Sharon Kinney

Sharon Kinney (born September 22, 1939) is an American dancer, choreographer, teacher, and videographer. She was an original member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company and has worked with other notable artists such as Dan Wagoner, Yuriko, and Twyla Tharp.

Background and education Kinney is a native of Dayton, Ohio. She first began her training under Josephine and Hermene Schwarz, with an intense emphasis on ballet and technique. Kinney gained some of her earliest performance experiences through her time studying with Josephine Schwarz, and she describes the school as one geared towards training dancers to become professionals. Even though modern dance was not widely taught at the time, the Schwarzes introduced dancers at their school to the Humphrey-Weidman modern technique at the age of thirteen. These classes were Kinney's first foray away from ballet into the field of modern dance, and she was enticed by the chance to “fly and leap” across the dance floor. In addition, she was introduced to improvisation, bare feet, and ponytails, which all represent drastic departures from the strict dress code and class etiquette expected in ballet classes.

Kinney felt a strong connection to From the Horse's Mouth since she was able to participate as well as document the original performance, a historic first of many future performances; she also appreciated the story aspect. She described in an interview, "I wanted to ask each one of these people why they were still dancing?" As a young dancer she had been asked many times, “What are you going to do when you stop dancing?" She thought it would be interesting to know this because she herself had never stopped dancing and neither had they. She was interested in hearing their individual stories and how and why they were continuing to dance and adapt their love of dance to other interests and other aspects of their lives.

Awards With two other past members of the Paul Taylor company, Carolyn Adams and Ruth Andrien, Kinney received the American Dance Festival 2009 Distinguished Teaching Honor award. The award is more formally known as the 2009 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching and the award was created to “pay tribute to the teachers who have shaped and preserved dance across generations.” Past recipients of the distinguished award include famous members within the modern dance spectrum, such as Pearl Primus and Anna Halprin. The award "signifies the importance of honoring those who act to preserve the traditions of modern dance while continuing to expand and broaden its definition."

Present day Kinney greatly values the guidance of her teachers, such as Helen P. Alkire, Paul Taylor, and Josephine Schwarz. Her exceptional training inspires her to continue passing down dance knowledge and stories of her experience to students. In 1947 Charles Weidman, in a master class Kinney attended, told the other dancers in the class that “you love to dance and you will always love to dance, but you will always need to teach to support your love of dance.” She feels an incredible sense of fulfillment in watching the growth and progression of her students. Today she continues to teach at California State University at Long Beach teaching Composition, Repertory and Dance for Camera classes as well as for the Paul Taylor Dance Company in New York City.