country and the politics of American arts funding".[9] Publishers Weekly also positively reviewed the book.[10] Allan Ulrich of The San Francisco Examiner called it "an absorbing in-depth study of the company".[11] Jack Anderson of the New York Times wrote that it was "a book remarkable for its warmth and vigor, and for its blending of candor and judiciousness" and that Anawalt's "appraisal of Joffrey's directorial philosophy is shrewd indeed".[12]

The book inspired a feature-length documentary film by Bob Hercules, Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance (2012), which aired on PBS' American Masters.[13][14][15][16]

Anawalt joined USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and served as Founding Director of USC's Getty Arts Journalism Program, an arts journalism fellowship program that immersed journalists in the Los Angeles arts scene.[17] Anawalt is director of the master in arts journalism program at USC Annenberg.[18]

In 2009, Anawalt resigned from the Pasadena, California Arts and Culture Commission after the commission refused to display two pieces of public art "after complaints by residents and preservationists that the works were too big for the space," according to a New York Times article.[19][20] Anawalt served on the Pulitzer Prize jury panel for criticism in 2006 and 2007.[21][22]

Works

References
  1. Congress, The Library of. "LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of Congress)". id.loc.gov. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  2. "Marcia Cunningham Wed to W.B. Anawalt." New York Times (1923-Current file); New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 24 Aug 1980: 73. Via Proquest
  3. "The New York Times - Sasha Anawalt". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2021-01-06. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  4. "Sasha Anawalt". KCRW. Archived from the original on 2020-01-06. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  5. "Sasha Anawalt". Los Angeles Weekly. Archived from the original on 2020-01-06. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  6. Anderson, Jack (Feb 9, 1997). "Dance Fever". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  7. Jacobs, Laura (Nov 3, 1996). "Grace Under Pressure". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  8. "Book Connects U of I to Joffrey Ballet History". The Gazette. 1996-11-27. p. 7. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
  9. "The Joffrey Ballet: A History of America's Premier Ballet Company". Kirkus Reviews. 1996-10-01.
  10. "Nonfiction book review: The Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Dance Company". Publishers Weekly. 1999-03-29.
  11. "Getting in Step with the Joffrey". The San Francisco Examiner. 1996-11-05. p. 19. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
  12. Anderson, Jack. "Dance Fever: How Robert Joffrey created a large mainstream audience for ballet." The Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Dance Company." New York Times (1923-Current file); New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y] 09 Feb 1997: 304. Via Proquest.
  13. "Trailer: Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance". PBS. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  14. Prossnitz, Lindsay (Dec 20, 2012). "Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance". WTTW. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  15. Ono, Ian (Jan 27, 2012). "Sasha Anawalt on Joffrey". Examiner.com.
  16. Siegel, Marcia (May 8, 2012). "Joffrey Ballet gets its due". The Phoenix. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  17. "How 3 Weeks Can Change a Life". The Atlanta Constitution. 2004-04-25. pp. K12. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  18. "USC, Sony Pictures team on film criticism fellowships". www.bizjournals.com. 2015-04-01. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  19. Itzkoff, Dave (Feb 2, 2009). "Rejection of Public Art Leads to Resignation". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  20. Haithman, Diane (2009-01-31). "Pasadena Loses Arts Commissioner". The Los Angeles Times. p. 42. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  21. "The Pulitzer Prizes/Juors". Pulitzer.org. Pulitzer Prize. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  22. Roderick, Kevin (March 4, 2007). "Responding to Pulitzer buzz". LA Observed. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
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