Dr. Gerald E. Myers has taught philosophy at several campuses, including Brown, Smith, Williams, and Kenyon, retiring as philosopher emeritus in 1991 at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His books include Self: An Introduction to Philosophical Psychology (1969), William James: His Life and Thought (1986) (Pulitzer nominee), Self, Religion, and Metaphysics (ed.) (1961), The Spirit of American Philosophy (ed.) (1970), Echoes from the Holocaust: Philosophical Reflections on a Dark Time (co-ed.) (1988), and William James: Writings, 1878–1899 (ed.) (The Library of America, 1992). He is currently writing a book on the nature of introspection and subjectivity.
Charles and Stephanie Reinhart, ADF’s co-directors, invited Myers in the 1970s to assist with projects for advancing public appreciation of the aesthetic and cultural significance of modern dance. Subsequently dubbed “Philosopher-in- Residence” by the Reinharts, Myers was also enabled to join hands, professionally, with his wife, Martha, of the ADF Dance Faculty as well as its Dean.
ADF’s humanities and dance projects focused in the 1980s and 1990s as “The Black Tradition in American Modern Dance.” Summer tours by African American dancers, together with audience discussions led by African American scholars at historically black colleges in North Carolina, were followed by years of national touring. The project’s objective was to remedy the lack of attention, public and professional, to the influence of black dance artists on American modern concert dance. This culminated in the national PBS broadcast in 2001 of ADF’s award winning 3-hour television documentary, Free to Dance. ADF publications edited and contributed to by Myers include Philosophical Essays on Dance, The Aesthetic and Cultural Significance of Modern Dance, The Black Tradition in American Modern Dance, African American Genius in Modern Dance, Reflections on the Home of an Art Form (ADF’s 65th Anniversary publication), and Modern Dance, Jazz Music and American Culture (a collaborative project of ADF with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts).
This book, Who’s Not Afraid of Martha Graham?, a highly selective look at American modern dance and its philosophies, draws substantially upon Myers’ three decades of ADF participation.
For more information, read the Press Release about the book.
