Dudley, Jane (1912–2001)
Jane Dudley, a key figure in the radical dance movement of the 1930s, was a choreographer who developed her own distinctive voice within the modern…
Search Results 1 - 25 of 36
Ichikawa, Ennosuke II (1888–1963)
Ichikawa Ennosuke II was a kabuki actor in the Meiji, Taishō, and Shōwa eras who collaborated with artists in the modern drama movement and was…
Bauhaus
In 1919 a young architect named Walter Gropius initiated one of the most modern art schools of the twentieth century in the city of Weimar…
Dadaism
Dada began in Zurich, Switzerland, in the midst of World War I. Several expatriate artists converged in the city to escape the brutal and seemingly…
Expressionism
Expressionism was one of the foremost modernist movements to emerge in Europe in the early years of the twentieth-century. It had a profound effect on…
Sharp, Cecil James (1859--1924)
In the short span of about fifteen years in the early twentieth century, Cecil James Sharp ignited a folk revival in country song and dance…
Winfield, Hemsley (1907–1934)
An early initiator of Black modern dance, Hemsley Winfield first gained recognition as an actor and director of the New Negro Art Theater in New…
Workers Dance League, The
In the midst of the economic and social upheaval of America’s Great Depression, a group of young modern dancers came together in 1932 to form…
Cunningham, Merce (1919 – 2009)
One of the twentieth century’s most influential dancers and choreographers, Merce Cunningham re-defined the genre of modern dance. He began his professional career as a…
McBurnie, Beryl (1914–2000)
Known as the Caribbean’s mother of dance, Beryl McBurnie counts amongst the leading figures of Caribbean modern dance, a movement that furthered decolonization and postcolonial…
Shawn, Ted (1891–1972)
The self-proclaimed “Father of American Dance,” Ted Shawn attained international prominence as a professional dancer and choreographer. Along with his wife Ruth St. Denis, Shawn…
Itō, Michio (1893–1961)
Itō Michio’s creative endeavors spanned dance, theatre, and film, just as his career spanned the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, however, his life as a…
Archipenko, Alexander (1887–1964)
Alexander Archipenko studied painting and sculpture at the Kiev Art school from 1902 until 1905, when he was expelled for criticizing its conservatism. Outside formal…
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…
Dance and Writing
The centrality of dance to aesthetic modernism led to dance becoming a major preoccupation of modernist literature and a model for the generation of the…
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.…
Reda, Mahmoud (1930--)
Mahmoud Reda, a pioneer in the modern staging of traditional and folk dance in the Arab world, began his movement career in gymnastics and other…
Wu Xiaobang (吴晓邦) (1906–95)
Wu Xiaobang, known in China as “the father of Chinese new dance,” was the most important pioneer of modern dance in twentieth-century China. Exposed to…
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…
Modern Dance and Education in the United States
The history of dance instruction in educational settings in the United States dates back to the early twentieth century. A number of female physical education…
Burrowes, Leslie (1908–1985)
Dancer, choreographer, and teacher Leslie Burrowes was the first British recipient of the full certification of Mary Wigman’s Dresden School, which licenced her to teach…
Halprin, Anna (Schuman) (1920--)
A dancer, choreographer, community leader, and educator, Anna Halprin helped to pioneer what she called “experimental dance” in the 1960s. After training with the modern…
Wigman, Mary (1886–1973)
Mary Wigman was among the most important dancers and choreographers in Germany during the first half of the 20th century. As a modernist, she sought…
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism in dance is part of the historicist modernist movement of the first third of the 20th century; it indicates an approach that redefines movement…
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…