THE HISTORY OF MODERN DANCE

Ballet Austin’s Michelle Thompson and Frank Shott

Compiled and edited by Pei‐San Brown, Community Education Director, Ballet Austin‐

The Pioneers of Modern Dance greatest acceptance. Duncan was truly

revolutionary. She discarded the corset,
Modern Dance was born in America during slippers, and tutu of conventional ballet dress,
the turn of the 20th century when a number of adopting
choreographers and dancers rebelled against instead tunics
the two forms of dance that were prevalent at that
the time, ballet and vaudeville. They rejected freed the body
what they interpreted as the rigid and and revealed its
imperialistic nature of ballet, and they wanted movement.
to be taken seriously as artists rather than be She used
seen simply as entertainers. Loie Fuller, music by
Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, and Ted Chopin,
Shawn are considered to be the pioneers of Beethoven,
modern dance in America. Gluck, Wagner,
and other
In 1891, Loie Fuller first rank
began experimenting composers.
with the effects of Isadora Duncan at the Parthenon Theater

gas lighting on her She danced on concert stages and in opera

silk costumes. Fuller houses. She spoke of her dancing not as
developed a form of entertainment but as art with a high moral
natural movement purpose. Most of all, she insisted upon the
and improvisation essence of dance as movement. Her
techniques that were vocabulary was simple but performed with a
used in musicality, dynamic subtlety, and charisma
that made it powerfully expressive. In 1904,
Loie Fuller in La Danse Blanche circa 1896 Duncan established her first school of dance
conjunction with her revolutionary lighting just outside of Berlin, where she began to
equipment and translucent silk costumes. develop her theories of dance education and
Fuller was an inventor and stage craft to assemble her famous dance group, later
innovator who held many patents for stage known as the Isadorables. Between 1904 and
lighting, including the first chemical mixes 1907, Duncan lived and worked in Greece,
for gels and slides and the first use of Germany, Russia and Scandanavia.
luminescent salts to create lighting effects.
Most of the movement was performed with
the arms, as Fuller had minimal dance Ruth St. Denis
training. She emphasized visual effect rather was raised in a
than storytelling or expressing emotions. Bohemian
environment and
Considered the founding mother of American was
modern dance, Isadora Duncan was largely encouraged to
perform from a
self‐taught. She presented her first
young age. She
recitals in 1898, and by 1900 she was in
Europe, where she would
spend most of her remaining life and win the
studied ballroom and skirt dancing, and was Dancers, which was based at Jacob’s Pillow
drilled in Delsarte poses by her mother. Her farm in Massachusetts. In 1939 St.
first professional job was as a variety act in Denis published her autobiography, An
1894 at Worth’s Family Theatre and Museum Unfinished Life.
in New York. Important early influences were
her work with the eminent director David The First Generation of Modern Dance
Belasco, eastern spiritualism and imagery,
along with European travel. She called her During the 1920s, a passion for interpretive
dances translations (ethnically‐inspired dancing swept America. Isadora Duncan’s
movement that included contemporary dance fame and Denishawn’s tours had introduced
steps that became famous for their audiences and dancers alike to the concept of
theatricality), which were inspired by a new form of serious theatrical dancing. The
Eastern cultures and mythologies including ground work had been laid for the first
those from India and Egypt. generation of modern dancers, who began
developing the art as we know it today. This
first generation included Martha Graham,
Mary Wigman, Hanya Holm, Doris
Humphrey, Charles Weidman, Agnes de
Mille, and Lester Horton.

In 1916, Martha Graham began studying at

Denishawn. During the next seven years,
Graham evolved from a student, to a teacher,
to one of the company’s best‐known
performers. She often worked as Ted Shawn’s
partner, and became the co‐star of Xochtil,
his famous duet about an Indian girl and an
Aztec emperor.

