Robert Cohan (1925-2021). American-born dancer, choreographer, teacher and director

Robert Cohan was born in New York in 1925. He served in the US navy during World War Two, after which, having seen Robert Helpmann’s Miracle in the Gorbals in London, he trained at the Martha Graham School. He joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in 1946, where he became a soloist and partnered Graham herself throughout the world. From 1957 to 1962 Cohan began a career as a choreographer with a small group of his own, but he returned to the Graham Company in 1962 for its European tour, and then became co-director.

In 1967 Robin Howard invited Cohan to become the first artistic director of the Contemporary Dance Trust in London. From there he became the founding artistic director of The Place, of London Contemporary Dance School and London Contemporary Dance Theatre (LCDT), positions he held for 20 years, until 1989. He was highly influential in developing contemporary dance in Britain and created many works for LCDT, including No Man’s Land, Forest, Dances of Love and Death and Agora. In 1985 he choreographed A Mass for Man for BBC television, which also broadcast a number of his other pieces, including Nympheas.

After 1989, Cohan worked freelance, choreographing works for Scottish Ballet as well as for companies in Germany and Italy. From 1980 to 1990 he was artistic advisor to the Batsheva Dance Company in Israel and choreographed for the Bat Dor Company. He also taught and directed many choreographic courses in Britain, New Zealand, Canada and America (including at the Martha Graham and Julliard Schools and for Harvard University).

In 1988, Cohan was awarded an honorary CBE for services to dance in Britain, and later took British citizenship. He was knighted in 2019 and died in London in 2021.