Initially solo artists, Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn began collaborating on work in 1914. St. Denis was preparing for a tour of the southeastern region of the United States, and needed a male partner to help present new ballroom dances. Shawn, who had admired St. Denis since seeing her perform in 1911, auditioned for and was awarded the role. The resulting tour featured the partnered pieces along with individual works from St. Denis and Shawn respectively.
The working relationship between Shawn and St. Denis soon turned romantic. The two artists fell in love and were married on August 13, 1914.[2] Denis, reticent about marriage, had the word "obey" deleted from their wedding vows and declined to wear a wedding ring.[3] Their "honeymoon" consisted of a second joint tour - accompanied by a small company of dancers - from Saratoga Springs, New York to San Francisco, California. A new collection of dances, including more ballroom variations, St. Denis' solos and Shawn's famous Dagger Dance, was showcased. For promotional purposes, the dancing group was referred to as the St. Denis-Shawn Company. During the summer of 1915 in Los Angeles, the two established their first official school, the Ruth St. Denis School of Dancing and Its Related Arts at 600 St. Paul Avenue.[4][2]
On February 6, 1915, on yet another tour, the term "Denishawn" surfaced. At a performance in Portland, Oregon, a theater manager promised eight box seats to whoever could dream up the most creative name for the latest St. Denis-Shawn ballroom exhibition. The unchallenged, winning title was "The Denishawn Rose Mazurka." While the full name did not warrant much popularity, the "Denishawn" portion attracted audience members and the press - to such an extent that the namesake couple officially changed their company name from the St. Denis-Shawn Company to Denishawn Dancers.[3]
Denishawn Dancer Ruth Austin
With the new name and their own school, Shawn and St. Denis began brainstorming ways to expand their contributions to the dance world. St. Denis and Shawn renamed the school 'The Denishawn School', and they soon began developing those movements, techniques, and innovations that became known as the Denishawn style of dancing. The two developed a guide for their pedagogy and choreography, an excerpt of which is:
"The art of dance is too big to be encompassed by any one system. On the contrary, the dance includes all systems or schools of dance. Every way that any human being of any race or nationality, at any period of human history, has moved rhythmically to express himself, belongs to the dance. We endeavor to recognize and use all contributions of the past to the dance and will continue to use all new contributions in the future".[2]
Later years
Denishawn disintegrated in 1931 after Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis separated, though the pair never divorced and continued to promote dance education through their respective endeavors. Shawn went on to purchase the property used for the Jacob's Pillow Dance center in Becket, Massachusetts, which continues to operate. In her teachings after Denishawn, St. Denis focused on spiritual and Asian influences in dance. After roughly a decade working apart, Shawn and St. Denis reunited briefly in 1941 at the Jacob's Pillow Dance festival, where they performed several works together.[5]
Technique and classes
Over the years that the school grew more widely renown, the teaching system was constantly being evolved. According to St. Denis, Shawn attributed the most to this. He addressed incoming students with a 'diagnosis lesson', which would assess their current skills in order to assign them to a specific learning/class structure for their time at the Denishawn school.[6] Shawn also was firm on his ideas of what was necessary for the learning curriculum. He addressed that ballet was an overall necessity for any dancer to move forward or thrive in their studies, which is a big reason why the Denishawn curriculum was largely based on ballet fundamentals.[7]
When taking technique classes, students danced in bare feet and wore identical one-piece black wool bathing suits.[7] Classes lasted three hours every morning. Shawn typically taught during the first block of time, leading students through stretches, limbering exercises, ballet barre and floor progressions and free-form center combinations. St. Denis then took over with instruction in Oriental and yoga techniques. Author and former Denishawn pupil Jane Sherman recalls an everyday class, laden with ballet terminology:
"A typical Denishawn class began at the barre; first came stretching, petits and grands battements, a series of plies in the five positions, sixteen measures of grande rondes de jambes, and thirty-two measures of petites rondes de jambes. These might be followed by slow releves in arabesque, fast changes, entrechats, and exercises to prepare for fouettes. In short, the works! After ballet arm exercises out on the floor, we next worked to perfect our develops en tournant, out attitudes, out renverses, and our grande jetes".[2]
Each pupil danced alone a series of pas de basques: the Denishawn version, the ballet, the Spanish, and the Hungarian. The Denishawn pas de basque was distinguished by arms held high and parallel overhead as the body made an extreme arch sideways toward the leading foot.[8]
Next usually came a free, open exercise affectionately nicknamed "arms and body," done to a waltz from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty. A forerunner of the technical warmups now used in many modern dance schools, it started with feet placed far apart and pressed flat on the floor. After a slow swinging of the body into ever-increasing circles, came head, shoulder, and torso rolls, with the arms sweeping from the floor to the ceiling followed by a relaxed run around the circumference of the studio, ending in a back fall. Other exercises included Javanese arm movements, and hand stretches to train the dancers Western fingers into going backward into some semblance of Cambodian dance flexibility.[2]
Class always closed with the learning of another part of a dance. Based on the theory that one learns to perform by performing, dance exercises were essential elements in Denishawn training, and some of them were so professionally interesting that they became part of the concert repertory.[2]
Any pupil attending classes at a Denishawn school had a wide array of classes to choose from outside of the consistent technique classes. Ted felt it important that the technique was not all too rigid, like classical ballet, and contained some less-structured forms, which brought classes on Dalcroze eurythmics as well as Delsarte laws of expressionism into the curricula. Ruth, on the other hand, emphasized the origins of dance from the foreign countries of the East, the history behind these techniques, and the method of what she called "music visualization", and added to the curricula based on these standards.[7] The couple also offered a Hawaiian Hula class taught by the dance instructor Kulamanu, as well as a class taught by Misha Ito that emphasized specificities of the technique to Japanese sword dancing. Outside of movement classes, the school had lectures, music classes, the art of dyeing and the treatment of fabrics, and libraries to study for these courses.