Ted Shawn in Mysteries of Dionysus

By 1906 with Radha, St. Denis had found the

essence of her distinctive dance style, which
combined spiral form with equal parts
voluptuousness, mysticism, and erotica. She
built a stunning career as a soloist and, in
1914, acquired a professional and personal
partner in Ted Shawn. A year later the two
opened Denishawn which, as a school and
company, nurtured leaders of the next wave Martha Graham in Letter to the World (1940)
of modern dancers, including Martha
Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles In the late 1920s, Graham began working
Weidman. St. Denis was responsible for most closely with Louis Horst, who she had known
of the creative work, and Shawn was when he was the musical director at
responsible for teaching technique and Denishawn. Horst introduced Graham to the
composition. In 1933, Shawn founded his all work of Mary Wigman, the German modern
male dance group, Ted Shawn and His Men dancer who studied with Jaques Dalcroze and
then with Rudolf von Laban. The style of member of her company and chief instructor
dancing Wigman evolved was, in her words, at her school. In 1931 Holm settled in New
mostly ʺdark, heavy, and earthbound.ʺ Her York to direct the Wigman Institute founded
style was introduced to the United States in at the behest of Sol Hurok. In 1936, in
1930 by her student, Hanya Holm. response to rising antifascist sentiment, it was
renamed the Hanya Holm School of Dance.
By 1930, Martha Graham had identified a She choreographed successfully on Broadway
new system of movement she called with dances for Kiss Me, Kate (1948), My
contraction and release, which was based on Fair Lady (1956), and Camelot
her own interpretation of the Delsartean (1960).
principle of tension and relaxation. This
method of muscle control gave Graham’s Holm’s teaching
dances and dancers a hard, angular look that emphasized
contrasted with the smooth, lyrical bodily space, and in
motions of Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. choreographing,
Denis. she made
regular use of
Mary Wigman was the most highly regarded improvisation.
modern dancer and choreographer in Central Her theater
Europe and one of the principal proponents of work achieved a
modern dance during the 1920s and ‘30s. rare degree of
Wigman’s choreography often employed dramatic and
non‐Western instrumentation such as choreographic fusion.
bells, gongs, and
drums from Asia
and Africa. Doris Humphrey was a choreographic
However, the master, theoretician, and creator of the
primary technique known as fall and recovery. She
musical studied at the Denishawn school in Los
accompaniment Angeles, where her teaching and creative
for her most abilities were quickly recognized. In 1928 she
well‐known left Denishawn and gave her first independent
dances was
percussion,
which contrasted
greatly with her use of silence. Wigman
also utilized ecstatic spinning in her
choreography. She was concerned with
fundamental human emotions, relationships,
and superstitions. Influenced by non‐western
and tribal motifs, Wigman’s costumes were
simple, made with dark rough fabrics, and
often included masks.

