Download Chapter 11- Emerging American Dance in 1930-1944

Chapter 11- Emerging American Dance in 1930-1944
I. The 1930's were a period when America saw the transition from Russian Ballet
to American Ballet with its own identity that sought to both maintain the classics as
well as appeal to audiences with new contemporary dance. New York City became
the dance capital of the country. Modern dancers and choreographers experimented
with a new dance form to express their techniques and philosophies.
A. The 1930's included the beginning of World War II (1935) and the end of the
Great Depression with women becoming part of the work force.
1. The Lindy Hop was a popular dance of this time created by a barely five foot tall
African American start whose stage name was Shorty George (George H.
Snowden).
2. The Lindy Hop was the first form of swing dance that evolved to jitterbug by
Cab Calloway. The jitterbug migrated its way to Europe by American men who
had been drafted and stationed there.
3. The Big Band Era included the bands of Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and
others.
4. Latin dances were popularized by movie stars and band leaders in the 1930's.
a. In 1936 the rumba was introduced to American audiences at the Chicagos
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worlds fair. The rumba has its roots in the 19th century and is a sensual dance
performed in 4/4 time and the steps vary in timing.
b. The Samba was also brought to America at the worlds fair in 1939. The
Samba is from Brazil and became a popular couples dance performed in 2/4 time
at a medium tempo.
c. Cuba band leader Desi Arnez of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez is credited with
popularizing the Conga around 1939. It is an easy, single file dance.
II. A new style for American ballet dancers and choreographers began to emerge
using stories and themes from American folk heros and the West.
A. Lincoln Kirstein launched a campaign to overthrow the comfortable Russian
ballet in America and to promote the development of America ballet which took
more than a decade to come into being.
B. Adolph Bolm (1884-1951) was a Russian dancer, choreographer and teacher
who left Russia to eventually form Ballet Intime (1917) a group of 12 dancers that
toured the United States. He choreographed for several movies as well as being
ballet master for the Chicago Civic Opera and the San Francisco Opera.
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C. Agnes de Mille (1909-1993) was the niece of the famous movie director Cecil
B. de Mille. She graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles and
traveled to London to begin her dance career with Ballet Rambert. She returned to
America and in 1940, she joined Ballet Theatre and began to stage her
choreography. Her famous work Rodeo premiered in 1943 for the Ballet Russe de
Monte Carlo with her as the leading role and after an instant success, she then
began to choreograph for Broadway. de Mille made a huge impact on musical
theatre, using her concept of creating dances that functioned as an integral part of
the plot.
D. Antony Tudor (1909-1987) was born in London and began his career with
Ballet Rambert. In 1940 he began his long association with Ballet Theatre as both
dancer and major choreographer. His “psychological ballets” using economy of
movement and stylized gestures to tell a story became the core of the company’s
work during the war years. He taught at the dance division at the Julliard School
and later at the University of California at Irvine. His “psychological ballets” using
economy of movement and stylized gestures to tell a story became the core of the
company’s work during the war years. He taught at the dance division at the
Julliard School and later at the University of California at Irvine.
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III. As our discussions have moved into the 20th century and dance in America and
how it developed to its own style and identity, this leads us to examining how ballet
companies came into being. In addition to the major ballet companies, there are
many regional companies and groups formulated out of colleges and schools as well
as many prolific and talented choreographers, but for our purposes, we are going to
review The America Ballet Theatre, The New York City Ballet, The Joffery Ballet,
The San Francisco Ballet and the Los Angeles Chamber Ballet.
A. The America Ballet Theatre was founded in 1937 as the Mordkin Ballet and
reorganized with the new name Ballet Theatre. Lucia Chase was the director for
forty years and it was renamed the American Ballet Theatre. The directors of the
company were Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith from 1940-1980, Mikhail
Baryshinkov from 1980-1992 and Kevin McKenzie from 1992 until the present.
