Maturing

Classics
1945-1959
 Reporters

Mary Grace Levera Sally Lamera Jr. Ellana Anne Llanda

 Glance at the past
1. History and Political Scene
2. Society and the Arts
- Popular Dances
- Latin Dances
Maturing American Ballet
Dancers and Personalities
List of 1. Major Figures in Ballet
2. Ballet Companies and Schools

Contents
Significant Dance Works and Literature
Summary
Maturing American Modern Dance
Dancers and Personalities
1. Major Figures in Modern Dance
2. Modern Dance Companies and Schools
Significant Dance Works and Literature
Summary
 Jerome Robbins Agnes de Mille

Jerome Robbins was an American dancer, In the 1940's, brought the same theme
choreographer, film director, theatre director to life with the farmers and the
and producer who worked in classical ballet, ranchers in Oklahoma! De Mille's
on stage, film, and television. “West Side integration of an entire ballet into a
Story” is the greatest musical of all time. musical changed the genre from a
Opening on Broadway in 1957, the entire series of disjointed dances to an
production was conceived, directed and integrated whole. She incorporated
choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Robbins jazz, modern, ballet, tap, folk, ethnic,
seized on an urban cultural clash, setting it square, and other dance styles into her
in 1950's America. works.
In the 1950s Fred Astaire Gene Kelly choreographed Kelly, Donald O'Connor,
and Cyd Charisse heated and danced with Leslie and Debbie Reynolds
up the stage with their Caron the famous dream danced and sang their way
dance partnership. ballet in An American in through the classical film
Paris (1951). Singin' in the Rain (1952).
In 1957, West Side Story, a
groundbreaking American musical
by Jerome Robbins, debuted on
Broadway.
The musical reimagined Romeo and
Juliet with a contemporary teenage
setting and became an enduring film
and stage classic.
Robbins, a former dancer for Ballet
Theatre and Broadway, codirected
and choreographed West Side
Story, gaining artistic control in
musical theater.
Other notable musicals in Robbins'
career include The King and I
(1951) and Fiddler on the Roof
A scene from the Broadway production of West Side Story.
(1964).
 Glance at the past
Postwar years saw major economic and population booms driven by
returning veterans.
Levittown, New York, became the prototype for suburban sprawl and
mass-produced housing.
Contractors built 30 houses a day, offering five model options.
In 1949, a two-bedroom ranch-style house in Levittown cost $7,990.
Life magazine associated homeownership with the American Dream,
claiming it countered communist values.
By 1949, suburbs were filled with "crabgrass, station wagons, and
backyard barbecues" (Rabinowitz, 1999, 99).
 History and Political Scene

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

President Roosevelt died in 1945, and Eleanor Roosevelt

became "First Lady of the World" as a United Nations
delegate. In 1948 she helped the UN draft the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
The 1950s began with the Korean War amidst postwar prosperity
in the United States.
Americans migrated toward the Sunbelt and from cities to
suburbs.
Concerns over communism's spread in the Far East led to "red
scares," with many accused of being communists.
The U.S.-Soviet arms race intensified, prompting Americans to
build backyard bomb shelters.
President Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower prioritized domestic
improvements, including the construction of 40,000 miles of
interstate highways.
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, starting the space
race.
In 1959, Eisenhower invited Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to
the U.S. to discuss nuclear disarmament, beginning détente.
Society and the Arts
Returning American soldiers and sailors after
WWII led to societal shifts.
Some women returned to homemaking roles,
while others remained in the workforce.
Men's suits of the time saw minor changes,
becoming slightly more comfortable.
Women's fashion in the 1940s showed
military influences.
Post-war, Dior's "New Look" from Paris
emerged, showcasing luxury fabrics and
wide, flared skirts, in stark contrast to
wartime styles.
 Society and the Arts

The two-piece bikini swimsuit made fashion history in 1946.

The 1950s introduced a clean-cut, all-American look for
boys and girls and popularized wash-and-wear clothing.
For teens, bobby socks and white saddle oxfords were
essential from the 1940s through the 1960s.
Flared skirts with poodle appliqués, crinoline underskirts,
blouses, and ponytails were popular attire for sock hops.
 Society and the Arts
The 1950s were dubbed "the Ozzie and Harriet
era," after a popular TV show about a suburban
family solving weekly problems.
Radio and then television became central to family
life, with TV shows shaping cultural norms.
Films and movie musicals remained popular,
continuing to entertain and uplift audiences after
WWII.
By 1951, half million televisions were in American
homes.
Society and the Arts
On the music scene, the postwar era
birthed rhythm and blues, and rock 'n'
roll swept the nation with the Crew Cuts.
Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around
the Clock" (1955) was big.