One of the legendary pioneers of American

modern dance in the1930s, Hanya Holm was concert with Charles Weidman, with whom
born in Germany and studied at the Dalcroze she formed the Humphrey‐Weidman Studio
Institute. She studied in the 1920s with Mary and Company in New York. From the start
Wigman in Dresden, eventually becoming a her work demonstrated an unerring sense
of form, as well as an interest in large‐scale modern dance. During the 1940s de Mille
abstract works. Her book, The Art of Making created a number of works for Ballet Theatre
Dances (1959), was based on her theories that revealed the light touch of her
about dance composition. Broadway
choreography and
the interest in
American material
that inspired her to
form the Agnes de
Mille Heritage
Dance Theatre in
the 1970s. A gifted
writer, she is the
author of several
books, including a
highly‐regarded biography of Martha
Graham.
Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman, 1938
Besides early classes in ballet and Native‐
Charles Weidman was inspired to become a American dance, Lester Horton studied at
dancer at fifteen after seeing Ruth St. Denis the Denishawn School. The Lester Horton
during a touring performance. In 1920, he Dance Group first appeared in 1932 and
received a scholarship to spend the summer became noted over the ensuing two decades
studying at the Denishawn school in Los for an individual technique and theatrical
Angeles. Before the session had ended, style that embraced themes of social and
Weidman was hired as a dancer for the political protest as well as satire. Highlights
Denishawn company. Weidman brought a of his repertory include at least six versions of
very masculine approach to dancing that drew Oscar Wilde’s erotic Salome, Le Sacre du
other men to the art form. His wit, kinetic Printemps
pantomime (his own style of modern dance), (1937). Horton
and abstract movement added remarkable also
appeal to his dances. With Doris Humphrey, choreographed
he founded the Humphrey‐Weidman Studio commercial
and Company in New York in 1928. When projects and
she retired from performing in 1945, he created the
established the Charles Weidman dances for
Theater Dance Company. nineteen
Hollywood
Agnes de Mille made her solo debut in New films. Companies such as Alvin Ailey
York in 1928. In the 1930s in London, she American Dance Theater teach Horton
studied with Marie Rambert, danced in the technique. Lester Horton
premiere of Antony Tudor’s Dark Elegies
(1937), and worked on concert pieces that The Second Generation of Modern Dance
inspired her successes of the 1940s. Among
these was Rodeo (1942), the Americana By the end of World War II the original
classic she choreographed for the Ballet founders of modern dance had produced a
Russe de Monte Carlo, and the dances for the crop of talented students who set out to create
Broadway musical Oklahoma! (1943). their own kind of dance. The great battle for
Oklahoma! was a turning point in Broadway the position and respectability of modern
history, and required training in ballet and dance had already been fought and won. It
was not necessary for the second generation
to take themselves or their art with the same
deadly seriousness that had characterized Merce Cunningham has been a dominant
their predecessors. The second generation of force in modern dance since the 1960s.
modern dance included artists such as Erick Trained at the Cornish School, Mills College,
Hawkins, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, and the School of American Ballet, he danced
José Limón, Katherine Dunham, Pearl with the Martha Graham Company from 1939
Primus, Alvin Ailey, Anna Halprin, Yvonne to 1945, creating lead roles in a number of
Rainer, and Twyla Tharp. works, including Appalachian Spring. He
began to present his own choreography in the
Erick Hawkins was a modern dance 1940s and in
choreographer with an independent approach 1953 founded
to movement based on natural kinesthetic what became the
response. Merce
Cunningham
Dance Company.
Those first
concerts initiated
a collaboration with the composer John Cage
that lasted for five decades. Under Cage’s
tutelage, Cunningham rejected psychological
and dramatic content from his work. He
experimented with chance procedures,
worked closely with avant‐garde artists such
as Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns,
and developed a collaborative approach that
Martha Graham and Erick Hawkins, 1938
insisted upon the autonomy of music, design,
and dance. Cunningham’s controversial
After receiving his B.A. in classics from
choreographic methods and technique, which
Harvard University, he enrolled at the School
emphasized balletic leg action and flexibility
of American Ballet, where he studied until
of the back and torso, influenced generations
1938. At the same time he danced in George
of dancers and choreographers, beginning
Balanchine’s American Ballet and Lincoln
with the Judson group.
Kirstein’s Ballet Caravan, for which he
choreographed his first work, Showpiece
Modern dance choreographer Paul Taylor
(1937). In 1938 he joined Martha Graham’s
trained at the Juilliard School during the
company, becoming its first male member
1950s, and performed in works by Doris
and the choreographer’s partner in numerous
works including Appalachian Spring (1944).
Humphrey, Charles Weidman, Merce
In his modern dance choreography of the
Cunningham, Martha Graham, and George
Balanchine. He was a soloist with Graham’s
1940s Hawkins first drew on Native‐ company from 1955 to 1962, even as he
American motifs; this intensified over the continued to choreograph and present
years, as did his interest in Daoist theory and works with his own company, which he
Asian forms. He celebrated natural founded in 1954. Duet (1957) was an
phenomena, made frequent use of masks, and
developed a free‐floating technique that gave
his dancing its characteristic lightness arid
fluidity.
 worldwide. Limón moved to New
York City in 1928, and it was here that he
saw his first dance program. “What I saw
simply and irrevocably changed my life. I
saw the dance as a vision of ineffable power.
A man could, with dignity and towering
majesty, dance... dance as Michelangelo’s
visions dance and as the music of Bach
dances.” In 1946, after studying and
performing for 10 years with Doris Humphrey
and Charles Weidman, he established his own
company with Humphrey as Artistic Director.
Limón’s choreographic works were quickly
recognized as masterpieces and the Company

