Sarah Lawrence, founded in 1926, was one of the first programs in the country to incorporate dance as part of the liberal arts curriculum. In choosing Rudner to head the dance program the College's committee on appointments took into account the College's emphasis on creativity. During that time she began to choreograph for a small group of dancers known as the Sara Rudner Performance Ensemble and conceived and directed a series of dances intended to break with conventional time frames, spaces and occasions. Rudner is a graduate of Barnard College and received her MFA from Bennington College. She received a Bessie in 1984 and has been awarded grants or fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts.
Photographs are available to the press.