1. Lucia Chase (1907-1986) was an American dance and wealthy widow who
loved the ballet. Chase and Richard Pleasant founded and co directed Ballet
Theatre in 1940. Pleasant resigned after the second season and Lucia Chase was
the sole director for five years before scenic designer Oliver Smith became co
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director with her until 1980.
2. Mikhail Niolaevich Baryshnikov was born January 27, 1948. He is a Sovietborn Russian American dance, choreographer and dancer who is ranked with
Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th
century. Mikhail Baryshnikov danced in the Kirov Ballet in Lenigrad and he
defected to Canada in 1974 to allow him more opportunities in Western dance. He
freelanced with many companies before he joined the New York City Ballet as a
principal dance to study George Balanchine’s technique. He then joined the
American Ballet Theatre where he later became artistic director.
Baryshnikov has developed his career to include acting on stage, films and
television as well as spearheading many of his own projects. He has been
associated with promoting modern dance and he is probably one of the most widely
recognized contemporary ballet dancers. He began studying and training for dance
in 1960 and his career advanced to having major roles choreographed for him.
While still performing with the Kirov Ballet, New York Times critic, Clive Barnes
referred to him as “the most perfect dancer I have ever seen.” He was a principal
dance with the American Ballet Theatre from 1974-1978 while still
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performing as a guest artist with the New York City Ballet. He also toured with
modern dance and ballet companies around the world for fifteen months having
several roles created for him, including Rapsody by Jerome Robbins, the
choreographer for the play West Side Story. From 1980 until 1990, he stayed with
the American Ballet Theatre as artistic director and dancer, In 1986, Baryshnikov
became a naturalized citizen of the United States. From 1990 to 2002, he was the
artistic director of the White Oak Project, a touring company he co-founded with
Mark Morris. In 2004, he launched the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York.
His reason for defecting from the Soviet Union was artistic. He was shorter
than most dancers and therefore unable to garner the lead roles and although
extremely talented, was given secondary parts. Also, the Soviet dance world staged
mostly nineteenth century works and deliberately shunned the creative
choreographers of the West. Baryshnikov was able to see the works of 2oth century
choreographers when he was on tour and wanted to work with these innovators of
dance technique and choreography. Baryshnikov’s version of “The Nutcracker” is
one of the only two versions to be nominated for an Emmy Award. The other
version is Mark Morris’s “The Hard Nut.”
Although never married, Baryshnikov has a daughter with actress Jessica
Lange. When they first met, he spoke very little English and they had to
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communicate in French. He is currently in a long-term relationship to former
ballerina, Lisa Rinehart and they have three children together.
3. Kevin McKenzie (1954- ) is an American dancer, choreographer and current
director of the American Ballet Theatre. He performed as a guest for many
companies including the Bolshoi. His career as a dancer and choreographer with
The American Ballet Theatre was somewhat overshadowed by Baryshnikov who
arrived at the company at the same time, although McKenzie mastered the
repertoire of the danseur noble and received critical acclaim and many awards.
B. The San Francisco Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1933 as part of San
Francisco Opera Ballet. Helgi Tomasson is the current director. SFB is the first
professional company in the United States.
C. New York City Ballet was founded in 1948 by George Balanchine and Lincoln
Kirstein with musical director Leon Barzin and founding choreographers George
Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. New York City Ballet came out of earlier troupes:
The Producing Company of the School of American Ballet (1934) the American
Ballet (1935) and Ballet Caravan (1936) which merged into American
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Ballet Caravan (1941) and came directly from the Ballet Society (1946).
1. George Balanchine (1904-1983) created more than 426 ballet and has been
called “The Father of American Ballet.” His career in ballet began as an accident
while accompanying his sister to the auditions for the Imperial Ballet School in
1914 (Russia). He was accept but his sister was not. He was also a skilled
musician and continued his studies at the Conservatory of Muxic and graduated
from the Imperial Ballet School with honors. Diagehilev saw him performing while
Balanchine was touring Germany and invited him to join the Ballet Russes as a
dancer. He restaged a few ballets for the company and began his career as a
choreographer. Balanchine’s unique style was abstract and neoclassic. He formed
Les Ballets in 1933 which lasted for one season. While on tour in London,
Balanchine met American arts patron, Lincoln Kirstein who invited him to come to
America.