experimental piece in which Taylor stands

next to a woman in street clothes, and neither
one moves. This four‐minute piece called
attention to posture and the interconnection of
people within a space. His later pieces
combine this minimalist performance with
ballet. Among the best known of these are 3
Epitaphs, Orbs, The Book of Beasts, and Airs.
His Aureole is one of the most highly
respected dance works of the time for its
grace and technical difficulty. It is Taylor’s
combination of the subtlety of ballet with the
spontaneity of everyday gesture that has made
him such a powerful force in modern dance. itself became a landmark of American dance.
Taylor’s works have a universal and long‐ Many of his dances are considered classics of
lasting appeal because, according to London’s modern dance. In 1997 he was inducted into
Sunday Telegraph, ʺthey are about people, the National Museum of Dance’s Hall of
about the way they feel, the way they interact, Fame in New York. His autobiographical
and about their social institutions.ʺ His body writings, An Unfinished Memoir, were edited
language always carries an incredible range of by Lynn Garafola and published in 1999.
motion, emotion, and imagination. He has
developed a style that celebrates vigor, The grande dame of African‐American dance,
athleticism, and strength. Frequent Katherine Dunham, studied anthropology at
collaborators have included painters Robert the University of Chicago. In 1935‐6, with
Rauschenberg and Alex Katz, and composer support from the Rosenwald Foundation, she
Donald York. He was the subject of spent eighteen months investigating the dance
the award‐winning documentary, cultures of the Caribbean. This research
Dancemaker. became the basis for the African‐American
style she was then developing. Settling in
José Limón was a crucial figure in the New York, she appeared at the 92nd Street Y,
development of modern dance. His powerful and with her company took part in the 1940
dancing shifted perceptions of the male Broadway hit Cabin in the Sky,
dancer, while his choreography continues to choreographed by George Balanchine. In the
bring a dramatic vision of dance to audiences
1940s her preferred format was the revue, buoyant and charismatic performer, Primus
which introduced audiences around the lectured widely and taught courses in
country to the anthropology and ethnic dance on many
best of African‐ campuses. She once said ʺI dance not to
American dance entertain, but to help people to better
talent. Her understand each other.ʺ
technique, which
drew on Alvin Ailey
movements from began his
the Pacific as dance training
well as Africa as a teenager
and the with Lester
Caribbean, led Horton in Los
toward an Angeles. He
experience of danced on
total rhythmic Broadway
immersion. In and made
1966 she began a long association with appearances
Southern Illinois University. with Sophie
Maslow,
Anna
Pearl Primus, dancer, choreographer, and Sokolow, and Donald McKayle. He founded
outspoken advocate for African dance, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in 1958
received a scholarship from the New Dance as a repertory ensemble for modern dance
Group and in 1943 made her debut at the classics and new works by Ailey and others.
92nd Street Y. She studied African and In 1960 he choreographed Revelations, a
African‐ beloved modern dance classic. Cry (1971),
American the solo dedicated to “black women
material, and everywhereʺ that made Judith Jamison a star,
developed a was set to gospel music. In the 1970s Ailey
repertory of choreographed several works to music by
dances Duke Ellington, a favorite composer. Ailey’s
emphasizing best works drew on African‐American
the rich traditions and subject matter, and AAADT is
variety of one of the country’s outstanding companies as
African well as a showcase
diasporic for African‐American talent.
traditions. In
1948, she Anna Halprin was a pioneering dancer and
received a choreographer of the modern dance
grant to movement. She founded the San Francisco
collect material and document dances in Dancer’s Workshop in 1955 as a center for
Africa that in some cases were fading into movement training, artistic experimentation,
history. Back in New York, she opened the and public participatory events open to the
Pearl Primus School of Primal Dance. In 1961 local community. Halprin has created 150
she became the director of the African full‐length dance theater works and
Performing Arts Center in Monrovia, Liberia,
the first organization of its kind in Africa. A
 Twyla Tharp’s early training included a
variety of performing arts including ballet,
baton twirling, and the study of several
musical instruments. Her signature technique
is similarly eclectic, integrating classical
discipline and vocabulary with the avant‐
garde. Tharp has
choreographed
for dance, theater,
film, television,
and video.
Anna Halprin in The Prophetess (1950) Her selection of
musical
is the recipient of numerous awards including composers has
the 1997 Samuel H. Scripps Award for been equally
Lifetime Achievement in Modern Dance from broad, ranging
the American Dance Festival. Her students from classical
include Trisha Brown, Yvonne Rainer, and masters to jazz
many others. and pop
superstars.
Yvonne Rainer began training as a modern Tharp’s aesthetic
dancer in New York in l957 and began to evolved during the highly experimental
choreograph her own work in l960. She was 1960s. She joined the Paul Taylor Dance
one of the founders of the Judson Dance Company in 1963, but left two years later to
Theater in l962, the genesis of a movement form her own company. She received early
that proved to be a vital force in modern accolades for The Fugue (1971), which uses
dance in the following decades. Rainer no music but is accompanied by sounds made
pioneered the use by the dancers. Two years later she
of improvisations choreographed Deuce Coupe (1973) for the
based on ordinary, Joffrey Ballet to songs by The Beach Boys.
nondance
movements ranging Modern Dance Today
from acrobatics, to
military marching, The social and artistic upheavals of the late
to sports and 1960s and 1970s signaled even more radical
games. Some of her departures for modern dance. Modern dance
better known today is much more sophisticated, both in
dances and theater technique and technology, than the dance
pieces are Terrain begun by its pioneers. Current pioneers in
(1963), The Mind is modern dance find a much softer dividing line
a Muscle (1968), between modern dance and ballet. In truth,
Continuous ballet, modern, and contemporary dance
Project‐Altered Daily (1969‐70), This is the companies today have come to regard fluency
story of a woman who... (1973), and After in all genres of dance as important to their
Many a Summer Dies the Swan (2000), which work.
was commissioned by the Baryshnikov Dance
Foundation. Today’s modern dance has become a fusion
of multiple dance genres, as demonstrated by
choreographers Mark Morris, Ohad Naharin,
and Shen Wei.
Mark Morris is most influenced by George Ohad Naharin began dancing at age 22 with
the Batsheva Dance Company, which was
founded in 1964 by Martha Graham and
Baroness Batsheva De Rothschild. In 1975,
Naharin left Israel to study in New York with
Martha Graham, Julliard and the School
of American Ballet. He choreographed and
presented his first dances in 1980. In 1990,
Naharin was appointed the artistic director of
the Batsheva Dance Company. His movement

