Citydance and Prayer for the Great Family, 1974

Anna Halprin's Citydance 1977 traversed the city of San Francisco. You can see the journey it took in the map below.

The day was bookended with a recitation of Gary Snyder’s poem Prayer for the Great Family. The poem was performed by the poet Kush first thing in the morning as the sun rose, and again in the late afternoon as the day’s festivities drew to a close.

Snyder’s Turtle Island, which Prayer for the Great Family comes from, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1975.

Social Encounters: The Dance of Anna Halprin

Charlene Koonce
Citydance, 1976
Archival photograph, 9 1/16 x 6 3/8 in
Courtesy Anna Halprin

One of the most influential choreographers of experimental dance of the American counterculture, Anna Halprin developed a practice that aimed at personal and social change as much as innovation in the field of dance. She founded the San Francisco Dancers’ Workshop in 1955 and advanced her groundbreaking work in the mid-1960s and 1970s with multi-sensory workshops that transcended the traditional rules of dance and encouraged participants to develop through movement a heightened awareness of themselves, each other, and their environment. From her famous outdoor dance studio at her home in Marin County, where she continues to work today, she teaches both trained and untrained dancers with a process aimed at both art and life. Her students have included many of the leading avant-garde dancers in New York and elsewhere.