In 1956 Elvis became the first rock star.

Popular dances included the stroll, bop,
hand jive, and calypso. By 1955 music
could be recorded and played on
magnetic tape.
 POPULAR SOCIAL DANCES
Americans kept jitterbugging through the
1940s, but dance styles began to change
with the television premiere of American
Bandstand in Philadelphia in 1956. The
show, which televised teenagers doing the
latest dance steps and presented dance
contests, went national the following year.
It was a major influence on the
popularization of rock'n' roll, swing, and
other dances.
 POPULAR SOCIAL DANCES
Swing, sometimes called the jive, replaced
the Lindy. It was basically the same dance,
but less energetic and with more repetition
of steps. In the stroll, a slow line dance
presented on American Bandstand, two
parallel lines -boys in one, girls in the
other-faced each other. As everyone else
did the stroll step, the end couple
improvised a dance as they moved between
the lines, then separated and returned to
their places.
 LATIN DANCES
In the late 1940s the mambo ignited the Latin dance
craze. Originating in Cuba, the mambo was a blend of
African-Cuban rhythms mixed with North American
swing (Driver 2000). A dance in 4/4 time, with emphasis
on beats 2 and 4, its more acrobatic movements were
modified for American tastes. Mambo music hits
included "Papa Loves Mambo" and "Cherry Pink and
Apple Blossom White." The mambo, which did not last
long, led to the cha-cha. The cha-cha (or cha-cha-cha)
was one of the most popular Latin dances. A couple
dance with little contact between partners, it included a
variety of steps and hip movement. Cha-cha music is in
4/4 time, faster than the mambo, and with the rhythmic
pattern of step, step, cha-cha-cha. The dance's name is
said to have derived from the sound of someone
walking in slippers.
TIME CAPSULE
 MATURING AMERICAN
BALLET
Jerome Robbins' 1944 ballet, Fancy
Free, depicted sailors on leave in
New York, capturing the spirit of the
time and making social commentary.
In the 1950s, the Bol-shoi Ballet
toured America, showcasing
technical accomplishments and
artistic acrobatics, attracting
American dancers.
 DANCERS AND
PERSONALITIES
Isolated by World War II, the United
States had to rely on its own artistic
resources. American dancers and
choreographers had begun to develop
confidence in their abilities, and
choreographers were struggling to create
mature works. Postwar themes gained
impetus as choreographers sculpted and
shaped a new version of ballet that
captured the American spirit.
 MAJOR FIGURES
IN BALLET
The core of ballet and choreography in
this era was all American: American
dancers doing American choreography
based on American themes that spoke
to American audiences.
 Jerome Robbins
(1918-1998)

Jerome Robbins, born Jerome Rabinowitz in New York City, studied ballet, Spanish, Oriental,
and modern dance, along with violin, piano, and acting. He began his career as a dancer and
choreographer, appearing in Broadway musicals and joining Ballet Theatre in 1940. Robbins
produced works with Leonard Bernstein, including Facsimile and Age of Anxiety. He joined
New York City Ballet in 1950 and became associate artistic director. Robbins returned to
Broadway with West Side Story in 1957 and started his own ballet company, Ballets: USA, in
1958. He received numerous awards and academic honors, including the Handel Medallion of
the City of New York.
 Jacques D’Amboise
(1934 - )

Jacques D'Amboise, a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and director, attended

the School of American Ballet and performed with Ballet Society and New York
City Ballet. He created leading roles in Balanchine ballets and appeared in
movies. In 1976, he founded the National Dance Institute to expose New York
City youth to dance.
 Maria Tallchief
(1925 - )

Maria Tallchief, born in Oklahoma, studied ballet in California with

Bronislava Nijinska. She began her career with Ballet Russe de Monte
Carlo and joined Ballet Society, later NYCB. Tallchief was an early
interpreter of Balanchine's roles.
 Alexandra Danilova
(1903 - 1997)

