Importance of Doris Humphrey

We care about Doris Humphrey because she was an open-minded artist who looked to the future of dance, while still honoring those who came before her.

She was very appreciative of her time spent with Denishawn, and used her success with them as a springboard for her career.  She was a smart dancer who used research to make gains within the field, rather than sit back and be told what to do.  Her theory on fall and recovery, which led to her codified technique, was greatly influenced by the ideas of German philosopher Frederick Nietzche.  Her technique is still taught today.

Her collaborations with other artists shaped what Modern Dance is today.  Her willingness to work with her former student, Jose Limon, as artistic director of his company demonstrated how humble she was.  The Limon Dance Company is one the few Modern Dance companies which is still performing today.  There success is at least partially due to Doris Humphrey's Artistic Directorship during their early years.  Additionally, she worked with Martha Hill and others to start the dance department at Juilliard, which is still a wildly successful education program.

I believe that her largest gift to the future of dance was her book, “The Art of Making Dance”.  Published in 1958, the year she passed away, this book is still widely considered a must read for any dancer or choreographer.  This text is usually used in dance composition classes, but can also be utilized by other art forms. 

Doris Humphrey's legacy makes her nearly impossible to not care about.  In addition to her technique, and her book, Doris Humphrey's stamp on dance is still visible in many other places.  The Limon Dance Company, MOMENTA, The Juilliard School, and many other dance companies and colleges continue to perform her repertoire.  Her theory on fall and recovery as well as well as the compositional tools outlines in her book can be seen in the works of: Jose Limon, Trisha Brown, Pina Bausch, and many other choreographers.  Many of her compositional tools, are even used in improvisation based work. 

It is no surprise that someone as hard working and smart as Doris Humphrey experienced such success both during and after her time on earth.  

Importance of Isadora Duncan

We care about Isadora Duncan because she played a pivotal role in developing modern dance into what it is today. Her work was organic and captivating which developed from an honest place of felt experience. With no shoes on her feet and no corset holding her in place she flowed through nature with freedom and poise. This freedom led her to challenge the rules set forth by society as well. Her free-spiritedness supported the rights of women and helped to change the restrictive ideas of what a woman “should be.” Isadora was not only a dancer but also a social activist. She was one of the first women to make dance a way to teach and influence society. Though America was not so receptive, Europe was. All was not lost in her experience in America though; she helped to open the doors for women to break down walls in the future.

The public should take note of Isadora Duncan because she helped to shape societies restrictive views of what women “should be. She is a great leader even though she was indirectly one. Her main purpose was to dance and be free. Through this she influenced more than just the “dance” community. She was one of the first women to have a public career and have men working for her, statues made after her, and audiences pay money to watch her. There were some before her too, Loie Fuller for example, but it was still a challenge to be here for a woman at the time. Heck, it is still hard to be a woman and not be constantly subjectified by society.

Her influence is easy to correlate in society but it is even easier to correlate in dance. Her ideas and organic form is still seen in movement today. She moved so lightly and with such ease. Presently there is a technique and notation for Isadora’s style of dance but it is not as popular as other codified movements. We think that is because Isadora was so free and maybe was more open-minded to have her ideas evolve (this is not a fact, just an idea). You can see the idea of evolving movement in improvisation techniques and trans-modern classes of present day. And though it is difficult to find her codified ideas presently I think her indulgent, flowy qualities can be seen in some artists still. For example Trisha Brown is very free when she moves, and William Forsythe has an effortless quality (not exactly the same, but the move with a light-freedom). Also, almost every modern class is taken with bare feet so, thank you Isadora!!

Dance is so important to more than just the art itself. Isadora was an innovator of her time. Her legacy still continues on today. It is easy to see how and why she was so pivotal in developing a ground floor for modern dance to grow from. As well as a place for the arts to integrate into influencing societal norms.

Historical Events of Duncan and Humphrey

Born in 1877 Isadora Duncan was alive during many historical world events, most notably, World War I and the rise of the Soviet Union.  Despite Europe being her place of residence, Isadora was inspired by the freedom that America represented, which was especially evident during WW I.  In 1921 She was greatly influenced by the social and political revolution, which lead to the Soviet Union.  This led her to open a school in Moscow to “give her art in exchange for a free school”.  She was a revolutionist, and was of the belief that “all true artists are revolutionists”.  

Doris Humphrey was merely twenty-two years of age when Isadora passed away.  Doris took to teaching at the young age of eighteen because of the economy associated with World War I. In 1920 the 19^th Amendment was ratified, and women gained the right to vote. She lived through the Great Depression, and in 1938 choreographed Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor in response to it.  In 1931 Doris codified her theory of “Fall and Recovery” influenced by German philosopher Frederick Nietzsche, who was greatly interested in questioning doctrines.  In 1944 she choreographed Inquest, which is a social protest in response to WW II and the last work that she performed in. In 1958 she finished her book, "The Art of Making Dances," and passed away on December 29th. 

