With a family tree that includes early settlers from the Caribbean, slaves, slave masters, and free blacks from the ante-bellum period—one of whom was a pastry chef on a Mississippi river boat—Carolyn Adams and Julie Adams Strandberg have long embraced their roles as conduits to the tremendous sweep of American heritage.
Pioneering Journeys in American Dance
Carolyn and Julie were born in New York City, where they were educated at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. Their father Julius J. Adams was managing editor of the Amsterdam News, and their mother Olive A. Adams enjoyed a career lasting over seven decades as a writer, editor, pianist, and composer. The Adams family has been highly regarded as engaged leaders of their Harlem community, respected for the strength and integrity of their morals, convictions, and work ethic. The sisters, raised amidst the city’s rise as the capital of American concert dance, studied with 20th century pioneers Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, Melissa Hayden, José Limón, Donald McKayle, Bessie Schönberg, Karin Waehner, and Charles Weidman and are one degree of separation from George Balanchine, Katharine Dunham, Lester Horton, Doris Humphrey, Pearl Primus, Ruth St. Denis, and Ted Shawn. From this foundation, they have gone on to play parallel, pioneering roles in American dance and culture.
Pursuing a Life of Performance
After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, Carolyn embarked on a career of acclaimed professional performance. From 1965 to 1982 she toured the world as a principal dancer with the internationally-renowned Paul Taylor Dance Company. As a "sketch pad" to one of the masters of American concert dance, Carolyn's unique qualities made an indelible mark on Taylor’s choreography and earned her worldwide recognition. Upon leaving the Paul Taylor company, Carolyn taught at City College for over a decade and joined the conservatory faculty at The Juilliard School, where she taught and mentored young pre-professional dancers from 1983-2010. She is currently teaching Taylor technique at the Alvin/Fordham BFA program..
Bringing Dance to the Academy
With degrees from Cornell University and Bank Street College of Education, Julie became a faculty member at Brown University in 1969. In an environment traditionally skeptical about the arts as rigorous intellectual pursuits, Julie founded one of the Ivy League’s first for-credit dance programs and was a vanguard in the establishment of Brown’s Theatre Arts Department in 1979. A compelling advocate for the importance of concert dance to American culture, history, and communities, Julie has worked for over fifty years for the inclusion of dance as a subject of serious, integrative study throughout the education system. Meanwhile, she has directed dance and theater productions in regional theaters and community programs throughout Rhode Island, where she has been celebrated with numerous state honors. In her commitment to create opportunities for dancers to perform and grow throughout the span of their careers, she founded the professional Rhode Island Dance Repertory Company in 1971, Brown’s student repertory company, Dance Extension in 1979, and Arabella Project in 1999 for dancers in their 50s and 60s.
Engaging a Community
Sensitive to the fragile footholds dance occupied in American society in general, and in the professional and educational establishments in particular, in 1973 the sisters collaborated with their parents Olive and Julius to establish The Harlem Dance Foundation. Its mission was to “nurture an endangered art form in an endangered community.” Through the Foundation over the course of 20 years, the family produced performances and developed innovative arts education programs both at their Harlem studio and in communities throughout the Northeast. The Foundation produced intergenerational original musicals including Santa Claus and the Unicorn, which was performed annually in Harlem for 16 years and toured to Rhode Island and upstate New York. The Foundation strengthened its ties to the schools and residential communities by developing educational programs, including the River East Developmental Dance and Reading Curriculum and A Child’s Eye View—designed for children in urban areas to explore the architecture and history of their neighborhood as well as to explore the flora and fauna of the urban landscape. The Foundation strengthened its commitment to the social, political and cultural life of the community by hosting events at its facility, publishing a monthly newsletter, The Harlemite, and establishing The Central Harlem Brownstone Preservation Committee which was pivotal in saving historic brownstones from demolition. As a result, in part, due to the efforts of the Committee, the area around the Foundation’s site is now a historic district and Harlem is experiencing a second renaissance.