Alexandra Danilova, a Russian dancer, trained at the Imperial

Theatre and Maryinsky Theatre. She left Russia in 1924 to tour
Europe with Balanchine and joined Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.
Danilova was a prominent interpreter of Massine's ballets and a
prestigious ballerina. She taught at the School of American Ballet.
 Nora Kaye
(1920 - 1987)

Nora Kaye, born in New York, studied with Fokine and Tudor, and
danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, American Ballet, and
Ballet Theatre. She created Hagar in Tudor's Pillar of Fire and
served as associate director of American Ballet Theatre.
 Ballet Companies
and Schools

A new era in the history of American

ballet companies presented
homegrown choreographers and
spread the American spirit throughout
the world.
 Ballet Theatre

In 1944, American choreographers

introduced a new style of dancing,
showcasing the country's youth. Ballet
Theatre, founded in 1946, performed in
London and celebrated its 10th
anniversary in 1946. The company
performed in Europe and the Middle East,
acquiring new ballets from guest
choreographers. In 1957, it changed its
name to American Ballet Theatre.
 Ballet Society

After the war, Kirstein and

Balanchine formed Ballet Society, a
nonprofit subscription organization
that presented avant-garde works,
choreography by Balanchine, Lew
Christensen, and others, including
Balanchine's Orpheus, at the New
York City Center of Music and
Drama.
 New York City
Ballet
New York City Ballet, an outgrowth of
Ballet Society, opened in 1948 at the New
York City Center of Music and Drama. Its
repertory focuses on neoclassical dances
by Balanchine, with works by renowned
choreographers. By the 1950s, NYCB
toured major American cities and abroad,
becoming a leading international ballet
company.
 Significant Dance Works
Balanchine's thematic
ballet of four sections
that represent the four
Fancy Free temperaments
(1944) (humors): Melancholic
(male solo), Sanguinic
(pas de deux),
Robbins' first ballet, to music composed by the Phlegmatic (male solo),
then relatively unknown Leonard Bernstein.
and Choleric (female
Robbins captured the American spirit with his
The Four solo), set to music by
story about three sailors on leave in New York
Temperaments Paul Hindemith.
who try to pick up girls on a hot summer
(1946) .
evening.
.
 Significant Dance Works
Balanchine
choreographed this
gem for Ballet
Les Patineurs
Theatre. A plotless
(1946)
ballet, it captured
a vision of 19th-
century Russian
Originally choreographed by Frederick Ashton
for the Vic-Wells Ballet, this light ballet
Imperial ballet and
portrays 1 9th-century skaters as engaging Theme and transported it into
individuals and couples as they dance on a Variations the 20th century.
mock frozen pond. (1947)
 Significant Dance Works
Created by William
Dollar as a pas de
deux, The Duel, in
1949, The Combat was
Orpheus
staged for New York
(1948) City Ballet in 1950 and
Ballet Theatre in 1953,
and it has been revived
several times. The story
Balanchine retells the ancient myth with
line pertains to a pagan
neoclassical choreography, scenery and
princess killed in a duel
costumes by Isamu Noguchi, and music by The Combat
by her lover, who was
Stravinsky. (1953)
unaware of her identity.
 Significant Dance Works

