 Wade's Words
Katherine Elizabeth Burtner
In Memoriam
While the younger among you will not have known “Betz” Burtner, the GW Dance Program would not have existed without her. While the essence of Professor Burtner cannot be captured in a summary of her work in dance at GW, the photo accompanying this memorial tribute suggests something of her grace and dignity, her sense of self, and her interest in others— particularly her students. That iconic bracelet she wears— in this photo from the annual department picnic sometime in the 1990’s long after she retired—suggests the classical poise and strength that typified a timeless spirit. “She believed in dance as an art,” observes her longtime colleague Maida Withers, “and she worked tirelessly to develop respect for dance.
 Katherine Elizabeth Burtner, GW dance professor, died of pancreatic cancer on Feb. 4, 2009 in Greer, S.C., at the age of 102. Burtner, known as “Betz,” taught modern dance at the University from 1937 through the early 1970s and was instrumental in establishing the dance MA program in 1964 and BA program in 1965. Burtner was influential in bringing many of the early founders of modern dance, such as Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey, to Washington, D.C., in the formative years when modern dance was a “fringe” genre.
Professor Burtner organized a special collection of dance brochures, programs, posters, articles, photographs, audio tapes, and video tapes documenting GW dance during her time on the faculty. These archives are now catalogued at Gelman Library. Betz was active in the Congress on Research in Dance (CORD), an international non-profit interdisciplinary society for dance researchers established in 1965 that publishes the Dance Research Journal, and sponsors annual conferences which distribute annual awards. She also established the student organization Dance Production Group (now Dance Performance Project), in which students handle technical work for productions/concerts in dance.
—Alan
|
