|
Country Dance * New York, Inc. |
Fried de Metz Herman, master choreographer, teacher, composer, and dancer, is a steady presence at CD*NY, since more often than not at least one of the hundreds of dances she has created is on a Tuesday program. Fried also calls occasionally and gives special workshops on style.
Fried began dancing in her native Netherlands in 1942, at age 15. By about 1954, she had begun to teach, having been encouraged by Pat Shaw's frequent choice of her to demonstrate. Marjorie Sinclair, Thora Jacques Watkins, Olive and Rhoda MacNamara, and William Ganiford--of "Mr. Ganiford's Maggot"--were among her other teachers of English country, morris, and sword dancing. She holds two teaching certificates in Scottish dancing from St. Andrews, as well as certificates in morris, sword and country dancing from the EFDSS.
Even though Fried prefers "live" dancing to demonstrations, she has often performed. In England in the early '60s, she belonged for a short time to the "Whirligigs," a group led by Marjorie Fennessey and associated with Pat Shaw. Then, in 1964 and 1965, soon after she had come to the U.S. in '63, Fried performed at the World's Fair in New York, at the invitation of May Gadd. For Fried, "It was a big thing." May Gadd's group also performed at many festivals at Barnard College in the 1960's, and Fried remembers the performances as "terrific,"--"happy, colorful, and fun," reflecting May Gadd's "vision of theater."
Fried is active on both sides of the Atlantic. Membership in CDSS, the NVS (Nederlandse Volksdans Stichting), and the EFDSS. helps to keep her connected with the dance scene in the U.S. and Europe. She has taught in America in the Bay Area, Seattle, Boston, and elsewhere as well as in the New York area, where she is associated with Country Dancers of Westchester. She is a founder of CDW and has taught there since 1974. Fried's association with Pinewoods is longstanding; in summer '99 she joined the staff again for English Dance Week. She was for the fourth time invited to England for a marvelous six-week teaching tour in Spring 2002. Fried reports that the English seem to like her dances! She has also taught in the Netherlands and Belgium.
A collection of tunes for fourteen of Fried's dances is available on "Measured Obsession," a CD by MGM (Mary Lea, Gene Murrow, and Margaret Ann Martin). Her dances are also known world-wide through her publications:
Pinewoods Fund Collection, 1980
The Road to Ruin, 1984
The Naked Truth, 1986
Choice Morsels, 1989
Potters' Porch, 1992
Ease and Elegance, 1995
Fringe Benefits, 1999
Serendipity, not yet published
The annual "Fried-for-All" weekend was set up in 1987 by dancers who thought that her original dances should get more exposure. This weekend is still going strong: the 16th Annual Fried-for-All will be held in Lenox, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires, May 2-4, 2003, with music by Karen Axelrod, Dan Beerbohm, and Barbara Greenberg. The participants are for the greater part country dance teachers themselves.
Contra Calendar English Calendar Photo Galleries Website Map Contra Menu English Menu FAQ Links Search the Website CD*NY Homepage Call the Dancephone: 212-459-4080
Write to CD*NY at P.O. Box 878, Village Station, New York, N.Y. 10014
Send us an email to subscribe to our email list, ask questions or make suggestions.
Country Dance * New York, Inc., is an affiliate of the Country Dance and Song Society.