Chapter 5 Outline

• Dance criticism and publishing affected modern dance development
o John Martin’s role as NY Times dance critic for 35 years (Reynolds 141, 143)
o Creation of Dancelovers Magazine (1925) later The Dance Magazine
o Horst’s The Dance Observer

• Common themes and experiences (142-43)
o Rejection of Broadway and vaudeville
o Focus on thematic material: nature, myth, questions of mortality and morality, basic traits of human nature
o Dance as a force for social change
o Insularity and cultism in performers and even audience
o Performers “did it all”: lighting, costumes, driving a bus, etc.
o Poor facilities
o Europeans fleeing fascism support the work

• Martha Graham and Louis Horst
o First independent recital in 1926 at age 32, not a complete break from her Denishawn heritage(142, 145)
o Horst made the connection with the German modern dance developments when he studied composition in Vienna in 1925: A new concept of music composed for dance after the dance was created (144)
o Graham and Horst became lovers; he had a major influence on her creative work from 1926-1948 when they split over Erick Hawkins
o She came relatively late to dance training
o “Out of emotion comes form” and “art is the condensation of strong feeling…Virile gestures are evocative of the only true beauty. Ugliness may actually be beautiful if it cries out with the voice of power.” (145-46)
o Created the first codified method of technique training designed to support the choreographic intent: contraction and release
o Summer dance at Bennington College allowed room for experimentation (150)
o Collaborated with Arch Lauterer on scenic and lighting designs in a new and original way (151)
o Continued to run company almost until her death at age 96 in 1991 with the exception of withdrawal at the time of relinquishing her performing roles in the late 1960s-early 1970s (156)
o Landmark works
Lamentation (1930) solo
Heretic (1929) first major group work (“the long woolens” period)
Primitive Mysteries (1931) Southwest theme
Frontier (1935) solo—first work with sculptor/scenic designer Isamu Noguchi—scenery was not realistic, but suggestive
American Document (1938) first work with a male role danced by Erick Hawkins
El Penitente (1940) featured Southwest theme and Hawkins and Merce Cunningham
Letter to the World (1940/41) exploration of Emily Dickenson’s psyche
Appalachian Spring (1944) pure Americana evoking the pioneer spirit to a score by Aaron Copland
Deaths and Entrances (1943) based on the Brontë sisters
Cave of the Heart (1946) first Greek myth: Medea
Night Journey (1947) based on myth of Jocasta
Diversion of Angels (1948) joyous for 3 women and 4 men with no role for Graham herself
The Triumph of St. Joan (1951) lengthy solo about Joan of Arc, recreated as a group work, Seraphic Dialogue (1955)
Clytemnestra (1958) return to Greek myth; dancers choreographed some phrases with Graham’s direction
Rite of Spring (1984) to Stravinsky’s score

• Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman
o Voted out of Denishawn in 1928; left with Weidman and with pianist and dancer Pauline Lawrence (157)
o Humphrey had prior ballet training with a background in ballroom and folk and a natural ability
o As Graham connected to Ted Shawn, Humphrey was a devotee of Miss Ruth
o Weidman had a special gift for comedy and mime and an interest in choreography; a versatile performer (159)
o Humphrey-Weidman school began in 1928; flats for backdrops and sets; modular sets of boxes to create levels and scenery became the trademark for their productions
o “The more impersonal and abstract art is, the greater it will be. The further from the individual, the further from personality, the closer to perfection….Drama is only a background, a structure to hand the movement and form on…Literary drama must always yield to what I call motion-drama in my compositions” Humphrey (158)
o Humphrey worked to create an original movement theory eventually based on fall and recovery based on gravity (159)
o Dance Repertory Theatre—a cooperative organized (1930) by Helen Tamiris to present collaborative seasons of modern dance; Humphrey participated with her 16 female dancers
o In 1946, former Humphrey-Weidman company member José Limón asked her to create a work for his new company (164)
o In 1948, organized the Dance Center at the 92nd Street Y to sponsor choreographers (165)
o Taught composition and repertory at Juillard and directed the student company until her death in 1958
o Landmark text: The Art of Making Dances on choreographic form and the formal process of composition
o Weidman called his style “kinetic pantomime” which borrowed from many different techniques and cultures
o “He delighted in incongruities, in fragmentary, mercurial movement, ringing abrupt changes of tempo, rhythm, and dynamics in the broken pieces he let the spectator put together as he would…he could always be counted on to do the unexpected thing.” (165)
o Worked on Broadway and in nightclubs in the 1950s, then choreographed for Broadway and opera until his death in 1975 (166)
o Many pieces did not survive because the work was so centered around his own performing abilities
o Landmark works by Humphrey
Valse Caprice (1920) first solo choreographed and performed by Humphrey
Soaring (192?) jointly choreographed by St. Denis and Humphrey
Hoop Dance (Scherzo Waltz) (1924) no playing to the audience; a solo popular in vaudeville
Color Harmony (1928) choreographed without music using bodies massed on different levels
Water Study (1928) no music; dancers moved to their own breath to depict the ebb and flow of the sea
The Shakers (1931) group dance depicting the restrained ecstacy of the Shaker sect using authentic steps
New Dance (1935) part of a trilogy completed in 1936; one of the first modern dances of extended length; took 3 evenings to perform and also included Theatre Piece and With My Red Fires
Passacaglia (1938) formalist music visualization; a celebration of dance and music to Bach
Inquest (1944) Humphrey’s last stage appearance; social commentary regarding poverty
Day on Earth (1947) choreographed for Limón’s company; and “exquisite pastorale” of family life
o Landmark works by Weidman
The Happy Hypocrite (1931) group work based on Max Beerbohm’s Fairytale for Tired Men
Quest: A Choreographic Pantomime (1936) plight of artists facing modern life; duet with Humphrey
On My Mother’s Side (1940) autobiographical
Flickers (1941) spoofed silent films
And Daddy Was a Fireman (1943) sequel to On My Mother’s Side
Fables for Our Time (1947) based on the work of James Thurber
Lynchtown