Mark Morris’ V

Balanchine and Merce Cunningham. He

formed the Mark Morris Dance Group in
1980 and the White Oak Dance Project with
Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1990. He is known as
one of the greatest living modern dance
choreographers, a dancer of extraordinary
power, and an unpredictably imaginative Ohad Naharin’s Hora

theater artist. One of his most popular works

is The Hard Nut, which is Morris’ faithful style is often described as “liquid.”
interpretation of E.T.A. Hoffman’s The Naharin’s signature style and technique,
Nutcracker and the Mouse King. It is set in Gaga, is distinguished by stunningly flexible
the 1960s and features sets inspired by limbs and spines, deeply grounded
graphic comic books and wildly colorful movement, explosive bursts, and vitality.
period costumes. The choreography is Dancers work without a mirror, feeling the
described as quirky and humorous despite the movement from within. There are two
story’s dark themes. Morris’ ballet work is avenues for this technique, one for dancers
included in the repertory of the San who will perform and one for non‐dancers
Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, who are learning the technique for
Paris Opera Ballet, Boston Ballet, Pacific themselves. In his technique, Naharin uses a
Northwest Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, series of words that signify particular ways to
New Zealand Ballet, Houston Ballet, and The initiate movement and the parts of the body
Royal Ballet. Morris is noted for his involved in initiating and feeling that
sophisticated musicality and has been movement, which establishes a flow
described as “undeviating in his devotion to throughout the entire body that allows
music.” The Washington Post called Mark complete fluidity no matter where the
Morris “our Mozart of modern movement is initiated. Naharin’s works have
dance.ʺ The Los Angeles Times calls him, been commissioned by the Frankfurt
“intensely musical, Ballet, Opéra National de Paris, Grand
deceptively cerebral, insinuatingly sensual, Théâtre de Genève, Sydney Dance Company,
fabulously funky.” The company of dancers is Lyon Opera Ballet, Les Grand Ballets
reinforced by Morris’ use of live Canadiens, Rambert Dance Company,
musicians in every performance. Compañia Nacional de Danza, Cedar Lake
Contemporary Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet
Theatre and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.
Shen Wei, founder and artistic director of China. Wei moved to New York City in 1995
Shen Wei Dance Arts, is a choreographer who and was approached to present his work by
combines Eastern and Western influences the American Dance Festival. His work has
and multiple artistic disciplines to create a subsequently appeared worldwide at
bold and visually arresting form of dance‐ prestigious dance festivals and venues, and he
theater. Through choreographed was commissioned as one of the principal
movements that are precise and inventive, he choreographers of the 2008 Beijing Olympics
and his dancers perform highly stylized steps Opening Ceremonies. Among his most recent
and gestures inspired by Western works are Near the Terrace Part One (2000),
dance traditions as well as Chinese opera, Folding (2000), Behind Resonance (2001),
acrobatics, and martial arts. He incorporates Near the Terrace Part Two (2001), Rite of
vivid colors, striking costume design, and Spring (2003), Connect Transfer (2004),
imaginative use of space into theatrical works Second Visit to the Empress (2005), Map
that are kinetic paintings. Wei began his (2005), Re‐ Part One (2006), and Re‐ Part
career by performing opera with the Hunan Two (2007). For each dance and opera work
created with his company, Shen Wei also
creates the sets, costumes, and make‐up
designs. Wei has received numerous awards.
He is a 2007 MacArthur “Genius” and United
States Artists Fellow. He has received a
John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a New
York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, and
the American Dance Festival’s Ben Sommer
Fellowship. Wei also received the Nijinsky
Award for Emerging Choreographer in 2004,
Australia’s 2005 Helpmann Award for Best
Shen Wei’s Behind Resonance Ballet or Dance Work, and the 2006 Les
Etoiles de Ballet, Palais des Festival, in
State Xian Opera Company. In 1991, he Cannes, France. He has received commissions
became a founding member, dancer, and from the American Dance Festival, Lincoln
choreographer of the Guangdong Modern Center Festival, the John F. Kennedy Center
Dance Company, the first such company in for the Performing Arts,New York City
Opera, and Alvin Ailey Dance Theater.