dance history ch. 11

(2)Agnes de Mille Contributions:

(4) "Conversations About Dance" lectures, both live and on television taught American audiences about the history of dance (5) She wrote extensively about dance, dance history, and her personal and professional experiences.

(1)Agnes de Mille Contributions:

1) Musical Theatre - concept of creating dances that functioned as an integral part of the plot (2) She created a path as a choreographer and stage director (3) Dance movements she used in Rodeo and other ballets and musical would become synonymous with American style

(1)George Balanchine

1924 he joined Diaghilev and Ballet Russes as a dancer and choreographed for the company before Massine's return. His landmark Apollo, choreographed for the ballet Russes in 1928 was the beginning of Balanchine's artistic focus on abstract ballet and neoclassical style as well as his collaboration with Stravinsky.

(1)THE BALLET CARAVAN

1936, Kirstein tried again, organizing Ballet Caravan, a group of 12 dancers from Balanchine's ranks to perform works of "native character" on a summer tour of New England. From Ballet Caravan American choreographers emerged as Lew Christensen, Eugene Loring, and William Dollar.

John Martin

A drama critic for the new York Times, John Martin became the newspaper's first dance critic in 1927.

Lamentation

A signature solo, choreographed by Martha Graham in which a female dancer is encased in a fabric shroud sits on a bench performing an emotional dance about the feeling of grief.

(2)Katherine Dunham

After a year of being director of the Negro Unit of the Federal Theatre Project in Chicago she moved her company to New York. She continued to explore blending African, European, Afro-Caribbean and American Dance.

Humphrey-Weidman Company

After leaving Denishawn, Humphrey and Weidman started their company in New York in 1928. Humphrey explored and developed her theories of modern dance composition and Weidman's gift for the comic provided a balance to company's repertory.

(1)History, Politics, Society and the Arts

American Ballet Style 1940 New Dance - Modern Dance - firmly established New York City became the dance capital of the country Great Depression Migration to the West for work African Americans moving North looking for work.

(1)BALLET THEATRE

An outgrowth of Mikhail Mordkin's Ballet Company, Ballet Theatre gave its first performance in January 1940. It was a company originally conceived as a company composed of three wings; classical, contemporary and ethnic.

Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant

Chase and Richard Pleasant founded and co-directed Ballet Theatre in 1940. Pleasant resigned two seasons later leaving Chase as director.

A House Divided

Choreographed by Charles Weidman examines the Civil War, the conflict and the character of Abraham Lincoln.

The Shakers

Choreographed by Doris Humphrey was a microcosm of Shaker society and religious practices, the dance uses marching, jumping, clapping, swaying and shaking free of sin.

Negro Spirituals

Choreographed by Helen Tamiris was a series of works set to spirituals, including "Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho", "Go down, Moses" and "When the Saints Go Marchin' In".

Appalachian Spring

Choreographed by Martha Graham this piece is set in early 19th century Pennsylvania where a young pioneer couple celebrates the building of their new home with a revivalist and followers.

(3)Martha Graham

Collaborating with composers and set designers on her works brought them a new level of theatricality. During the 1940's her Americana themes shifted to psychological and literary themes. In 1972 she left the stage as a performer and reorganized her company presenting seven revivals and two new works. She continued to run her company until her death. Her body of work consisted of 181 dances

(2)Emerging American Ballet

Due to the isolation of America in WWII allowed American dancers and choreographers to gain confidence in their talent and artistic worth.

(2)Ballet Theatre

During Ballet Theatres first years Tudor's ballets provided the company with a stabilizing force that was able to develop a strong image. Ballet Theatre fostered the development of many American dancers and choreographers including, Nora Kaye, Agnes de Mille, Michael Kidd, Glen Tetley and Eliot Feld.

(2)Helen Tamiris

During the 1940's and 1950's Tamiris choreographed Broadway musicals, including Showboat (1946), Annie Get Your Gun (1946), Fanny (1954), Plain and Fancy (1955) and Touch and Go (1949) for which she won a Tony Award. Tamiris used 20th century composers such as Gershwin and Debussy for her choreography.

Doris Humphrey The four key components of her technique are:

Fall and Recovery, Successional Flow, Breath Rhythms - Breath and Exhalation, Oppositional motion - Change of weight

Graham Company and School

Graham's school began in 1926 which was populated by the leading modern dancers of the 1930's and 1940's. Graham's works during this period used minimal costumes and sets as she explored and developed her dance technique and vocabulary.

(3)George Balanchine

He became ballet master at the Metropolitan Opera, choreographed ballets for the Ziegfeld Follies and "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" for the musical On Your Toes One of his signature works The Four Temperaments showcased the clean, spare lines and athleticism of a new American style. has been called the "Father of American Ballet."

(2)Antony Tudor

He chose works by late romantic and modern composers and based his themes on psychological and social ideas. He joined the Metropolitan Opera Ballet School as director and taught in the dance division at the Juilliard School.

(1)Charles Weidman

He left Nebraska at the age of 19 to study at Denishawn where he met Doris Humphrey and performed with the Denishawn Company for eight years. He left the company with Humphrey to establish a company in New York. During 1930's Weidman and Humphrey taught, choreographed and were artist-teachers at Bennington College.

