Viviane Gauthier

Viviane Gauthier (March 1918 - June 1, 2017) was a Haitian dancer and teacher of Haitian folkloric dance who studied Haitian folklore with Katherine Dunham-trained Lavinia Williams in her youth and eventually opened the Viviane Gauthier School of Dance in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She is credited for having championed Haitian folkloric dance as its own discipline, deserving of recognition and preservation despite pressures for it to incorporate modern dance. She has also been credited for keeping Haitian dances such as Yanvalou, Nago and Rada alive. One of her students has opened a dance company in Paris and another is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in the United States.