• Hanya Holm
o Chosen to direct Mary Wigman’s school in New York City (166)
o Stemmed from the Ausdruckstanz dance pedagogy in Germany
o “The tendency of the American dancer is to observe, portray, and comment on her surroundings, [whereas] the German dancer…starts with the actual emotional experience itself and its effect upon the individual” (167)
o Stressed the importance of pulse, rhythm, patters, design, space
o Trained Alwin Nikolais, Don Redlich, Glen Tetley among others
o Technique produced virtuosos with a technical mastery; dancer’s and audience’s response should be kinesthetic rather than emotional (168)
o Landmark works
Trend (1937) German compositional techniques but American in movement for 35 dancers; featured architectural scenic and lighting setting by Arch Lauterer
Kiss Me Kate (Broadway)

• Helen Tamiris
o Organized the first cooperative effort for modern dancers (170)
o Started as Helen Becker in the corps de ballet of the Metropolitan Opera
o First solo program in 1927 with pianist Louis Horst
o Work focused on middle and working-class themes (171)
o Believed that choreographers could maintain their individuality within an organization that benefited them all is practical matters while giving audiences more diversified programs: Shared expenses under the heading Dance Repertory Theatre; Humphrey and Graham could not get along, so project abandoned after 1932
o Landmark work
Negro Spirituals, Triangle Dance, Dance of the City (1930)

• New Dance Group
o Formed by Holm’s students offering training at 10 cents a lesson (171-72)
o Most of the major dance movers and shakers involved at some point
o Designed to reach as large an audience as possible and offer low cost training and encourage those without a prior dance background; school is still active

• Federal sponsorship under Roosevelt and dance in the 1930s
o Supported the arts as a means of alleviating unemployment and as a psychologically healing factor in a time of economic uncertainty (172)
o Works Progress Administration included the Federal Theatre Project with Tamiris as the chief choreographer
o Involvement with social issues brought dancers in contact with trade unions and other groups thought to be left-wing (173)
o Several dancers invited to communist Russia to perform and teach: Anna Sokolow (1934), Pauline Koner (1936-37)
o Relationship of art and propaganda became an issue
o New Dance League: former members of big Four groups included Anna Sokolow, Sophie Maslow and Jane Dudley with revolutionary themes (174)
o Modern dance began to be accepted in and supported by universities which lost its connection with the “people’s art”

• Bennington’s role in nurturing modern dance
o Bennington College summer programs (1934-42) allowed the major artists to come together in a rare atmosphere of cross fertilization
o Arts were on equal footing with academics at Bennington; BA with a dance concentration possible
o Martha Hill as Director of the Bennington Summer Program had a broad background in a variety of dance forms; invited creation of new works
o Choreographic fellowship program added in 1937 at which Anna Sokolow and José Limón were participants setting new work on students; men encouraged to enroll as students (175)
o Broadened the dance audience beyond NYC (176)
o Concern that it breeded a similarity