1887 - Isadora Duncan is born May 21th in San Fransisco
1897 - Doris Humphrey is born October 17th in Oak Park Chicago
1913 - Tragic death of Isadora Duncan's two children and nanny who drowned
1915 – Doris Humphrey opened a studio at age 18 for financial support

1917 – Doris Humphrey moved to LA to join Denishawn
1917 - April 6 the US enters WWI

1918 – End to WWI

1919 – Doris Humphrey Choreographs Valse Caprice
1921 - Isadora Duncan influenced by social and political revolution, eventually leading to the Soviet Union and establishes a school in Moscow
1922 - Isadora Duncan's last tour in U.S. 
1922 - Isadora Duncan marries Sergey Aleksandrovich Yesenin

1925 – Doris Humphrey choreographs to Edward McDowell’s Sonata Tragica; first dance performed without music
1925 - Isadora Duncan's husband commits sucide
1927 - Isadora Duncan passes away September 14th

1928 – Doris Humphrey leaves Denishawn with Charles Weidman and Paline Lawrence

1929 – Beginning of the Great Depression

1931 – Doris Humphrey codifies theory of “Fall and Recovery” influenced by German philosopher Frederick Nietzsche, choreographs The Shakers influenced by Shaker religion

1932 – Doris Humphrey marries Charles Francis Woodford

1933 – Doris Humphrey's birth of her son Charles Humphrey-Woodford

1934 – Doris Humphrey's first summer at Bennington College

1935 – Humphrey-Weidman is the first national tour by a modern dance company

1936 – Doris Humphrey choreographs New Dance considered her masterpiece

1939 – The Depression ends in the late 30s. Germany invades Poland

1941 – Attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States enters WWII

1944 – Dissolution of Humphrey-Weidman company, Doris retires from performing, choreographs Inquest which is a social protest and the last work that she performed

1945 – Sept. 2 official end to WWII

1946 – Doris Humphrey became the artistic director for Jose Limon Company

1951 – Doris Humphrey choreographs Night Spell  and helped start the department of dance at the Julliard School, joins the faculty

1952 – Doris Humphrey Founds Julliard Dance Theatre

1954 – Doris Humphrey wins the Capezio Award for outstanding contributions to modern dance

1958 – Finishes her book The Art of Making Dances, passes away Dec. 29 

1987 - Isadora Duncan is inducted into Dance Hall of Fame

Works Cited:

"About Isadora Duncan." About Isadora Duncan. Isadora Dance Foundation, 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. <http://www.isadoraduncan.org/the-foundation/about-isadora-duncan>.

"Biography." The Doris Humphrey Society Biography Comments. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. <http://www.dorishumphrey.org/the-early-years/>

Lineage and Influences of Doris Humphrey

Doris Humphrey got her start at Denishawn, where she was a principle dancer.  After years with Miss Ruth and Ted Shawn, she became involved in her first of many public collaborations.  She became co-choreographer to Miss Ruth, and together with her choreographed works such as Soaring and Sonata Pathetique,which are still being staged and performed today. While she certainly valued her time with Denishawn, it inspired her to go in a completely different direction with her choreographic career. 

In 1928 She took her departure from Denishawn along with Charles Weidman.  They started the Humphrey-Weidman company and studio, and worked together until it's dissolution in 1944.  Doris and Charles were both interested in exploring beyond the exotic and superficial world of Denishawn.  Instead, choosing to investigate dances without the frill, even choreographing works that were unaccompanied by music.  Additionally, both Humphrey and Weidman collaborated with Pauline Laurence, who left Denishawn with them.  She served as the receptionist, accompanist, business manager, and costume designer for Humphrey-Weidman. 

Perhaps Humphrey's best demonstration of working with a fellow artist is with Jose Limon.  Limon was a Humphrey-Weidman dancer who, after enlisting, started his own company.  Doris, after retiring from her career as a dancer, became the artistic director and a choreographer for Jose's company.  It was with the Limon company  that Doris choreographed famous works such as Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias, and Day on Earth.  It is no surprise that an artist who contributed so much to the world of dance was truly open to collaboration. 

"José Limón and Pauline Lawrence Limón Photograph Files 1910?-1972?" José Limón and Pauline Lawrence Limón Photograph Files. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. <http://archives.nypl.org/dan/19737>.

A preview of Humphrey's "Day on Earth."

