American dancer and choreographer (died 2024)

Steve Paxton

Steven Douglas Paxton was an American experimental dancer and choreographer. His early background was in gymnastics while his later training included three years with Merce Cunningham and a year with José Limón. As a founding member of the Judson Dance Theater, he performed works by Yvonne Rainer and Trisha Brown. He was a founding member of the experimental group Grand Union and in 1972 named and began to develop the dance form known as Contact Improvisation, a form of dance that utilizes the physical laws of friction, momentum, gravity, and inertia to explore the relationship between dancers.

Born

1939

January 21

Died

Living

Era

1930s

Country

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About

Steve, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1939 Born

Also on January 21

What else happened on this day, through history

763 Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa.
1525 The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz's mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.
1535 Following the Affair of the Placards, the French king leads an anti-Protestant procession through Paris.
1720 Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.

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The world in 1939

When Steve arrived

april 1 Spanish Civil War: Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender.
april 18 Robert Menzies, who became Australia's longest-serving prime minister, is elected as leader of the United Australia Party after the death of Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.
april 30 The 1939–40 New York World's Fair opens.
april 30 NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled television service in New York City, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's N.Y. World's Fair opening day ceremonial address.

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Same-day contemporaries

Also born on January 21

Ashton Eaton 1988– American decathlete Clive Churchill 1927–1985 Australian rugby league player and coach (born 1927) Dany Heatley 1981– Canadian ice hockey player Nana Mizuki 1980– Japanese singer-songwriter and voice actress Phil Thompson 1954– English footballer and coach Plácido Domingo 1941– Spanish tenor and conductor Sophia Jex-Blake 1840–1912 English physician and feminist (died 1912)

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Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1939

Adolfo Azcuna 1939– Filipino lawyer and judge Aníbal Cavaco Silva 1939– Portuguese economist and politician, 19th President of the Portuguese Republic Balu Mahendra 1939–2014 Sri Lankan-Indian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (born 1939) Billy "Crash" Craddock 1939– American singer-songwriter Chandra Wickramasinghe 1939– Sri Lankan-English mathematician, astronomer, and biologist Claude François 1939–1978 Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and dancer (died 1978) David Frost 1939–2013 English journalist and game show host (died 2013) Dusty Springfield 1939–1999 English singer and record producer (died 1999) Ekaterina Maximova 1939–2009 Russian ballerina and actress (born 1939)

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Keep going

More to explore

Steve's birthday January 21 Steve's zodiac Aquarius When Steve arrived 1939