Biographical Note
Pearl Lang (née Pearl Lack) was an American dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Lang was born to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrant parents in Chicago and grew up in a Yiddish-speaking home. Lang began dancing and choreographing at a young age under the tutelage of Frances Allis. She performed under the direction of Ruth Page for performances funded under the Federal Dance Project, and she saw performances of Martha Graham, Hanya Holm, Doris Humphrey, Harold Kreutzberg, and Charles Weidman.
In 1941, with a scholarship for summer study with Martha Graham in New York, she was taken into the company after just a few months. Lang made her company debut in Graham’s Letter to the World. Lang was a soloist with the Graham company from 1942 to 1952, during which time she performed in the premiere of Punch and Judy as well as in El Penitente, Deaths and Entrances, Dark Meadow, Diversion of Angels, and Canticle for Innocent Comedians. Lang took on many of Graham’s roles after she retired from the stage. After leaving Graham’s company, she frequently returned as a guest artist, including a 1974 performance in the role of Clytemnestra. Lang was considered one of the primary interpreters of roles created for her by Graham. In her early years in New York, she also worked on Broadway, appearing in such shows as One Touch of Venus (1943), Carousel (1945), Finian’s Rainbow (1947), and Touch and Go (1949).
In 1953, Lang formed her own dance company and choreographed critically acclaimed works that included Windsung (1952), Rites (1953), Shirah (1960), Kaddish (1977), and what is perhaps her best-known work The Possessed, originally created in 1951 under the title Legend and revised for a 1975 premiere. The Possessed is based on the 1914 Yiddish play The Dybbuk by S. Ansky. More than half of the roughly sixty dances that Lang choreographed for her company were based upon Jewish themes. Lang created commissions for several companies and festivals both in the United States and abroad, most notably the Batsheva Dance Company in Israel.
Lang was awarded two Guggenheim fellowships, one in 1960 and one in 1969, as well as an honorary doctorate from the Juilliard School in 1995, and she received numerous awards and citations for her contributions to Jewish culture through dance. She was a well-respected teacher at venues including Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, American Dance Festival, and the Martha Graham School of Dance as well as other institutions throughout the United States, Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden. She served on the faculties of the Juilliard School, Yale University School of Drama, and the Neighborhood Playhouse. Lang’s accomplishments also include staging and choreography for opera and theater. Lang was married to actor Joseph Wiseman, whom she met in 1964. She died in New York City on February 24, 2009.