Joyce Trisler

Joyce Trisler (1934-1979) joined the Lester Horton Dance Theatre at the age of 15, where she met and performed with Alvin Ailey. After Horton's death, Trisler moved to New York to attend Juilliard. There, she studied with Antony Tudor and originated roles in works by her teachers Donald McKayle, Anna Sokolow, and Doris Humphrey. From the mid-1950s through the 1960s, Trisler worked as a freelance performer in the established and ad hoc companies of John Wilson and Alvin Ailey, and in concerts at the 92nd Street YM-YWHA, dancing for James Truitte and in her own works. She also performed with the Valerie Bettis group in the 1965 concerts of the American Dance Theatre, a cooperative venture among traditional modern dancers and choreographers. One of the foremost experts in the teachings and choreography of Lester Horton, she supervised the reconstruction of his The Beloved for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In 1974, she formed the Joyce Trisler Danscompany and created numerous acclaimed works, including Dance for Six, Rite of Spring, and Four Temperaments. Trisler also choreographed extensively for opera companies including the New York City, San Francisco, and Boston Operas, and for theatrical productions. She was especially well known for her work on the New York Shakespeare Festival productions at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park each summer from 1967 to 1971. Shortly after her untimely death in 1979, Mr. Ailey created his ballet Memoria and dedicated it to “the joy, beauty, the creativity and the wild spirit of my friend Joyce Trisler.”