| History | As a teenager in 1942, Jean Newlove met Rudolf Laban at Dartington Hall when she applied for a post as a dance teacher. However Laban requested that she should become his personal assistant for his work with movement studies. She worked with Laban and F C Lawrence to pioneer Laban Lawrence Industrial Rhythm in factories.
Jean Newlove also helped Lisa Ullmann to establish teachers' classes in modern educational dance prior to the opening of the Art of Movement Studio in Manchester in 1946, as well as running her own drama courses. Joan Littlewood asked Laban to recommend a dancer/choreographer to work with her Theater Workshop. On Laban's recommendation, Newlove joined the company and eventually married its co-founder, the playwright Ewan MacColl. She developed her skills as a movement coach to actors and utilised Laban's movement theories.
Jean Newlove's career spanned working with the Royal Opera Company, leading master classes for actors at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Bristol Old Vic. She taught classes of Laban to actors in companies in Sweden and Czechoslovakia whilst on your with Joan Littlewood's Theater Workshop. She has worked with actors in San Francisco, as well as directing musicals.
Jean Newlove has published two books, 'Laban for Actors and Dancers' (1993), and the illustrated 'Laban for All' (2004). She has published 'Yum Di Dee Dah' (2013, an autobiography, and a biography of her late daughter Kirsty MaColl, ''My Kirsty: End of the Fairytale' (2014) |