Lineage and Influences of Isadora Duncan

“According to Isadora the development of her dance was natural phenomenon.” (1) She believed that in her movement she rediscovered natural beauty, tendency, and form. In her younger years she spent most of her time outdoors playing. She did not like school because she believed it impeded her experiencing nature. Isadora’s Mother played the piano and had an affinity for the music of Beethoven, Schumann, Mozart and Chopin. Her mother also exposed Duncan to the work of Shakespeare, Shelley, Keats and Burns at a young age. These things made her well versed in the Romantic Era of time. Isadora also gained her mother’s sense of rebelliousness against the Puritanical and Victorian strictures regarding the role of women, marriage and childbearing, fashion and education. Isadora also studied Rosseau, Nietzche, Darwin, and Haeckel. She visited countless museums to study all forms of art so that she was well versed in all forms.

Later in life, when she lived in Germany, Duncan was introduced to the philosophy of Frederick Nietzsche, and soon after that she began to formulate her own philosophy of dance. In 1903 she delivered a speech in Berlin called "The Dance of the Future." In it she argued that the dance of the future would be similar to the dance of the ancient Greeks, natural and free. “Duncan accused the ballet of "deforming the beautiful woman's body" and called for its abolition. She ended her speech by stating that "the dance of the future will have to become again a high religious art as it was with the Greeks. For art which is not religious is not art, is mere merchandise." It was during this period that Duncan began clarifying her theory of natural dance, identifying the source of the body's natural movement in the solar plexus.” (2) This speech showed her support for the women’s movement, as well as showed her supported for dance as a necessary part of children’s education and a means of living a healthy life.

Isadora collaborated with many artist of her time, she was influenced by their artwork and used literature, philosophy, and music to choreographer her dances. “Water Study” is one of Isadora’s choreographed works to Romantic era composer, Franz Schubert. Within the dance, the dancer is representing water and becoming water. In all of Isadora's dances, there are multiple layers of symbolism and expression. In response to Walt Whitman's famous poem “I See America Singing,” (Whitman was one of the many writers Isadora read and was inspired by) Isadora wrote an article entitled “I See America Dancing.” “She was also a muse of her time, inspiring many artists in their poems, sculptures, photos and paintings. Emile-Antoine Bourdelle used Isadora as his inspiration for the famous bas relief on the Champs Elysees in Paris. And Isadora almost single-handedly inspired the formation of the Ballet Russes in Russia after her 1905 visit… it manifested many of Isadora's ideas about dance, music and staging to work together to express more meaningful themes.” (3)

Isadora's dances allowed for exploration of the human condition, as an artist, rather than of simple storytelling. Many of her works expressed loneliness, sacrifice, ecstasy, pilgrimage, and self-discovery. It was rare for this time that movement represented feeling instead of a story; this is why Duncan was such a revolutionist. She showed how movement could be used for expression of the self not just a representation. Isadora was a modern artist of her time. She was grounded in Romantic ideals and influenced an entire generation. Though her life was more than 100 years ago her influence on the world of movement is still seen today.

Works Cited:

1. "About Isadora Duncan." About Isadora Duncan. Isadora Duncan Foundation, 2012. Web. 02 Mar. 2014. <http://www.isadoraduncan.org/the- foundation/about-isadora-duncan>.

2. "Chapter 2: The Solo Dancers." Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2014. <http://www.pitt.edu/~gillis/dance/isadora.html>.

3. Durham, Valerie. "Isadora Duncan: Child of the Romantic, Rebel of the Victorian, Consummate Artist of the Modern." Duncandancers. Annapolis Maryland, 2007. Web. 02 Mar. 2014. <http://www.duncandancers.com/romanticism.html>.

Biography and Legacy of Doris Humphrey

Biography:

Doris Humphrey was born in 1895, to a journalist father and concert pianist mother.  She started a rather successful dance school in her hometown immediately after graduating High School, but chose to further her career in 1917 by moving to Los Angeles to work with Denishawn.  While working as a dancer at Denishawn, she was also given the opportunity to teach and choreograph.  In 1928 Humphrey, along with Charles Weidman, left Denishawn and moved to New York where they became integral parts of modern dance.  Doris sought to push beyond the superficiality of Denishawn and explore the possibilities of the human body.  This led to her technique based on fall and recovery.  She retired as a dancer in 1944 due to severe arthritis in her hips.  Despite her inability to dance she continued her career as artistic director of Jose Limon's company.  She finished writing her book The Art of Making Dances in 1958, and passed away in December of that same year.

The Humphrey Legacy:

Doris Humphrey played an integral role in the birth of American Modern Dance.  After spending years with the Denishawn Company she found their obsession with the Orient to be quite superficial, which spurred her departure with Charles Weidman from the company.  After leaving they started their own company and school in New York, with the intent to avoid this shallow dancing.  She strove to create work that was appropriate and relatable to contemporary America. They established “the esthetic and audience base for their innovative dance. They created works addressed to contemporary concerns.”(2)  She was interested in returning dance to pure movement.  This is particularly evident in her 1928 work, Water Study.  The dancers performed in minimal clothing accompanied by the live sounds of their own breath.  

