Bella Lewitzky

摘要

She was never one to cut comers, do the obvious or pay homage to the established gods. She was disciplined, original and unorthodox, both in her work and in her political attitudes. Small, trim and determined, Bella Lewitzky was, above all, true to herself. Had it been otherwise, she would perhaps have become a classical ballet dancer, not an exponent of modern dance. She would have left her native California for New York, which was the undisputed cultural capital of the United States when she was growing up, and certainly the mecca to which most ambitious American dancers were drawn. And she would, surely, never have found herself giving evidence before the House of Representatives' Committee on UnAmerican Activities, let alone answering its request for the names of communist sympathisers with the crisp put-down, "I'm a dancer, not a singer."