From Automatism to Modern Dance – Françoise Sullivan with Franziska Boas in NY

By Allana Lindgren
Françoise Sullivan’s desire to discover dance and life beyond the borders of her Montreal home shows that the longing for a “global acceptance of life and its riches” was an Automatist tenet by which she lived. As evidenced in her early choreography, and in her essay, “Dance and Hope”, in 1946 Sullivan immersed herself in New York’s Franziska Boas Dance Group with an open-minded curiosity and desire for self-discovery.

About the Author
Allana Lindgren studied at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Professional Division, before attending university. Her dance articles have appeared in publications in Canada and the United States. She has taught dance history for the Division of Continuing Studies at the University of Victoria and the Program of Dance at the University of Calgary. She received her Ph.D. in theatre history from the University of Toronto in 2005, and is an assistant professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Victoria. She is also the co-editor of Renegade Bodies: Canadian Dance in the 1970s