Perhaps her most prominent role in history was her theory of fall and recovery.  After hours in front a mirror she came to the conclusion that movement falls on a spectrum between “motionless balance and falling imbalance incapable of recovery”.(1)  She understood that each movement away from gravity requires a compensation to regain balance and avoid falling.  This understanding led to a dramatic utilization of gravity in both her choreographic works and her technique. 

In her final years before death Doris wrote The Art of Making Dances; a book that is considered to be the first modern book on choreography.  It is a guide, not only for dance, but also for the performing arts in general.  Despite the fact that Doris left this world over fifty years ago, her book is still in wide circulation. Her technique, as well as her repertoire, continues to be taught and performed around the world. 

Works Cited:

1. "Doris Humphrey (American Dancer)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/276354/Doris-Humphrey>.

2. "Biography." The Doris Humphrey Society Biography Comments. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. <http://www.dorishumphrey.org/the-early-years/>.

Biography and Legacy of Isadora Duncan

Biography:

Isadora Angela Duncan was born on May 26^th, 1877 in San Francisco, California. Primarily her mother, Dora, raised her because her parents divorced when she was an infant. Dora had a great appreciation for the arts, and exposed Isadora to them at a young age. “At the age of 6, Duncan began to teach movement to little children in her neighborhood; word spread, and by the time she was 10, her classes had become quite large.” (1)

Duncan lived with her Brother, Raymond in New York and Chicago. She studied Greek Mythology and visual iconography, which gave her inspiration for her movement. She was intrigued by the bare feet and draped clothing of Greek art. After sometime she moved to Europe and became a huge sensation there. As her life progressed she opened schools in Germany, Russia, and the United States; her students were known as the “Isadorables.”

As Duncan aged she faced horrible tragedies. In 1913 her two children and their nanny drowned. She married “poet Sergey Aleksandrovich Yesenin in 1922, favoring a legal union to allow him travel to the U.S. However, the couple was ostracized due to anti-Bolshevik paranoia, and Duncan declared that she would not return to America.” (1) Yesenin committed suicide in the mid 1920s. Duncan continued to be emotionally unstable through the rest of her life. She died on September 14^th, 1927 when her scarf was caught in the back tire of an automobile driving away. Her autobiography, “My Life” was published later that year. She was inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame in 1987.

The Duncan Legacy:

Isadora Duncan is known as one of the “Mothers of Modern Dance.” Her free spiritedness, Greek Mythology influences, and bare feet made her controversial in the United States. Her fresh point of view was widely accepted in Europe, however, and she became a huge sensation over seas. “With free-flowing costumes, bare feet, and loose hair, she took to the stage inspired by the ancient Greeks, the music of classical composers, the wind and the sea.” (2)

With her individuality she helped dance to have an important place in the arts. She boycotted corsets and the controlled form of ballet. Duncan stepped out of the studio to dance and embraced nature to inspire movement. She embraced philosophy and literature to teach and inspire her. Isadora referred to her movement as “…natural phenomenon- not an invention, but a rediscovery of the classical principles of beauty, motion, and form.” (2) She danced with her natural impulses and wished to dance her life in the present. Duncan moved for movement sake.

Although Isadora was beloved by so many people, her free-spiritedness caused much controversy because it was so different for the time. Duncan helped to break down barriers of what the definition of dance was and what the definition of women was. She was an advocator of Women’s Rights, which led to her inspiring many people for years to come. Duncan broke down barriers for women. She made money in her profession and opened her own schools of dance in the United States, Russia and Germany. “In 1913, her image was carved into the entrance of the newly built Theatre des Champs-Elysees. It was also painted in murals of the nine muses by Maurice Denis in the auditorium.” (3) Duncan had an influence everywhere she went and helped to shape dance into what it is today, as well as shape the woman of today.

Works Cited:

1. A&E Networks. "Isadora Duncan Biography." Bio.com. 2014. A&E Networks Television. 13 Feb. 2014 <http://www.biography.com/people/isadora-duncan- 9281125>.

2. Isadora Duncan Foundation. "About Isadora Duncan." About Isadora Duncan. 2012. 13 Feb. 2014 <http://www.isadoraduncan.org/the-foundation/about-isadora- duncan>.

3. Treva Bedinghaus. "Isadora Duncan." About.com Dance. 16 Feb. 2014 <http://dance.about.com/od/famousdancer1/p/Isadora-Duncan.htm>.