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Garth Fagan

Garth Fagan has been called "a true original," "a genuine leader," and "one of the great reformers of American dance." As another critic put it, "in the genealogy of modern dance, he's started a whole new branch of the family tree."

Fagan’s achievements - the creation of the internationally acclaimed Garth Fagan Dance, the company that fulfills his vision, and work as choreographer, most recently and notably for Walt Disney’s The Lion King – have been recognized by a host of awards and honors.

His singular dance language draws on many sources: the sense of weight in modern dance, the torso-centered movement and energy of Afro-Caribbean, the speed and precision of ballet, and the rule breaking experimentation of the post-moderns.

For his path-breaking choreography for The Lion King, Fagan was awarded the prestigious 1998 Tony Award for Best Choreography.  He also received the 1998 Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Astaire Award, 2000 Laurence Olivier Award, 2001 Ovation Award, and 2004 Helpmann Award.

Fagan’s distinguished work in the theatre also includes the first fully staged production of the Duke Ellington street opera, Queenie Pie at the Kennedy Center in 1986 and the opening production of Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival's Shakespeare Marathon: A Midsummer Night's Dream, (1988), set in Brazil and directed by A.J. Antoon.

Fagan choreographs primarily for Garth Fagan Dance, but has also produced commissions for a number of leading companies, including his first work en pointe, Footprints Dressed in Red, for the Dance Theatre of Harlem; a solo for Judith Jamison, Scene Seen for the debut of the Jamison Project; Jukebox for Alvin for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; and Never No Lament for the Jose Limon Company; and Ellington Elation, part of a triad of pieces commissioned by New York City Ballet in honor of Duke Ellington’s centenary and New York City Ballet’s 50th anniversary.

In 2001, Mr. Fagan, a native of Jamaica, was presented with the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander: a national honor bestowed upon him by the Jamaican government. In 1998, he received that country’s Special Gold Musgrave Medal, for his “Contribution to the World of Dance and Dance Theater.”  The evening before at Prime Minister P.J. Patterson’s Independence Gala, Mr. Fagan was presented with the Prime Minister’s Award, a plate bearing the signatures of all the Prime Ministers of Jamaica, acknowledging his achievements.

Mr. Fagan, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the State University of New York, taught for over three decades at the State University of New York at Brockport. He was awarded the prestigious Citizen Diplomat Award from the National Council for International Visitors in 2008 in recognition of his standard of excellence in furthering the cause of citizen diplomacy, motivated by a deep understanding of world issues and a commitment to the exchange of persons and ideas. In 2003, Fagan received the George Eastman Medal from the University of Rochester for, “outstanding achievement and dedicated service.” In 2001 he was the recipient of the Golden Plate Award and was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement; Fagan also received the 2001 Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award, “established to honor those great choreographers who have dedicated their lives and talent to the creation of our modern dance heritage.”  In 1996 he was one of only twenty-five American scholars, artists, professionals and public figures to receive the title Fulbright 50th Anniversary Distinguished Fellow.  He is also the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the prestigious three-year Choreography Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and honorary doctorates from the Juilliard School, the University of Rochester, Nazareth College of Rochester, Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Wayne State University.  Fagan has received the Dance Magazine Award for "significant contributions to dance during a distinguished career" and the "Bessie" Award (New York Dance and Performance Award) for Sustained Achievement.  Other awards include the Monarch Award from the National Council for Culture and Art, and the Lillian Fairchild Award.

Fagan began his career when he toured Latin America with Ivy Baxter and her national dance company from Jamaica.  Baxter and two other famed dance teachers from the Caribbean – Pearl Primus and Lavinia Williams – were major influences on Fagan.  In New York City, Fagan studied with Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Mary Hinkson, and Alvin Ailey, who were all key to his development. Fagan was director of Detroit's All-City Dance Company, and principal soloist and choreographer for Detroit Contemporary Dance Company and Dance Theatre of Detroit.