Originally choreographed
for the Swedish Ballet in
1950,Brigit Cullberg
Agon restaged this dramatic
(1957) work for Ballet Theatre in
1958. Based on
Strindberg's play by the
same name, the tragic,
Is Balanchine's neoclassic ballet, a 12-member expressionistic ballet
ensemble contest based on 17th-century court dramatizes a woman's
dances and Stravinsky music. It features an Miss Julie desire, passion, and death.
interracial pas de deux performed by Mitchell (1958)
and Adams.
Significant Dance Works
Choreographers Balanchine
and Graham created a two-
part work set to music by
Anton von Webern. One
part showcased modern
dance and the other ballet.
Graham choreographed the
first half of the work; she
and her company danced
the roles. Balanchine's half
included a pas de deux and
solo for modern dancer
Episodes Paul Taylor.
(1959)
 Dance Literature
From the end of the war to the 1950s,
ballet literature focused on technical
development, with important books like
The Classic Ballet: Basic Technique and
Terminology providing detailed Russian
ballet technique. British author Cyril
Beaumont published Complete Book of
Ballets in 1938, while Anatole Chujoy
supported American dance through his
work, The Dance Encyclopedia, and
Looking at the Dance.
 Summary
The end of World War II to 1959 was a time of maturation for dancers
and choreographers, as they captured and communicated the new
American ballet to audiences throughout the United States and the
world. The last vestiges of the Diaghilev era could be seen in the
touring companies that visited smaller cities, while new and often
startling creations paraded across stages in New York and other major
U.S. cities. Meanwhile, smaller, homegrown American ballet
companies continued to develop their own dancers and
choreographers in cities such as San Francisco, Atlanta, and
Philadelphia. They played an important role in attracting local
audiences to ballet.
 MATURING AMERICAN
MODERN DANCE
In the postwar period, American
modern dance pioneers' artistic
contributions became recognized as
an art form, a three-dimensional
"plastic art." The earlier simple,
stark, group modern dance
performances matured into a classic
form produced with costumes,
commissioned music, and set decor.
 MAJOR FIGURES IN
MODERN DANCE
The first generation of modern
dancers was predominantly
female; in the second
generation, strong male
figures tried to establish a
broader base and to continue
the pioneering work of Shawn
and Weidman in the 1930s.
 DANCERS AND
PERSONALITIES
Modern dancers in the 1940s and
1950s made many important
strides in growing their
companies and becoming
nationally and internationally
recognized as a phenomenal art
force.
 José Limón (1908-1972)

•José Limón was one of the •Limón Technique - this

most prominent American •José Limón was a dancer and technique focuses on the use of
choreographers in modern choreographer from Mexico and gravity and weight in
dance. His powerful who developed what is now known movement. The dancer must
as 'Limón technique'. In the use their body weight to create
choreography often focused on
dynamic and expressive
human drama, incorporating 1940s, he founded the José Limón
movements, such as falling,
themes from literature, history Dance Company (now the Limón rebounding, and suspension.
or religion. Throughout his Dance Company), and in 1968 he Limon Technique also
career, Limón worked to change created the José Limón emphasizes the use of breath
the image of the male in dance Foundation to carry on his work. and the connection between
and bring it to a new stature music and movement.
and recognition.
 Significant Dance Works

The Moor’s Pavane (1949)

Based on
Shakespeare's
Othello, the dance There Is A Time
distills the dramatic (1956)
action into a pavane
performed by the
major characters,
thereby Taking its theme from the biblical phrase "to
concentrating the everything there is a season," this work
emotions of this explores the contrast of emotions from joy to
drama. sadness, all framed in a round dance.
 Lester Horton (1900-1953)

•Lester Horton's technique,

•Lester Horton, a pioneer of developed in the 1930s, is an •Horton's choreography crossed
American modern dance, was excellent way to enhance and an impressive range of themes,
born in 1906 in Indiana.He correct the body. most often related to social
achieved fame as a dancer, a activism, presenting them as
The technique developed by Lester
choreodramas that melded dance
choreographer, and especially Horton is based on a deep and drama. His productions relied
as a teacher. His fascination understanding of human anatomy. on costuming, decor, and
with American Indian dance It focuses on correcting physical theatricality to create a sense of a
tradition encouraged him to
faults and preparing individuals for total theater experience.
take dance lessons.
any dance form they wish to
pursue.
 Significant Dance Works

Subtitled "The Face of

The Beloved Violence" (which was the
(1948) title for the last of the six
dances Horton created
about Salome, who
fascinated him), the work
centers on Salome's
A duet set in turn-of-the-century New England seduction of Herod to free
portrays a dysfunctional, violent marital Salome (1950) John the Baptist.
relationship.
 Anna Sokolow (1910-2000)

•Born in Hartford, Connecticut,

February 9, 1910. Died 2000.
•She was one of the first
Anna Sokolow, the daughter of
•Sokolow was a pioneer in the choreographers to set her work
Russian Jewish immigrants,
grew up in New York’s Lower creation of dances that explore the to jazz music, creating works
East Side. She studied with innermost feelings of men and for large groups. Although her
Louis Horst and Martha Graham works blend dance and drama,
women in reaction to the social
at the Neighborhood Playhouse they have no real endings; they
and psychological pressure of
and danced with Graham’s simply stop or fade out, since
companye from 1930 to 1937.
contemporary life. she believed there are no final
In 1934 she formed her own solutions.
company and choreographed
extensively throughout her life.
 Significant Dance Works

