Hoffman, Gertrude (1886–1966)
Gertrude Hoffman (Hoffmann) was an early twentieth-century Broadway dance director and performer, and the first woman to receive a dance direction—or choreographic—credit on Broadway. From…
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Hansberry, Lorraine (1930–65)
Born in Chicago in 1930, Lorraine Hansberry made history when her play A Raisin in the Sun premièred on Broadway in 1959 as the first…
Williams, Tennessee (1911–1983)
At the height of his powers, in the 1940s and 1950s, Tennessee Williams not only courted the commercial success afforded by Broadway, but also sought…
Ziegfeld Follies (1907–1931)
Named after its founder, Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld (1867–1932), and inspired by the Folies Bergères in Paris, the Ziegfeld Follies (1907–1931) remains one of the…
Robbins, Jerome (1918–1998)
Jerome Robbins was one of the master choreographers of the twentieth century who transformed musical theater and ballet. Beginning with Fancy Free (1944), Robbins left…
Samba
Modern samba music and dance began in Rio de Janeiro’s Afro-Brazilian communities in the early 1900s and spread rapidly to international audiences through twentieth-century technologies…
Black Bottom
The Black Bottom dance began as an early twentieth-century African American social dance in the Southern United States. It later entered the American mainstream via…
Weill, Kurt (1900–1950)
Kurt Weill was one of the most inventive and prominent composers for musical theatre during the first half of the twentieth century. He wrote for…
Fosse, Bob (1927–1987)
Bob Fosse greatly influenced commercial screen dance and musical theatre stages in the latter part of the 20th century as a choreographer and director in…
Weidman, Charles (July 22, 1901 Lincoln, Nebraska – July 15, 1975 New York City)
Charles Weidman had a profound impact upon the development of American modern dance. Collaboration with Doris Humphrey initiated his choreographic journey: their movement experimentations evolved…
Darktown Follies (Lafayette Theatre, Harlem, 1913)
One of the earliest large-scale musical revues to be created and performed by an all-Black cast, Darktown Follies premiered in 1913 at the Lafayette Theatre…
Ragtime Dancing
Ragtime dancing is a social dance practice, performed to ragtime music, that began in the 1890s and gained widespread popularity in US dance halls until…
de Mille, Agnes (1905–1993)
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…
Miranda, Carmen (1909–1955)
Portuguese-born Brazilian singer, dancer and actress Carmen Miranda defied twentieth-century social and theatrical conventions to become a modern pop icon, an emblem of Hollywood’s Latina…
Tamiris, Helen (1902–1966)
Helen Tamiris was a key figure in the development of American modern dance; along with Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Hanya Holm, she helped to…
Palladium
New York’s Palladium Ballroom is commonly revered as the birthplace of modern Latin dancing. Known as “the home of the mambo,” the Palladium was New…
McKayle, Donald (1930–)
In the mid-twentieth century, Donald McKayle became known for creating powerful modern dance works dealing with contemporary African-American experiences. He also helped break down color…
Wayburn, Ned (1874–1942)
Ned Wayburn was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 30 March 1874, and raised in Chicago. He studied at the Hart Conway Chicago School of Elocution while…
Bernstein, Leonard (1918–1990)
Leonard Bernstein was the first American-born conductor to be trained entirely in the United States, and to lead a major symphony orchestra, the New York…
St. Denis, Ruth (1878–1968)
Ruth St. Denis is considered one of the founders of modern dance, even though the genre had not been named as such during her most…
Precision Dancing
Precision dancing epitomizes industrial production lines in the modernist era. The genre previewed the precision and formalism that is more associated with graphics and decorative…
Shimmy
The shimmy, also known as the shim-me-sha-wabble, is a jazz dance that features the upper body, especially the shoulders, shaking and quivering horizontally from side…
Jazz Dancing
Jazz dancing is an important modern art form that developed in tandem with jazz music between the 1910s and 1940s in America. Emanating from African-American…
Treadwell, Sophie (1885–1970)
Like many women writers of her day, American playwright Sophie Treadwell began her career in journalism, working at the San Francisco Bulletin and the New…
Harlem Nightclubs
In the 1920s and 1930s, Harlem became a major hub of New York City nightlife and a prolific space for African American artistic creation. It…