Schools opened
The first school that St. Denis and Shawn opened as partners was an older Spanish-style mansion in the hills of Los Angeles on St. Paul Street. It had an indoor room that was perfectly sized to fit smaller classes, a swimming pool and a tennis court for additional endurance training and/or leisure time, and the estate was filled with eucalyptus trees. Once they settled in, they built their own dancing platform over the tennis court. They also strategically built canopies over the outside space so that they could use it year-round.[6]
There were two spaces in the St. Paul school reserved for technique classes: an indoor studio where St. Denis primarily taught, and an outdoor ballroom for yoga meditations and Shawn's various classes (ballet, ballroom and what would later be called "Denishawn" technique). $500 covered the cost of a 12-week program that included daily technique classes, room and board, arts and crafts and guided reading lessons.[2] Regular classes and a lunch at the school would cost one dollar for the students. The fees would be collected in an old cigar box by one of Shawn's friends, Mary Jane Sizemore.[6]
During the second summer that the school was opened St. Denis and Shawn decided to hire a manager. Mrs. Edwina Hamilton was brought on staff at the school and was praised by Ruth for her kindness. That winter St. Denis and Shawn went on tour and left the school open and in the hands of Mrs. Hamilton and the assistant teachers. While they were on tour, the registration for upcoming classes looked promising and Mrs. Hamilton suggested that the Denishawn School find a bigger home.
Their second school location in Los Angeles was in an old house in West Lake Park and shared similar characteristics to the St. Paul Street estate. This location had a garden and a tennis court, like the previous school had. Another dance platform was built over the tennis court, a tent was placed over that, and an auditorium was positioned on one side of the area and a dressing room on the opposite side.[6] Eventually, the school went on to spreading farther than just California as Shawn and St. Denis spread their repertory and style through performing. In 1927 they opened a school on Stevenson Place in The Bronx, New York.[9]
Repertory and performance
Ruth St Denis & Company in "Ishtar of the Seven Gates", 1920s
The Denishawn Dancers took advantage of many performance opportunities – in colleges, concert halls, vaudeville theaters, convention centers and outdoor stadiums. Besides being invited to performance venues like New York's Palace Theater (1916), Denishawn was the first American company to present "serious Western dance" in Japan, Burma, China, India, Ceylon, Java, Malaya and the Philippines (1925–26)[2] In some ways, the presented work resembled ballet – each piece was a full-company story with elaborate costumes, sets and lighting. In terms of movement, however, the differences were obvious – no pointe shoes, no pas de deux lifts, no exact format for patterning solos and ensemble pieces.
Most Denishawn works fall into one of four categories:
Orientalia: Chronologically, these were the first true Denishawn works. St. Denis was responsible for the majority of these pieces, though Shawn did put together a small number of Oriental solos and group dances. As their title suggests, these pieces incorporate aspects of East Indian movement, dress and environment (in the form of set design). A particularly famous work from this period is St. Denis's Radha, a mini-ballet set in a Hindu temple in which an exotic woman dances to honor the five senses.
Americana: While St. Denis found her most powerful inspiration in the Far East, Shawn seemed to find his in the cultures of America. His works dominate the Americana series, complete with musical scores by American composers and portrayals of "American" characters like cowboys, Indians and ballplayers. Shawn's comic pantomime Danse Americaine, for example, centers on a soft-shoe dancer acting as a baseball player.
Music visualizations: Inspired by Isadora Duncan's approach to music, St. Denis developed the music visualization, which she defined as "...the scientific translation into bodily action of the rhythmic, melodic and harmonious structure of a musical composition without intention to in any way 'interpret' or reveal any hidden meaning apprehended by the dancer".[2] Meaning, movement was set strictly to music without reading into anything emotionally. If the music swells, the body swells: if the music grows quiet, the body comes to rest. St. Denis's Soaring, set on five female dancers, is arguably her most well-known music visualization.