(2)Louis Horst

He was the musical director for Denishawn for 10 years, worked with Graham for 20 years as her musical advisor and mentor and with Humphrey-Weidman. Horst founded Dance Observer, the first journal to be devoted exclusively to modern dance in

(3)Helen Tamiris

Her dances were about oppressed people and the need for social justice. A series of dances she created from 1928 through 1941 known as Negro Spirituals included "Swing Lo, Sweet Chariot, and "Go Down, Moses" were created for the Federal Works Project in 1937 became another of her signature pieces. This work was to win the 1937 Dance Magazine Award for best ensemble choreography.

Martha Graham movement theory

Her movement theory was based on contraction and release. Her expressive, codified movement requires a centered body and uses breathing and opposing forces.

(1)Martha Graham

Her technique has a codified language of modern dance. Graham enrolled in the Denishawn School in 1916 and joined the company 1919 then left in 1923. She performed two seasons in the Greenwich Village Follies followed by a year of teaching at Eastman School for Dance and Dramatic Arts.

(3)Katherine Dunham

Her technique is a blend of African American, Caribbean, African and South American movement styles. The technique requires a flexible torso and spine and uses isolation and polyrhythm in its movements. Her technique is taught at The Ailey School.

(4)Hanya Holm

Holm was an exponent of German modern dance that was at least ten years older than American modern dance and used space, emotion and feeling as the basis of movement.

(3)Hanya Holm

Holm's signature piece was Trend (1937) created at Bennington for her New York Debut. Her works Dance of Work and Play (1938) and Metropolitan Daily (1938) were clear indications she understood American Society. She choreographed musicals on Broadway including Kiss Me Kate (1948), My Fair Lady (1956) and Camelot (1960).

(4)Doris Humphrey

Humphrey established a relationship between each dancer and choreography and used their individual uniqueness of her dancers encouraging individuality of style in her pupils.

(3)Doris Humphrey

Humphrey's choreography explored the conflict of man with his environment. Many of her works have strong social content. Her choreography and performance with Weidman balanced male and female forms in contrast to Graham's work which reflected a predominantly female view.

(1)Doris Humphrey

In 1918 she auditioned for the Denishawn School and was immediately invited into the company. As a protégé of St. Denis, Humphrey collaborated with her on music visualizations. In 1927 Humphrey left Denishawn with Charles Weidman to establish a company and school in New York.

(2)Martha Graham

In 1927 Graham opened her own studio. Her early dances were solos: for example, Lamentations (1930) and Frontier (1935). In the 1930's her dances were angular and stark, expressing the conflicts with man. In the 1940's her choreographic interest changed to characters, particularly female heroines and she began to make larger dances with more theatrical elements.

(1)Helen Tamiris

In 1930 she married her dance partner, Daniel Nagrin, with whom she formed the Tamiris-Nagrin Dance Company. She is remembered for her dances based on Negro Spirituals and her contributions to American Musical Theatre.

Ballet Russe and Rene Blum

In 1938 a split between de Basil and Blum resulted in two companies. The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo with Blum and Massine and de Basil's company the Original Ballet Russe.

(1)Agnes de Mille

In 1940 she joined Ballet Theatre where she created Three Virgins and a Devil. In 1942 Ballet Russes invited her to choreograph and she created Rodeo with her dancing the leading role.

Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith

In 1945 Chase and scenic director Oliver Smith became co-directors and remained so until 1980. Smith's designs of Rodeo and Fancy Free led to his work on Broadway and film

(2)Doris Humphrey

In 1945 Humphrey left the stage as a performer for health reasons but continued to contribute to the development of modern dance. She became artistic director of Jose Limon's company, helping her develop as a choreographer and building the company's repertoire.

(2)History, Politics, Society and the Arts

Labor Unions and political radicalism - unrest - World War II - Europe Depression - 90 million people went to the movies every week - Dance Musicals the most popular WWII - women became a huge part of the Armed Forces.

(2)American Ballet Company and School

Less than a year after its inception the American Ballet Company held its first performance. Critics were disappointed that that the company was not literally more American.

(1)American Ballet Company and School

Lincoln Kirstein believed that a ballet school serves as the foundation of a permanent company, training future dancers. He modeled it after the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg. The School of American Ballet opened its doors in 1934.

(1)Social Dances

Lindy Hop - Shorty George - African American star dancer at the Savoy Ballroom Lindy Hop hit Broadway in 1930 and spread across the globe via films and touring dance troupes Swing Dance - Benny Goodman and the Big Band Era, moved from the Lindy Hop - the Jitterbug

(1)Emerging American Ballet

New American choreographers honed their craft, creating dances about American characters, heroes and legends but still utilizing ballet Lincoln Kirstein - pivotal in launching American ballet.