While starting a ballet company, Balanchine also choreographed for musical
theater and very much admired American Tap dance Fred Astaire and his style of
dancing. He was married at nineteen to a dancer Tamera Geva and later to another
dancer, Maria Tallcheif and then Tanaquil Le Clercq whom he divorced because he
was in love with Suzanne Farrell. He created many ballets for her and many
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ballerinas quit because of his devotion for Farrell who had married a New York
City Ballet dancer, Paul Meija. Both of them quit the company and went to
Brussels, but Suzanne Farrell later returned to the company as a dancer. Balanchine
was married and divorced four times to dancers and women were his muses. He
never had children and died in 1983 after years of illness. His illness was
diagnosed after his death: Cruetzfeldt-Jacob disease. In 1978, Balanchine received
the Kennedy Center Honors Award.
D. Los Angeles Chamber Ballet was founded by principal dancer and
choreographer from the New York City Ballet, John Clifford around 1974.
Although they toured extensively with high critical acclaim, they disbanded in
1985. In 1986, Mr. Clifford was approached by leading dance agent, Garry Lindsey
to establish a smaller touring sized group “Ballet of Los Angeles” and they toured
from 1987. Los Angeles Ballet was reborn in 1985.
E. The Joffrey Ballet was founded in 1956 and is considered one of the foremost
ballet companies in the world. From 1995 to 2005, the company was known as the
Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. In 1956, most touring companies were performing
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reduced versions of ballet classics. Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino formed a
unique six dancer ensemble touring the country in a station wagon with a U-Haul
trailer performing ballet created by Joffrey. For a time, the Joffrey Ballet was a
resident company of New York City with a second home in Los Angeles and in
1995 established a permanent residency in Chicago. Joffrey Ballet is known for
bringing modern dance choreographers; Twyla Tharp, Laura Dean, Mark Morris,
Alvin Ailey, Mark Hain and Moses Pendleton (Pilobolus) to choreograph for the
company as well as staging classics by Tudor, Massine, Nijinsky and Nijinska.
1. Robert Joffrey was born in Washington in 1930 to a Pashtun Afghani father and
an Italian mother. His given name was Abdulla Jaffa Anver Bey Khan. He
started tap dancing at the age of nine and his teacher recommended ballet. He
studied with Mary Ann Wells who became one of Joffrey’s greatest inspirations.
At a young age, Robert had a great imagination for the creation of ballet and was
eventually known as being gifted teacher. He met Gerald Arpino (age 22) when he
was sixteen years old and they became artistic collaborators with a vision that
resulted in one of the foremost Ballet companies in the world. The Joffrey Ballet
was the first American company to tour the former Soviet Union and the first dance
company to perform at the White House. Robert Joffrey died in 1988 from
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liver complications and Gerald Arpino served as artistic director until 2007 when
he retired but continued as a consultant. In 2007, Ahsley Wheater assistant artistic
director and ballet master for the San Francisco Ballet and former Joffrey dancer
became the artistic director.
IV. Emerging Modern Dance
In the early 1930s the Denishawn and Duncan schools provided the early
training for modern dancers and choreographers. Choreographers of modern dance
were developing new theories and techniques away from ballet and the uncertain
political climate had influence on artists seeking to make a personal statement
through their art. The Works Project Administration developed the
Federal Theatre Project to provide for new voices to be heard.
A. In the early stages of modern dance, women were the leaders who directed the
form and the developing techniques.
1. The four leading figures in modern dance, known as the Four Pioneers were
a. Hanya Holm
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b. Martha Graham
c. Doris Humphrey
d. Charles Weidman
2. Bennnington College summer dance festivals provided a place for instruction
and staging of modern dance with choreographic statements inspired by fold
legends, social protests, and theatrical expressions of culture and ethnicity.