Preparing Future Dancers
In 1989, Carolyn was recruited by the State of New York to found the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA) School of Dance, an intensive pre-professional training program for talented young dancers. As artistic director for over 30 seasons, and with Julie as co-director, Carolyn has assembled a faculty of respected teachers and choreographers to guide the program’s students in a demanding study of technique, composition, and repertory, with a focus on connecting them to the full legacy of American concert dance. Since its inauguration, the NYSSSA School of Dance has hosted over 500 young dancers—many attending multiple summers—and over 175 faculty, guest artists, and program staff. NYSSSA has also served as an important laboratory for new work, generating more than 30 premieres by faculty and residencies featuring Battleworks Dance Company, Danny Grossman Dance Company, Parsons Dance Company, Taylor2, and Troika Ranch. NYSSSA School of Dance alumni have gone on to graduate from esteemed conservatory and college programs and can be found performing in professional companies of all sizes, creating their own work, teaching, and supporting dance in varied settings. Of equal importance, most NYSSSA Alumni have pursued careers outside of dance while bringing their creative perspective to all they do and are important advocates and patrons of dance.
Building a Legacy
The Adams sisters have focused a combined century of two multi-faceted lives in dance towards helping shape the next generations of dance makers, students, teachers, scholars, and audiences. Carolyn has brought her rich experiences from the professional world of The Paul Taylor Dance Company into the conservatory training environments of The Juilliard School and The Ailey School, while Julie has brought dance into the academy at Brown University and into a range of venues throughout Rhode Island. Together they have directed these parallel perspectives into the community with the founding of The Harlem Dance Foundation and towards training young minds and bodies at the NYSSSA School of Dance.
From their wide-ranging vantage points, Carolyn and Julie have recognized obstacles that impede the sharing, performing, and teaching of the American dance legacy. Since 1992, they have worked to directly address those challenges through the development of Repertory Etudes, by establishing the American Dance Legacy Initiative—which was a program based at Brown University from 1993-2020, including 13 years at the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage—and now through the ongoing work of Dancing Legacy. Through the Adams sisters' approach, dance students, practitioners, audiences, and whole communities are being made direct heirs to America’s cultural and artistic heritage.
Pioneering Journeys in American Dance
Carolyn and Julie were born in New York City, where they were educated at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. Their father Julius J. Adams was managing editor of the Amsterdam News, and their mother Olive A. Adams enjoyed a career lasting over seven decades as a writer, editor, pianist, and composer. The Adams family has been highly regarded as engaged leaders of their Harlem community, respected for the strength and integrity of their morals, convictions, and work ethic. The sisters, raised amidst the city’s rise as the capital of American concert dance, studied with 20th century pioneers Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, Melissa Hayden, José Limón, Donald McKayle, Bessie Schönberg, Karin Waehner, and Charles Weidman and are one degree of separation from George Balanchine, Katharine Dunham, Lester Horton, Doris Humphrey, Pearl Primus, Ruth St. Denis, and Ted Shawn. From this foundation, they have gone on to play parallel, pioneering roles in American dance and culture.
Pursuing a Life of Performance
After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, Carolyn embarked on a career of acclaimed professional performance. From 1965 to 1982 she toured the world as a principal dancer with the internationally-renowned Paul Taylor Dance Company. As a "sketch pad" to one of the masters of American concert dance, Carolyn's unique qualities made an indelible mark on Taylor’s choreography and earned her worldwide recognition. Upon leaving the Paul Taylor company, Carolyn taught at City College for over a decade and joined the conservatory faculty at The Juilliard School, where she taught and mentored young pre-professional dancers from 1983-2010. She is currently teaching Taylor technique at the Alvin/Fordham BFA program..