(2)Social Dances

Rumba - 1936 introduced to US at the Chicago World Fair - Cuban dance Rumba is a sensual dance performed in 4/4 music - American style, slow-quick-quick

(3)Social Dances

Samba introduced at the World's Fair in 1939 - Carmen Miranda performed in movies and stage Samba was a popular couples dance in 2/4 time at a medium tempo Conga - Desi Arnes, of Lucy and Desi fame were credited with the explosion of the conga and its popularity.

(1)Katherine Dunham

She studied dance forms in the West Indies, including Haiti. In 1931 she founded a student company at the University of Chicago, called Ballet Negre. Later in the 1930's she founded the Negro Dance Groups, creating Haitian Suite for the Negro Dance Evening in New York in 1937.

Federal Theatre Project

The Federal Theatre Project was part of the Works Progress Administration, which developed during the Depression in order to provide theatre professionals with work. The program supported many modern dance artists in projects in New York, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles. This was the first time that dance received federal funding.

(2)Charles Weidman

The Humphrey Weidman studio dissolved in 1945 after which he toured with his own company and continued to teach. Weidman's choreography was a blend of dance with a subtle use of mime, comedy and wit. He was one of the first artists to explore kinetic pantomime, in which he took literal movement and moved it to the abstract.

(2)Agnes de Mille

The ballet was a success which led her to Broadway where she choreographed Oklahoma!, Carousel, Brigadoon, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Paint Your Wagon. In 1948 she had another ballet hit, Fall River Legend, a dramatic work based on the famous murder case of Lizzie Borden

(2)THE BALLET CARAVAN

The works were the experiments of choreographers who would mature into a style that was distinctly American.

(1)Antony Tudor

Where in his first season he restaged some the works he created in England, Jardin aux Lilas (Lilac Garden), Dark Elegies, and Pillar of Fire. His "psychological ballets" became the company's mainstay during the war years.

Lincoln Kirstein

a scholar, ballet patron, impresario, writer and dance historian was devoted to creating an American ballet. He brought Balanchine to the United States in a quest to form an American ballet. He was instrumental in organizing Ballet Caravan and became the Director of Ballet Society, the forerunner of the New York City Ballet.

Lucia Chase

an American dancer and wealthy widow with an insatiable love for ballet studied and performed with Mikhail Mordkin's company which became the nucleus for Ballet Theatre.

(2)George Balanchine

at a Les Ballet London engagement he met Lincoln Kirstein, a young American invited him to come to the United States to direct the new School of American Ballet (SAB) and the short lived American Ballet Company where his first original ballet Serenade was premiered in 1935.

Concerto Barocco

by Balanchine and Johann Sebastian Bach, composer is an abstract ballet in three movements in which the costumes were practice clothes and the only set was a backdrop.

Serenade

by Balanchine set to Tchaikovsky's Serenade in C. The neoclassical ballet blanc evolved from work done with students at the School of American Ballet.

Pillar of Fire

by Tudor and Arnold Schoenberg, composer explores Sister Hagar's brief affair. She is terrified of losing the man she loves to her younger, more beautiful sister and becoming an Old Maid. Tudor explores the emotions of the sisters and 20th century views on her indiscretion.

Katherine Dunham contributions to 20th century American dance as a dancer, choreographer and social activist are:

choreographed 90 dances and 5 revues - 4 of them on Broadway. Created a repertory of dance that explored diverse themes, folklore and ideas. Realized her ambition was to make negro dance a respectable art, which was against the thinking of the modern dance establishment. wrote Journey to Accompong, The Dance of Haiti and Island Possessed.

Rodeo

choreographed by Agnes de Mille with Aaron Copeland, composing was a collage of ballet, modern, square and tap dance. The theme of Rodeo is how a cowgirl gets her man.

Water Study

choreographed by Doris Humphrey was a dance depicting the tides of movement of water. The piece has no musical accompaniment; instead the dancer's body rhythms and breathing set the tempo and rhythm.

Metropolitan Daily

choreographed by Hanya Holm explores characters in a funny, satirical dance who portray vignettes based on different sections of the daily newspaper, such as sports, society and comic sections.

(1)Hanya Holm

impressed she went to Wigman's School and later joined the company. Holm became the chief instructor and co-director of the Wigman School in Dresden. In 1931 Sol Hurok brought Holm to New York to start a branch of the Wigman School. I

Bennington School - Bennington College

in Vermont offered a summer school Bennington fostered the growth of modern dance and its artists. In the school's first years, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman and Hanya Holm taught the summer sessions.

Ballet Russe

opened in New York City in 1933, Massine the company's ballet master restaged many of the Diaghilev ballets preserving the impresario's legacy.

Rene Blum

served as director of ballet at Monte Carlo. Les Ballets Russe de Monte Carlo was run jointly by Blum and Colonel de Basil (1888-1951), Blum the artist, de Basil a shrewd showman.

(2)Hanya Holm

the Wigman School was renamed Hanya Holm Studio because of the negative association with Wigman's name as tensions escalated between Germany and the United States. Holm's choreography focused on movement in its relationship to space and on emotion as the basis for creating movement.

(1)Louis Horst

was a composer, music historian and mentor to the first generation of modern dance artists. He taught choreography at the New School and Juilliard and wrote about modern dance choreography.