Viola Farber
Viola Farber (February 25, 1931 – December 24, 1998) was an American choreographer and dancer.
Biography
Viola Farber was born on February 25, 1931 in Heidelberg, Germany. In Germany, Farber began dancing. However, at the age of six she was told by her parents, “No, you cannot do this anymore”. At the age of seven, Farber and her family moved to the United States. Even though her parents did not allow her to dance, Farber continued dancing on her own, though she focused more of her energy on learning to play the piano. During the one year that Farber spent at the University of Illinois studying music, she began taking dance classes from Margaret Erlanger. When Farber transferred to George Washington University, she focused on both music and dance. By 1952, Farber had transferred once again, to Black Mountain College was dance with Katherine Litz and music with Lou Harrison.
In 1953, Farber became a founding member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. She created many roles in Cunningham’s works, such as Crises, Paired Rune, and Nocturne. Farber is described as being “one of the great individualists of the company”. At this time, she also took various dance classes from Margaret Craske and Alfred Corvino in New York, and from Erika Thimey in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Farber was dancing with other choreographers. She performed the role of the vampire in Litz’s Dracula as well as dancing with Paul Taylor’s early company. Farber was the only female pianist in Erik Satie’s (organized by John Cage) twenty-four hour performance of Vexations. In 1965, she left Cunningham’s company and in 1968, began her own company.
