Neil Greenberg

Greenberg began dancing at age 4, studying tap at the Nancy Raddatz Dance School, where his older siblings took lessons. At age 11 he began studying ballet and Graham-based modern at the Minnesota Dance Theatre. During this time, Greenberg first saw the Twyla Tharp company, which piqued his interest in post-modern dance. At 17, he left Minnesota to study at Juilliard. He auditioned for the Twyla Tharp company after moving to New York City and was asked to study at the school the company was starting. After his first year at Juilliard, Greenberg danced with the Eliot Feld Company (now known as Ballet Tech) for a summer (where he danced with Mark Morris). After leaving Eliot Feld, he began studying Cechetti Technique with Janet Panetta, whom he studied with, and later assisted, for 13 years. Greenberg danced with multiple choreographers at this time; Patrice M. Regnier and Rush Dance, Rachel Lampert & Dancers, and Manuel Alum. At this time, Greenberg took his first Cunningham class with June Finch. He was drawn to the straightforward, anti-narrative approach of the movement and choreography. At age 20, in 1978, he began studying at the Cunningham studio, and in 1979 he was asked to join the company.

While Greenberg was dancing with Merce Cunningham Dance Company, he began presenting dances at the Cunningham Studio, and later at St. Mark's Church. His dance "Amnesty", that premiered in 1985, was the first work of his to receive substantial attention. It featured Greenberg alongside former Cunningham dancer Louise Burns, as well as Janet Panetta and Susan Blankensop. One critic theorized that perhaps the title was a reference to Greenberg's differentiating himself from the Cunningham Company, which he was still a part of at the time. This hypothesis manifested the following spring when Greenberg made his first piece after leaving the company, entitled "Morphine". His next dance, "Macguffin, or How Meaning Gets Lost" (1987) shows Greenberg's early use of film as inspiration, later seen in his dances "This is What happened" (1999) and "Sequel" (2000). Greenberg has spoken about being influenced by Alfred Hitchcock in terms of using techniques found in suspense films, as well as filmmakers Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini and Martin Scorsese. Macguffin was also the first dance of Greenberg's to employ the use of text projections, a device that can be seen in many of his subsequent works.