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Biography
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Ken Topping
Kenneth Topping, a native of Boston, MA, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Skidmore College, where he began his dance training under the supervision of Moss Cohen. After graduating in 1984, Mr. Topping moved to New York City and became a member of the Martha Graham Dance Ensemble under the direction of Yuriko. In 1985 he was invited to join the Martha Graham Dance Company. In 1990 Mr. Topping was promoted to principal dancer status.
Under Ms. Graham's direction, Mr. Topping was given the opportunity to dance many of the leading male roles in the repertory including the Minotaur in Errand into the Maze, Hippolytus in Phaedra , Adam in Embattled Garden, the revivalist in Appalachian Spring, Oedipus in Night Journey, Orestes in Clytemnestra, among others. In 1990 Ms. Graham invited him and a small group of Company members to participate in a work she was creating about an individual's confrontation with death. This became Ms. Graham's last ballet, Eyes of the Goddess. Mr. Topping feels privileged to have been a part of Martha Graham's choreographic process during her creation of seven ballets.
In 1993, Mr. Topping ventured off-Broadway to co-direct and choreograph the 50 year revival of the musical play "Dark of the Moon". Two years later Mr. Topping moved to Holland for one year where he taught Graham-based modern dance and choreographed "Oceana" for twelve dancers at the Rotterdam Dance Academy. After returning to the United States, he was invited to dance Maurice Bejart's original role of "Faust" in an excerpted duet from Mr. Bejart's 1967 ballet.
In 1996 Mr. Topping was appointed Artistic Director of the Martha Graham Dance Ensemble. In 1998 he choreographed his first dance on the Ensemble entitled "Apologue" which premiered in New York City at Marymount Manhattan College. Mr. Topping teaches in Europe, South America, and throughout various parts of the United States. He is presently a member of faculty at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, and serves as a regiseur for the Martha Graham Trust.
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