Modern Ballroom Dancing
Twentieth-century modern ballroom dancing differed from social dancing of the nineteenth century in its shift in focus from group cohesion to individual personal style. This…
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Balanchine, George (1904–1983)
George Balanchine (Georgii Melitonovich Balanchivadze), arguably the greatest ballet choreographer of the twentieth century, was at once both modernist and traditionalist. Unlike many radical innovators,…
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…
Wiesenthal, Grete (1885–1970)
The Austrian dancer and choreographer Grete Wiesenthal was a transitional figure at the crossroads of ballet and modern dance. Initially trained and employed as a…
Saunders, Rebecca (1967–)
One of her generation’s foremost composers, Saunders was born into a musical family (both parents were freelance musicians) on 19 December 1967 and raised in…
Bodenwieser, Gertrud (1890–1959)
Gertrud Bodenwieser was an Austrian-born dancer, teacher, and choreographer who made major contributions on two continents to the development of what she called New Dance,…
Palucca, Gret (1902–1993)
Gret Palucca took a distinctive improvisational and pedagogical approach to German modern dance in a career spanning four different political systems in Germany. After studying…
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…
Vainonen, Vasily Ivanovich (1901–1964)
Dancer and choreographer Vasily Vainonen created several signature choreographic works of the Soviet ballet repertoire of the 1930s, including composer Boris Afasiev’s The Flames of…
Modernism and Film Music in Latin America
Modernism in Latin America was, as in Europe, a movement that began as a reaction to late-nineteenth-century artistic currents, primarily in visual and plastic art,…
Humphrey, Doris (1895-1958)
In the history of modern dance, Doris Humphrey’s significance traverses performance, choreography, pedagogy, and advocacy for the emerging art form in mid-century America. Her explorations…
Foxtrot
The foxtrot emerged circa 1914, most likely within African American practices, as a variation on the older duple meter one step popular with dancers since…
Fitzgerald, Zelda Sayre (1900–1948)
On 24 July 1900, Zelda Sayre was born into a prominent Southern family in Montgomery, Alabama, the youngest of six children. Her father had a…
Antheil George (1900–1959)
George Johann Carl Antheil was an American composer, pianist, author, and inventor. He is best-known for his 1924 composition, Ballet Mechanique, originally scored for sixteen…
Raqs-e melli
Iranian-Armenians Madame Cornelli, Madame Yelena Avakian, and Sarkis Djanbazian, all of whom had learned ballet in Russia or Europe, came to Iran where they opened…
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…
Denishawn (1915–1931)
Denishawn, a for-profit enterprise combining a school and dance company, was founded in Los Angeles in 1915 by the internationally acclaimed solo performer Ruth St.…
Dance Directors
The term Dance Director was used in the first three decades of the twentieth century for stage and film work. At first, it simply meant…
Modern Folk Dance
Modern folk dance is a turn of the twentieth-century revivalist practice based upon a participatory dance form originating within village-based ethnic communities of northern Europe.…
Yakobson, Leonid (1904–1975)
A Russian dancer and choreographer, Leonid Veniaminovich Yakobson choreographed for the Kirov and Bolshoi ballets from 1930 to the early 1970s, during which time he…
Parade
A one-act ballet on the theme of a fairground sideshow, Parade was produced by Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, and premiered on May 18, 1917 at…
Kazuo, Ohno (1906–2010)
When Ohno Kazuo died at age 103, he was an international legend memorialized in newspapers around the world as a Japanese modern dancer, a pioneer…
Castle, Vernon (1887–1918) & Castle, Irene Foote (1893–1969)
During the years 1911–1917, Irene Foote Castle (1893–1969) and her husband Vernon Castle (1887–1918) explicitly marketed ragtime dancing as “modern” to their upper-class and, increasingly,…
Ashton, Frederick William Mallandaine (1904–1988)
Frederick Ashton was a British choreographer and dancer whose work significantly contributed to the development and identity of The Royal Ballet. Along with its founder,…
Kreutzberg, Harald (1902–1968)
Harald Kreutzberg was among the most widely known German dancers from the mid-1930s through the early 1960s, and he was certainly the most famous German…