Bringing Dance to the Academy
With degrees from Cornell University and Bank Street College of Education, Julie became a faculty member at Brown University in 1969. In an environment traditionally skeptical about the arts as rigorous intellectual pursuits, Julie founded one of the Ivy League’s first for-credit dance programs and was a vanguard in the establishment of Brown’s Theatre Arts Department in 1979. A compelling advocate for the importance of concert dance to American culture, history, and communities, Julie has worked for over fifty years for the inclusion of dance as a subject of serious, integrative study throughout the education system. Meanwhile, she has directed dance and theater productions in regional theaters and community programs throughout Rhode Island, where she has been celebrated with numerous state honors. In her commitment to create opportunities for dancers to perform and grow throughout the span of their careers, she founded the professional Rhode Island Dance Repertory Company in 1971, Brown’s student repertory company, Dance Extension in 1979, and Arabella Project in 1999 for dancers in their 50s and 60s.
Engaging a Community
Sensitive to the fragile footholds dance occupied in American society in general, and in the professional and educational establishments in particular, in 1973 the sisters collaborated with their parents Olive and Julius to establish The Harlem Dance Foundation. Its mission was to “nurture an endangered art form in an endangered community.” Through the Foundation over the course of 20 years, the family produced performances and developed innovative arts education programs both at their Harlem studio and in communities throughout the Northeast. The Foundation produced intergenerational original musicals including Santa Claus and the Unicorn, which was performed annually in Harlem for 16 years and toured to Rhode Island and upstate New York. The Foundation strengthened its ties to the schools and residential communities by developing educational programs, including the River East Developmental Dance and Reading Curriculum and A Child’s Eye View—designed for children in urban areas to explore the architecture and history of their neighborhood as well as to explore the flora and fauna of the urban landscape. The Foundation strengthened its commitment to the social, political and cultural life of the community by hosting events at its facility, publishing a monthly newsletter, The Harlemite, and establishing The Central Harlem Brownstone Preservation Committee which was pivotal in saving historic brownstones from demolition. As a result, in part, due to the efforts of the Committee, the area around the Foundation’s site is now a historic district and Harlem is experiencing a second renaissance.
Preparing Future Dancers
In 1989, Carolyn was recruited by the State of New York to found the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA) School of Dance, an intensive pre-professional training program for talented young dancers. As artistic director for over 30 seasons, and with Julie as co-director, Carolyn has assembled a faculty of respected teachers and choreographers to guide the program’s students in a demanding study of technique, composition, and repertory, with a focus on connecting them to the full legacy of American concert dance. Since its inauguration, the NYSSSA School of Dance has hosted over 500 young dancers—many attending multiple summers—and over 175 faculty, guest artists, and program staff. NYSSSA has also served as an important laboratory for new work, generating more than 30 premieres by faculty and residencies featuring Battleworks Dance Company, Danny Grossman Dance Company, Parsons Dance Company, Taylor2, and Troika Ranch. NYSSSA School of Dance alumni have gone on to graduate from esteemed conservatory and college programs and can be found performing in professional companies of all sizes, creating their own work, teaching, and supporting dance in varied settings. Of equal importance, most NYSSSA Alumni have pursued careers outside of dance while bringing their creative perspective to all they do and are important advocates and patrons of dance.
Building a Legacy
The Adams sisters have focused a combined century of two multi-faceted lives in dance towards helping shape the next generations of dance makers, students, teachers, scholars, and audiences. Carolyn has brought her rich experiences from the professional world of The Paul Taylor Dance Company into the conservatory training environments of The Juilliard School and The Ailey School, while Julie has brought dance into the academy at Brown University and into a range of venues throughout Rhode Island. Together they have directed these parallel perspectives into the community with the founding of The Harlem Dance Foundation and towards training young minds and bodies at the NYSSSA School of Dance.
From their wide-ranging vantage points, Carolyn and Julie have recognized obstacles that impede the sharing, performing, and teaching of the American dance legacy. Since 1992, they have worked to directly address those challenges through the development of Repertory Etudes, by establishing the American Dance Legacy Initiative—which was a program based at Brown University from 1993-2020, including 13 years at the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage—and now through the ongoing work of Dancing Legacy. Through the Adams sisters' approach, dance students, practitioners, audiences, and whole communities are being made direct heirs to America’s cultural and artistic heritage.