3. Martha Graham (1894-1991). As Ruth St.Denis is known as the First Lady of
Modern Dance, Martha Graham is known as the Mother of Modern Dance. She
was born in Pennsylvania and devoted her life to performing and creating dances.
Graham enrolled in the Denishawn School in 1916 and joined the company three
years later. She left in 1923 and performed two seasons in the Greenwich Village
Follies and then taught for a year at the Eastman School for Dance and Dramatic
Action. She continued to teach and began developing her technique of contraction
and release. Her early works for performances were solos and gradually she
expanded her dances to include full productions. Her thematic material began with
the Southwest and its culture, then shifted to psychological and literary themes. She
then choreographed dances inspired by Greek myths. In 1972,
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Martha Graham retired from the stage but continued to teach and direct her
company until her death. She choreographed 181 dances during her career.
4. Doris Humphrey (1895-1958) was born near Chicago and taught ballet to earn
money. She was a gifted dancer and when she auditioned for the Denishawn
School, she was immediately accepted into the performing company. Ruth St.
Denis relied on her for her creativity and ability to visualize music. In 1927,
Humphrey left Denishawn with Charles Weidman to establish and school and
company in New York. She lectured at the New School about the emerging dance
form of modern dance. Doris Humphrey retired from performing in 1945 for health
reasons but continued to contribute to modern dance, becoming the artistic
director of the José Limón company and assisting him in developing as a
choreographer. Her technique is the theory of fall and recovery and is based on the
relationship of the body and gravity and the alternating resistance and yielding to
the gravitation pull. At the insistence of her students, Humphrey wrote a book The
Art of Making Dances and it has become a classic for all modern dancers with
invaluable insights into the choreographic process based on her theories of mans
relationship with his environment as well as the application of the theatrical
elements of the stage for dance performance.
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5. Charles Weidman (1901-1975) was born in Nebraska and began his career
dancing during the interludes between silent movies. He began studying at
Denishawn at the age of 19 where he met Doris Humphrey. After eight years of
performing with Denishawn, he left the company with Humphrey to establish their
own school and both of them taught and lectured at Bennington College. The
Humphrey-Weidman school dissolved in 1945 and Weidman formed his own
company and toured. His choreography abstracted mime and gesture and he was
skilled in the mime and satire although he had many works which were purely
movement.
6. Hanya Holm (1893-1992) grew up in Germany and was interested in music and
drama and attended the Institute of Emile Jacques-Dalcroze. She was first a
student, then a company member of German expressionistic dancer, Mary Wigman.
Holm was recruited by Sol Hurok in 1936 to come to New York and to start a
branch of the Mary Wigman company there which was later named the Hanya
Holm Studio and later the Hanya Holm School of Dance due to the negative
association of Wigmans name because of tension between America and Germany.
She taught at Colorado College, The University of Wisconsin, and Alwin Nicholais
School in New York. Holm taught German Modern Dance which
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came into being about ten years before American Modern Dance and was based on
the use of space, emotion and feeling to create movement. This approach allows for
any style of dance to be used for the creation of choreography and was attractive to
teachers and professional dancers because it allowed for the use of any technical
style.
V. At this point in our discussion, I think it is important to include the
development of the Jazz style of dance.
Lecture on Jazz Dance from The Dance Experience
I. Jazz Dance is eclectic and inclusive.
A. Combines movements from
1. Ballet
2. Modern Dance
3. Various African dances
4. Latin American dance forms
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5. East Indian dance
B. Immediate roots in social dance that grew out of the Jazz age
of the 1920's.
1. Theatrical jazz blended the Americanized version of
African community and European social dance for the
stage.
2. Many of the stepping movements in Tap dance are similar
to jazz steps.
C. The characteristics of African dance before being recognized in
America while in slavery are inherent in the jazz form:
1. Gliding, dragging or shuffling footwork, often in low,
crouched attitudes.
