Claire Holt closely observed and studied the arts of Indonesian
culture, bringing her perspective as a trained dancer, artist and
journalist to the documentation of dance in Asia. She was a tireless
advocate for the newly emerging field that became known as Dance
Ethnography.
Despite living through the upheavals of WWI in
Riga and Moscow, WWII in Europe and New York, the McCarthy hearings in
Washington, and the struggle for independence in occupied Indonesia,
she explored, researched, photographed and published during a
critical time in history. In the end she left an important body of
work, and a legacy of scholarship for inter-cultural understanding. This is the first full length biography of the influential writer and
Asian Dance ethnographer.
Get to know Claire Holt as author Deena Burton re-traces her steps in Java, Bali, Celebes, Stockholm and New York in Sitting at the Feet of Gurus.