Janet Eilber

Artistic Director, Martha Graham Dance Company

Janet Eilber has been the Martha Graham Dance Company’s artistic director since 2005. Her direction has focused on creating new forms of audience access to Martha Graham’s masterworks. Earlier in her career, Ms. Eilber worked closely with Martha Graham. She danced many of Graham’s greatest roles, had roles created for her by Graham, and was directed by Graham in most of the major roles of the repertory. She soloed at the White House, was partnered by Rudolf Nureyev, starred in three segments of Dance in America, and has since taught, lectured, and directed Graham ballets internationally. Apart from her work with Graham, Ms. Eilber has performed in films, on television, and on Broadway directed by such greats as Agnes de Mille and Bob Fosse and has received four Lester Horton Awards for her reconstruction and performance of seminal American modern dance. She has served as Director of Arts Education for the Dana Foundation, guiding the Foundation’s support for Teaching Artist training and contributing regularly to its arts education publications. Ms. Eilber is a Trustee Emeritus of the Interlochen Center for the Arts and was recently honored with a Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Juilliard School. She is married to screenwriter/director John Warren, with whom she has two daughters, Madeline and Eva.