Sali Ann Kriegsman

Sali Ann Kriegsman has held posts as Executive Editor at The American Film Institute (1969-1974), Dance Consultant to the Smithsonian Institution (1979-1983), Director of the Dance Program at the National Endowment for the Arts (1986-1995) and Executive Director of Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival & School (1995-1997). She is the author of the first documentary history of the early years of modern dance, Modern Dance in America: The Bennington Years, (1981) and her criticism, articles and essays have been published in numerous journals, magazines, newspapers, and reference books. She chaired the 1982 Dance Critics Association conference on reconstruction and revivals, and has lectured in universities and schools, festivals, museums and performing arts and community centers across the country and abroad. With Marda Kirn, she co-directed the first Colorado Tap Festival (1986), which led to the formation of the International Tap Association. She has served on policy and grants panels for federal, state and local agencies and private foundations. She is a member of the Leadership Group at UCLA's National Dance/ Media Project. She was associate producer for a portrait of Charles "Honi" Coles broadcast on the MacNeil Lehrer News Hour, and wrote "Savion Glover: In Performance at the White House" broadcast nationally on PBS in 1998. She and her husband Alan M. Kriegsman, held the Sage Cowles' endowed Chair for Visiting Artists at the University of Minnesota in 1997. Among her recent awards is the 1997 Flo-Bert Award - along with Donald O'Connor and Milt Hinton- for her support to the tap community, and Oklahoma City University's "Preservation of Our Heritage - American Dance" award (March 1999). She has a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from Goddard College and is currently working on independent writing and consultant projects. Her biography is included in the 50th Anniversary Edition and subsequent editions of Who's Who in America.