John Butler

John Butler (1918-1993)

Dancer and choreographer. Born in Greenwood, MS. He moved to New York in his late teens to study ballet, and trained with Eugene Loring and later at the Martha Graham School and the School of American Ballet. He performed with the Martha Graham Dance Company from 1945 to 1955 in roles that included Deaths and Entrances (1943) and Appalachian Spring (1944). He also performed in the Broadway musicals Oklahoma! (1943), On the Town (1944), and others. In the late ‘40s he choreographed for TV shows such as Omnibus, Camera Three and later, Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951). These choreographies paved his way to the New York City Opera, where he choreographed for numerous productions, including the famous Bartók opera Bluebeard’s Castle (1952).
Butler worked with his own racially integrated company of dancers in the 1950s. The dances which made it famous were Carmina Burana (1959), Portrait of Billie (1960), After Eden (1965), According to Eve (1972). Numerous companies in the US and worldwide staged his choreographies, including San Francisco Ballet, Richmond Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Paris Opera Ballet, and Australian Ballet.
In the 1970s, Butler created three choreographies for Batsheva: Moon Fool (1972), After Eden (1972), and Puppets of Death (1974).

John Butler died in 1993. Four years later, his friend Melvin Dwork established a foundation designed to promote his works and legacy.