Hanya Holm (born Johanna Eckert; 3 March 1893 – 3 November 1992) is known as one of the "Big Four" founders of American modern dance.

[2] Holm was drawn to music and drama at an early age, she attended the Dalcroze Institute of Applied Rhythm in Frankfurt, studying under Emile Jaques-Dalcroze throughout her childhood and young adult life.

The initial letters of certification and agreement from Wigman to Holm about the migration over to America to direct the school were found in her house after her death in 1992.

[4] In the letters the salary was laid out making sure that the transfer would continue to support her son, Klaus, who stayed in Germany, and the letter of agreement signed by both parties "promises to apply all her strength to the advancement of the New York Wigman School and to conduct the work according to Mary Wigman's ideas ... as well as to see that the M.W.

[4] Holm was not only capable of rising to the challenge of representing the Wigman name and teaching philosophy, she also helped to shape the school and build an influence of her own.

[5] Additionally she formed the Hanya Holm Dance Company in 1936, former dancers of the company included Keith Coppage, Carolyn Durand, Marva Jaffay, Mimi Kagan, Louise Kloepper, Henrietta Greenhood (later known as Eve Gentry), Ruth Ledoux, Lydia Tarnower, Bernice Van Gelder, Elizabeth Waters, Oliver Kosock, Gretchen Phillips, and Lucretia Wilson.

[7] Holm had a unique form of technique that shaped generations of dancers and choreographers including Alwin Nikolais, Mary Anthony, Valerie Bettis, Don Redlich, Maxine Munt, Alfred Brooks, Liz Aggiss and Glen Tetley.

Her technique stressed the importance of pulse, planes, floor patterns, aerial design, direction, and spatial dimensions.

Holm's movement emphasized the freedom and flowing quality of the torso and back, but remained based on universal principles of physics for motion.

[8] Holm trained through improvisation so, a specific movement vocabulary or phrasing that could be carried on through classes does not exist; instead her focus was about learning through discovery.

[7] In 1988, a documentary of her life Hanya: Portrait of a Pioneer narrated by Julie Andrews and Alfred Drake, and featuring interviews with Holm, Nikolais, Murray Louis, and others, was released by Dance Horizons.