Katherine Litz collection

ca. 1945-1952

Katherine Litz, a modern dancer, teacher and choreographer, was born on July 26, 1912 in Denver, Colorado. While in high school she studied dance with Martha Wilcox at the Perry Mansfield Camp. Upon graduation, she left Denver to pursue her career as a dancer.

In New York Litz studied dance with Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. She also studied composition, ballet, music, acting, and voice. Outside of New York she took courses with Hanya Holm and Martha Graham. Litz performed with the Humphrey-Weidman Concert Company and with Agnes DeMille's concert company. During the 1940s she danced in the Broadway musicals "Oklahoma!" and "Carousel," and she also choreographed and danced the leading role in "Susanna and the Elders," a section of Ballet Ballads. In 1960 she had an acting-dancing role in The Crystal Heart, an off-Broadway musical. She worked with Al Carmines on several productions at Judson Memorial Church in New York. Beginning with a concert in 1948, Litz presented programs of her own works, both solos and for groups, in New York and around the country. She was known for her use of satire and humor in dances such as "The Glyph," created with Lou Harrison and first performed at Black Mountain College in 1951. Over the course of many years Litz taught and lectured at colleges and universities, including Bennington College, Columbia University, and Black Mountain College.

During her career, Litz was the recipient of grants from several organizations, including the Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Lena Robbins Foundation.

In 1947, Litz married the American artist and set designer Charles Oscar. They eventually separated. Katherine Litz died in New York City on December 19, 1978, three weeks after her last performance.