Access to the full text of the entire article is only available to members of institutions that have purchased access. If you belong to such an institution, please log in or find out more about how to order.


Article

de Mille, Agnes (1905–1993) By Gennaro, Liza

DOI: 10.4324/9781135000356-REM59-1
Published: 09/05/2016
Retrieved: 19 March 2024, from
https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/de-mille-agnes-1905-1993-1

Article

Agnes de Mille performed as a self-producing female dance soloist; she choreographed for Ballets Russes and Ballet Theatre (now the AmericanBallet Theatre) and transformed the function of dance in the American musical. Her Americana ballet Rodeo (1942) presents an iconic individualistic American character in her misfit cowgirl; Three Virgins and a Devil (1941) exposes the temptations of lust, greed, and piety rendered in comic dance/pantomime; and Fall River Legend (1948) examines the psychological torment of accused murderess Lizzie Borden. These ballets are important contributions to the canon of American ballet; however, it is in de Mille’s musical theater dances that her modernist methodologies served to transform a genre. Developing her choreographic art in the early days of American modern dance, de Mille was a practitioner of the methods and tenets of the burgeoning form. Making the American musical a medium for modern dance expression, she ushered in an exceptional period of choreography during the prolific era of the ‘‘Golden Age’’ (1943–1964). De Mille’s influence is still apparent in twenty-first-century Broadway.

content locked

Published

09/05/2016

Article DOI

10.4324/9781135000356-REM59-1

Print

Citing this article:

Gennaro, Liza. de Mille, Agnes (1905–1993). Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/de-mille-agnes-1905-1993-1.

Copyright © 2016-2024 Routledge.