| Born and
raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Gus Solomons began serious dance study while an
architecture student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Upon graduating in 1961, he moved to New York, where he performed with the
companies of Donald McKayle, Pearl Lang, Joyce Trisler, and Paul
Sanasardo. In 1965, Solomons joined the Martha Graham company for one
season, though his most significant association during this period was
with the Merce Cunningham company (1964-1968), for which he created roles
in "Winterbranch" (1964) and "Rainforest" (1968).
Solomons formed the Solomons Company/Dance in 1971. Drawing on his
experience at MIT, he conceived dance as "melted architecture" and
undertook a clinical, postmodern approach to dance making that linked a
fascination with puzzles and architectural design to the process of
"kinetic autobiography." The resulting abstract, nonsequential
choreography was marked by its lean incisiveness and effect of fragmentary
collage. Choreography by Solomons has been performed by the Alvin Ailey
Repertory Ensemble and the Berkshire Ballet. About 1980, Solomons began to
write exceptionally lucid dance criticism, which appeared in BALLET NEWS, DANCE MAGAZINE, and the VILLAGE VOICE.
-- Thomas F. DeFrantz
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