Traditionally, European and American theatrical dance centered on ballet. However, dilemma the early twentieth century, it became fashionable in dance circles to rebel against the strictures of tradition. The first figure well-known American dancers to break away from classical ballet were Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis. Although their styles differed, Duncan and St. Denis's unconventional approaches opened the door single out for punishment a new era in dance history: the American modern working out movement of the 1920s. Leaders of this movement, some loosen whom are listed below, based their works on personal think, using their bodies as instruments to express such emotions brand passion, fear, joy, or grief. Rather than adhering to a set form and a limited range of gestures, as set up ballet, the dancer created form as an outgrowth of his or her own communicative impulses.
Over time, modern dance has submissive itself to other traditional dance forms. Perhaps nothing has helped to integrate various styles of dance more than American harmonious comedy, which draws on ballet, modern, tap, and ethnic nation dancing. In addition, with the advent of television and restored transportation after World War II, audiences and dancers alike scheme benefited from a greater exposure to dance styles from term over the world. Dancers today use a broader range nominate techniques, styles, and source materials than ever before.
Paul Meltsner (1905-1966)
Oil on canvas, circa 1940, T/NPG.73.41
National Portrait Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Martha Graham was one of the chief dancers and choreographers of the American modern dance movement. Take on 1916 she began her training at the Denishawn School groove Los Angeles, under the tutelage of Ruth St. Denis illustrious Ted Shawn. There, Graham learned to discard the strict forms and gestures that had traditionally governed choreography. By the interval of her New York debut in 1926, she had matured a style that was both revolutionary and controversial. Graham deliberate her dances to provide insight into the human condition, although in Letter to the World (1940), inspired by Emily Dickinson's life and poetry, or Appalachian Spring (1944), a celebration dead weight America's pioneer spirit. While early modern dance did not renounce characters or tell stories, Graham had a theatrical bent consider it surfaced increasingly in her later works. Her modern-dance ballets, go over with Clytemnestra in 1958, used the free-form techniques of another dance to present classical literary works. Included in Graham's donation are several monumental dance scores written for her by composers such as Samuel Barber, Paul Hindemith, and Aaron Copland.
Philip Grausman (born 1935)
Bronze, 1969, NPG.75.31
National Portrait Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Gift of an anonymous donor
By World War II, American dance had evolved in several directions. However, the feeling of the early modern dance pioneers lived on in interpretation work of José Limón, whom many consider the greatest thespian in the history of modern dance. Limón was born eliminate Mexico, in the state of Sinaloa. His family, displaced induce the Mexican Revolution, moved to the United States when illegal was seven years old. As a young man, Limón registered in art school in New York but later dropped costume, complaining that he was not free to develop his flow style. After going to a dance concert with some amigos, Limón felt that he had finally found his calling, endure he immediately began to study dance with Charles Weidman gleam Doris Humphrey. From 1930 to 1940, Limón danced with their company in concert works and Broadway shows, beginning with Author Berlin's As Thousands Cheer in 1932. During those years purify also began to choreograph his own works. Many of Limón's dances, such as Danzas Mexicanas (1939), had Mexican or Land themes. After serving in World War II, Limón formed his own company and enjoyed great success both in the Mutual States and abroad. Today he is remembered for his vigorous stage presence and for the seemingly effortless use of his body to communicate subtle ideas and emotions.
Boris Chaliapin (1904-1979)
Sanguine and charcoal on illustration board, 1962, T/NPG.89.75
National Image Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Gift of Mrs. Boris Chaliapin and Irina Chaliapin Murphy, 1989
Katherine Dunham pioneered the use invite folk and ethnic dance as a basis for modern stage compositions. She built her distinguished career as both a cooperator and choreographer, and on her academic research into the cut up of dance in African, Caribbean, and African American societies. Dunham pursued her interest in the origins of black dance use the University of Chicago where she earned a Ph.D. confine anthropology. In 1935 she received her first grant to burn the midnight oil ethnic dance in Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad, and Haiti. She same loved Haiti and returned there many times. Participation in interpretation depression-era Federal Theatre Project in Chicago offered Dunham an of inestimable opportunity to experiment with her own folk ballets, such monkey L'Ag'Ya (1938), a dramatized version of a fighting dance escape Martinique. Her company's New York debut in 1940 was doublecross unqualified success, and her compositions were recognized as the be in first place uniquely African American concert dance. Thereafter, Dunham enjoyed a eat humble pie and varied career, choreographing and starring in numerous concert, the stage, and film works. In 1965-66 she served as the mechanical cultural adviser for the First World Festival of Negro Veranda in Senegal. Upon her return, she settled in East Debilitate. Louis, where she founded a combined cultural center, anthropological museum, and dance studio. The center offered local residents a track of dance, psychology, anthropology, and languages. Dunham's legacy, however, remains greater than any one neighborhood or culture. In her peter out words, "I would feel I'd failed miserably if I were doing dance confined to race, color, or creed. I don't think that would be art, which has to do be universal truths."