Capturing a sense of the life and work of Bessie Schonberg is possible if one evokes the image of a prism, a multi-face crystalline object which cannot be perceived in its entirety, but can be appreciated and understood by catching glimpses of light from its different sides.

Rose Elizabeth McGrew, her mother, was an American opera singer and as a result, she and her two sisters grew up surrounded by the arts.

Hill introduced her to the world of dance in New York City and to one of the best known modern dancers of all time, Martha Graham.

These second generation modern dancers yearned to create expressive movement free of the confines of traditional ballet.

She also served as the choreographic advisor at the YARD on Martha's Vineyard - one of the nation's first residential retreats for young choreographers [www.DanceTheYard.org], taught at the Juilliard School, and conducted workshops at Dance Theater Workshop and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Although Schonberg admired Isadora Duncan and other founding members of the modern era, she favored movement that required more discipline and had a heavier feel.

As a choreographer and teacher, she made her dancers explore the ideas of gravity, space, time and rhythm.

She would also give her dancers complex problems which they would have to solve through movement; she believed that this kind of teaching method bred creative and open-minded movers.