Long ago dubbed the “Democrat of Dance,” Lerman introduced an important era of radical inclusion in dance. She was an early innovator mixing media with dance, including dancers talking on stage beginning in 1974. The use of new technologies has been a central part of her work since 1984, and her involvement with Jacob’s Pillow originated in 1985. She founded and directed the Dance Exchange from 1976 until 2011, and received the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award in 2017. Reviewing a 1984 performance of this solo, The Washington Post‘s Alan M. Kriegsman wrote, “Lerman used movement, gesture, mime and speech, abetted by music and voice-over commentary, to hurl choreographic invective at military cost overruns and inefficiencies, the collusion between defense contractors and military bureacracy, an out-of-control arms race, and the threat of nuclear arsenals.”
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