Miscellanea: Also known as "Denishawn divertissements", these shorter works included those that cannot fit neatly into the pigeonholes of "Oriental", "Americana" and "Music Visualization".[2] These works were reserved for performances that did not require presentations of full-length ballets.
Many Denishawn solo works remain in the active repertoire of many companies. Their solos are of special interest to many for their exotic qualities. Several of their solos were included in "The Art of the Solo" presented at the Baltimore Museum of Art on September 29, 2006. These included three revival premieres, namely, Shawn's "Invocation to the Thunderbird"(1916), last danced by Denishawn dancer John Dougherty and "Death of Adonis" (1922). Both were recreated by Mino Nicolas, programme curator, with the aid of film, written accounts and photographs. Also featured were the revival premiere of Ruth St. Denis' "The Peacock/A Legend of India" (1906) which was recreated using the same methods. Her signature solo, "The Incense", will also be performed by Cynthia Word of Washington, D.C.
Pupils
During its developmental years, the first pupils to join the Denishawn school played a large role in building it up from the ground, and have even been described as "foundation stones of the system that was to spread over the country".[2] This group included Margaret Loomis, Addie Munn, Helen Eisner, Florine Goodman, Aileen Flaven, Florence Andrews (who danced under the name Florence O'Denishawn, Sadie Vanderhoff, Carol Dempster, Ada Forman, Claire Niles, Chula Monzon, and Yvonne Sinnard. The majority of these original dancers were related to close acquaintances of St.Denis and Shawn. Another well known student and employee of the Denishawn school was Pearl Wheeler. She was primarily the costumer for the school but also took classes and appeared in performances alongside the other dancers.[6]
Several notable movie stars of the early 20th century studied under the Denishawn school in their lifetimes. The Gish sisters, Dorothy and Lillian Gish, took classes from St. Denis and Shawn for some time. Lillian even worked separately with St. Denis and Ruth when she and Rosie Dolly learned a dance from the two that was to be featured in their upcoming movie, The Lily and the Rose (1915). Other notable movie stars of the time include: Louise Brooks, Ina Claire, Ruth Chatterton, Lenore Ulric, Mabel Normand, Florence Vidor, Colleen Moore, and Myrna Loy.[6] Brooks was 15 years old when she joined Denishawn. The future actress was a member of the Denishawn company for two seasons, 1922-1923 and 1923-1924, and toured throughout the United States and parts of Canada. On a few occasions, Brooks was paired with Ted Shawn in featured dances.[10]
Some pupils who had their beginnings in the Denishawn school went on to make names for themselves , and their presence at the school is sometimes overlooked in their history. For instance, 'Mother of Modern Dance' Martha Graham joined the school during its second summer. She remained there for over a half decade, learning the technique and eventually becoming a regular instructor. Ruth claimed that during her time there, she was "quiet but asked intelligent questions."[6] Another two pupils who came to Denishawn in their early careers were Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. Humphrey moved out to California from Evanston, Illinois so that she could have the opportunity to study at the Denishawn school. St. Denis eventually told Humphrey that she should reconsider her plans to become a teacher and pursue a career in performing first. After some time studying at the school's West Lake Park, Humphrey and Weidman migrated to New York where they managed Denishawn's NY-based Denishawn house to develop their own styles and, eventually, open their own school: the Humphrey-Weidman Dance Company. Another illustrious Denishawn School (and company) alumnus was the jazz-dance innovator and choreographer Jack Cole.[11]
Modern dance in the United States is a form of contemporary dance that was developed in the United States in the 20th century. African American modern dance also developed a distinct style.
Contemporary dance is a genre of dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in the U.S. and Europe. Although originally informed by and borrowing from classical, modern, and jazz styles, it has come to incorporate elements from many styles of dance. Due to its technical similarities, it is often perceived to be closely related to modern dance, ballet, and other classical concert dance styles.
Doris Batcheller Humphrey was an American dancer and choreographer of the early twentieth century. Along with her contemporaries Martha Graham and Katherine Dunham, Humphrey was one of the second generation modern dance pioneers who followed their forerunners – including Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, and Ted Shawn – in exploring the use of breath and developing techniques still taught today. As many of her works were annotated, Humphrey continues to be taught, studied and performed.
Ruth St. Denis was an American pioneer of modern dance, introducing eastern ideas into the art and paving the way for other women in dance. She was inspired by the Delsarte advocate Genevieve Stebbins. St. Denis was the co-founder in 1915 of the American Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts. She taught notable performers including Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey. In 1938, she founded the pioneering dance program at Adelphi University. She published several articles on spiritual dance and the mysticism of the body.
