Historical Note: Erick Hawkins Dance Company
Modern dancer Erick Hawkins (1909–1994) established the Erick Hawkins Dance Company in 1951 to perform his choreography. At some point, Hawkins adopted the name Foundation of Modern Dance, Inc., in order to incorporate the company as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The name of the nonprofit was changed to Erick Hawkins Dance Foundation, Inc., in 1968. The company's first production was openings of the (eye), which took place in New York on January 15, 1952. Widespread success came several years later with Here and Now, with Watchers, which premiered at Hunter College in New York in 1957. Both works featured the music of experimental composer Lucia Dlugoszewski (1925–2000), who married Hawkins in 1962 and composed more than 25 scores for his dances.
Hawkins insisted on live music for his company's performances. Initially, he relied primarily on Dlugoszewski's compositions, which she herself performed, but later he founded the Hawkins Theater Orchestra. This small ensemble of seven or more instrumentalists often toured with the dance company. The Erick Hawkins Dance Company also performed larger works with numerous major symphony orchestras, including the National Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Denver Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the St. Louis Symphony.
After Erick Hawkins died in 1994, Dlugoszewski assumed a primary leadership role including administrative and teaching duties, and by 1996 she had become his successor as artistic director. She choreographed dances for the company and completed several of Hawkins's unfinished choreographies. Since Dlugoszewski's death in 2000, the Erick Hawkins Dance Company has remained active and continues to conduct workshops, restage and license repertory and music, and perform programs that include both Hawkins's original choreography as well as new works.