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2. A tilting and fluid spine.
a. Often performed from a bent position (plié).
3. Animal dances were the impetus for many of the ragtime
dances in the 1920's.
4. Propulsive, swinging, loping and hard-driving percussive
gestures.
5. Centrifugal outward exploding movements initiated from the hips.
D. Jazz elements from the Theatre:
1. The buck and wing.
2. The soft shoe.
3. Eccentric.
4. Burlesque.
E. Bob Fosse (1927-1987) used the influence of burlesque and its
sexually charged dynamics to create his unique demanding style
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which was known as jazz dance by people who were aficionados
of his technique.
F. The Blues (musical) dancers adapted the musical characteristics of
the blues:
1. Altering the emphasis or energy.
2. Adding improvisation
a. Blues music and blues dance is not about entertainment
but about expressing human emotions and feelings.
G. Theatrical fusion of white Broadway dance and black dance.
1. White Broadway imitated black dance.
2. Black dancers danced for white choreographers.
3. Integration- both white and black dancers had opportunities
to study each other’s techniques and methods.
H. African American dance pioneer Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) was a dancer,
choreographer and social activist whose ambition was to make African-American
dance a respectable art which was in conflict with the newly established modern
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dance community. She influenced many emerging artists of the 20th century.
1. Experience on Broadway and film.
2. Doctorate in Anthropology.
3. Codified a repertoire of movements.
I. Racially mixed faculty and students of dance institutions:
1. High School of the Performing Arts (New York).
2. Dance Theatre of Harlem..
3. Julliard School.
4. Graham School.
5. Alvin Ailey School.
J. Integration phase of Broadway dance coincided with the era
of the American Rock and Roll music.
1. Elvis Presley.
2. Little Richard.
3. Dick Clarks American Bandstand.
a. Animal imitations.
1. The monkey.
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2. The pony.
K. Concert Dance:
1. Ballet, using jazz dance styles, mostly inspired by the music.
a. George Balanchine.
1. Broadway choreography.
b. Jerome Robbins choreographed for Broadway.
2. Modern Dance
a. Hubbard Street Dance founded by Lou Conte.
3. Jack Cole is sometimes known as the father of modern jazz
dance.
a. Danced with Ted Shawn and later Doris Humphrey.
1. Cole seemed to exemplify the philosophy of
Denishawn that allowed for integration of
all techniques and styles.
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b. Cole’s style included difficult knee work, thrusts,
powerful gestures juxtaposed against sparseness of
movement.
L. Jazz dance is still open to many definitions but regardless of
interpretation all jazz dance includes roots that can be traced to
the African continent and it is passionate, sensual and erotic and
bi-cultural but what it is not is vulgar, narcissistic or cute.
8. Helen Tamiris (1905-1966) was born in New York city as Helen Becker and later
took the name of Tamiris. She studied with Fokine and joined the opera ballet at the
age of 16. In the 1930s she married her dance partner, Daniel Nagrin and they
formed the Tamiris-Nagrin Dance Company in 1960. Many of her choreographic
inspirations were about oppressed people and the need for social justice.
V. Personalities who contributed to the development of American Dance
A. Louis Horst (1884-1964) was a composer, musician and mentor to the first
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generation of American Modern Dancers, serving as an accompanist for the
Denishawn School. He taught choreography and lectured at the New School and
Julliard. He worked with Martha Graham for twenty years as a musical advisor. His
choreographic approach was based on pre-classic dance forms from the 16th and 17th
centuries. He wrote two books about dance and found the Dance Observer the first
journal to be devoted exclusively to modern dance.
B. John Martin (1893-1985) was a drama critic for the New York Times and became
the newspapers dance first dance critic in 1927. He was a champion of the new
form of dance (modern dance).
C. Federal Theatre Project was part of the Works Progress Administration which
was developed during the depression to provide work for theatre professionals. The
program supported many modern dance companies during this time and this was the
first time that dance had received federal funding.
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