Ted Shawn was a male pioneer of American modern dance. He created the Denishawn School together with his wife Ruth St. Denis. After their separation he created the all-male company Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers. With his innovative ideas of masculine movement, he was one of the most influential choreographers and dancers of his day. He was also the founder and creator of Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts, and "was knighted by the King of Denmark for his efforts on behalf of the Royal Danish Ballet."
Charles Weidman was a renowned choreographer, modern dancer and teacher. He is well known as one of the pioneers of modern dance in America. He wanted to break free from the traditional movements of dance forms popular at the time to create a uniquely American style of movement. Born in 1901, he choreographed from the 1920s until his death in 1975. While he is most famous for his work with Doris Humphrey, Weidman did much work on his own. He created a bridge to a new range of movement that he only began to explore. His work inspired many and helped to create a whole genre of dance that is still evolving today.
The United States of America is the home of the hip hop dance, swing, tap dance and its derivative Rock and Roll, and modern square dance and one of the major centers for modern dance. There is a variety of social dance and performance or concert dance forms with also a range of traditions of Native American dances.
Louis Horst was a composer, and pianist. He helped to define the principles of modern dance choreographic technique, most notably the matching of choreography to pre-existing musical structure and the use of contemporary music for dance scores.
Jacob's Pillow is a dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The facility itself was listed as a National Historic Landmark District in 2003.
Jack Cole was an American dancer, choreographer, and theatre director known as "the Father of Theatrical Jazz Dance" for his role in codifying African-American jazz dance styles, as influenced by the dance traditions of other cultures, for Broadway and Hollywood. Asked to describe his style he described it as "urban folk dance".
Edna Guy (1907–1982) was an African-American modern dance pioneer. Born in 1907 in Summit, New Jersey, Guy lived at a time when blacks and whites did not appear on stage together. At the age of fifteen she begged her mother to take her to a dance concert in Greenwich Village where she watched Modern Dance pioneer Ruth St. Denis perform the Incense Dance. From that point onwards Guy developed a lifelong relationship with modern dance world, especially in the African- American context.
Eleanor Campbell King (1906–1991) was an American modern dancer, choreographer, and educator. She was a member of the original Humphrey-Weidman company, where she was a principal dancer in the pioneering modern dance movement in New York City, then moving on to choreography and founding her own dance company in Seattle, Washington. She was a professor emerita at the University of Arkansas, where she taught from 1952 to 1971, before retiring to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to start a new course of study into classical Japanese and Korean dance. She choreographed over 120 dance works, and wrote extensively for a variety of dance publications. In 1948, she was named Woman of the Year in Seattle, and in 1986 was listed as a "Santa Fe Living Treasure", also receiving the New Mexico Governor's Artist Award. In 2000, her archive was recognized by the White House Millennium Council's "Save America's Treasures" program.
Marion Burbank Stevens Rice was an American modern dance choreographer, dance teacher and producer.
Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was considered to have been developed as a rejection of, or rebellion against, classical ballet, and also a way to express social concerns like socioeconomic and cultural factors.
Jane Sherman was an American writer, performer, composer, and one-time dancer and member of the Rockettes the famed in-house dance troupe of Radio City Music Hall. She was a former member and authority of Denishawn, the eclectic company, founded by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn in 1915. She performed with companies ranging from modern-dance groups to the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.
The Vanaver Caravan was established in 1972 by Bill Vanaver and Livia Drapkin Vanaver. Bill and Livia met in New York City in 1971 while Bill was playing music and Livia was studying dance. They soon joined forces and traveled the world together performing and learning new music and dance forms. Their first concert as the Vanaver Caravan was in 1972 at Washington Square Church in New York City. They have now developed the Vanaver Caravan into a non-profit organization hosting performances and dance classes for a range of ages.
Barton Mumaw was an American dancer and choreographer who performed in modern dance concerts and musical theater productions. He was the muse of Ted Shawn, pioneer of modern dance.
Scherza was a modern dance solo choreographed by Martha Graham to music by Robert Schumann. It premiered on December 10, 1927, at a special performance for the Cornell Dramatic Club. The program was billed as the Adolph Bolm Dance Recital. In addition to Graham and Bohm, the performance featured Ruth Page, Vera Mirova, Bernice Holmes and Marcia Preble. Graham appeared in two solo works, Scherza and Tanagra.
Lugubre was a modern dance solo choreographed by Martha Graham to music by Alexander Scriabin. The piece was originally part of Five Poems, a ballet divided into five solo sections: Fragilité, Lugubre, Poeme ailé, Danse Languide and Désir. Each of the sections appears in various programs as individual solos. Five Poems premiered on October 16, 1927, at the Little Theatre in New York City.
Schlundt, Christena L. The Professional Appearances of Ruth St. Denis & Ted Shawn; a Chronology and an Index of Dances, 1906-1932. (New York: New York Public Library, 1962.)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
