Anna Wyman

Anna Wyman, née Roman, dancer, choreographer, teacher and director (b at Graz, Austria c 1928). As founder and choreographer of her own Vancouver dance company, Wyman was a noted figure in Canadian modern dance into the 1980s.

Wyman, Anna

Anna Wyman, née Roman, dancer, choreographer, teacher and director (b at Graz, Austria c 1928). As founder and choreographer of her own Vancouver dance company, Wyman was a noted figure in Canadian modern dance into the 1980s. She studied ballet and contemporary movement in various European cities and danced in Austria until 1948. Wyman moved to England in 1952, where she taught and opened her own school.

Immigrating to Canada, she established the Anna Wyman School of Dance Arts in Vancouver in 1968 and the Anna Wyman Dancers in 1970 (professional debut 1971), which became the Anna Wyman Dance Theatre in 1973. For most of the troupe's history Wyman's choreography dominated the repertoire and was noted for its marked individuality. Wyman had a special concern with overall choreographic structure and stage design. Her work often seemed to owe more to abstract modern dance than to its more humanistic expressions. Wyman, however, could also create humorous works and on several occasions employed Canadian subject matter. She choreographed 39 works for the company and led it on many overseas tours, but the troupe's popularity began to wane during the 1980s and it had ceased performing by 1990. However, the Anna Wyman School of Dance Arts continues in Vancouver.