Annelise Mertz, professor emerita in the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences, received the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Gateway Older Women’s League (OWL) for her pioneering work in helping establish the PAD as well as Dance St. Louis.
Mertz received the honor during the OWL’s 16th annual awards dinner Oct. 11 at the Missouri Athletic Club.
Speaker for the ceremony was Sally Bliss, the recently retired executive director of Dance St. Louis.
The event was sponsored by AmerenUE, AT&T, May Department Stores Foundation and KWMU.
Mertz has long been a force on the St. Louis dance scene, as a teacher, performer and choreographer, and as a tireless champion for the arts.
In 2001, the University dedicated the Annelise Mertz Dance Studio in her honor, through a generous gift from Morris D. Marcus, M.D., a dermatologist and professor emeritus of the School of Medicine.
In 2004, she received the Missouri Arts Award, the state’s highest honor for achievement in the arts, from then-Gov. Bob Holden and First Lady Lori Hauser Holden.
Born in Berlin, Mertz danced professionally throughout Europe before immigrating to the United States in 1955.
She arrived on campus in 1957, founding and serving as artistic director of the Dance Theatre of Washington University and, in the mid-1960s, spearheading creation of the Dance Major Program (which she directed for some 31 years) and the PAD itself.
In 1966, Mertz founded and served as the first president of Dance St. Louis (originally called the Dance Concert Society), a not-for-profit organization focusing on modern dance.
The organization is today the area’s premiere dance presenter and continues to sponsor performances by nationally known professional companies.