Set to a mixed orchestral

Rooms (1955) and electronic score by
Edgard Varèse, it is "the
intimation of emptiness
and loneliness abstracted
In this episodic work Sokolow focuses on and organized into a more
individual characters-the people meet and pass symphonic form" (Percival
but do not communicate. It is a study of 1970, 36).
loneliness and isolation in contrast to man's Deserts (1967)
dreams of happiness. In this work, she
incorporates jazz dance.
 Erick Hawkins (1909-1994)

•Hawkins' choreography used

•Born in Trinidad, Colorado, Erick •The Hawkins dance technique sensual movement and had a
Hawkins graduated from Harvard, floating, seemingly effortless
embodies the philosophy that
quality. His technique stressed
where he studied Greek, his-tory, dance should integrate the body, natural movement that was
mythology, and philosophy. He
mind, and soul while always filled with imagery for the
began dancing in his junior year.
following scientific principles. This dancer.
A graduate of the School of
system of dance training—an His choreography and dance
American Ballet, he began his
approach that continues to technique were deeply imbued
dance career in ballet, performing
with his philosophy and
with the American Ballet and influence dancers around the world
influences from a variety of
Dance Caravan during the 1930s. —is examined through a variety of
sources: Native American,
illustrations. ancient Greek, Asian, Duncan
 Significant Dance Works

Lords of Persia (1965) Black Lake (1969)

Here and Now With Watchers (1957)

Solos and duets that explore the relationship Hawkins assumed the role of a Persian A ritualistic work for six dancers and
between a man and a woman make up this gentleman playing polo in a ceremonial four musicians in which a series of
program-length piece. tableaux evoke images of birds and
manner.
clouds.
 Pearl Primus (1919-1994)

•Born in Trinidad but raised in •In 1949 Primus went to Africa on a •Primus, who founded her
New York City, Pearl Primus Rosenwald Fellowship, to study own dance company in 1946,
graduated from Hunter College. dance, later performing with her was best known for her
She began presenting concerts in "primitive" dances. She was
company theatrical versions of
New York during the early 1940s, famed for her energy and her
those social dances. Her first solo
as a soloist and with her company. physical daring, which were
concert was so successful that it
Her work combined Afro- characterized by leaps up to
Caribbean movements with jazz. moved to Broadway: she returned
five feet in the air. Dance
there in 1946, performing in a
critics praised her movements
revival of the musical Showboat. as forceful and dramatic, yet
graceful and deliberately
 Significant Dance Works

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (1944) “Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore” (1979)
“Strange Fruit” (1945)
Like Langston Hughes’ poem, Primus’
In 1979, Primus created Michael Row the Boat
a piece in which a woman reflects on "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" is a Ashore' in response to the 1963 bombing of the
witnessing a lynching, used the poem by the meditation on the African diaspora. Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham,
same name by Abel Meeropol (publishing as Alabama (Schwartz and Schwartz 260). The dance is
Primus’s dance evokes a sense of
Lewis Allan). Hard Time Blues (1945) a powerful and raw evocation of a community's loss
connection, pride, and strength among and grief that reverberates in the current moment of
comments on the poverty of African American
sharecroppers in the South. peoples of African descent. socially and politically focused public discourse and
performance.
Modern Dance Companies
and Schools

As modern dance
matured, companies
and schools flourished.
Dance artists and
educators continued to
bring dance to modern
dance teachers and
students across the
United States.
 Connecticut College

After World War Il, the new summer

training school for modern dancers was
Connecticut College School of Dance.
Like Bennington before it, it became the
mecca for college-level modern dance
teachers, who came from all over the
country to be taught by the leading
artists and choreographers.
 Martha Graham
Dance Company
The Martha Graham Dance Company,
founded in 1926, took on a new
dimension in the 1940s, 1950s, and into
the 1960s. With lead male dancers like
Erick Hawkins and Merce Cunningham
joining the company at the end of the
1930s, Graham's repertory changed. In
the later 1940s the focus of her works
shifted from American themes to Greek
mythology. Beginning in the 1950s, the
company toured the United States and
Europe. Graham's works became more
theatrical, with costumes, commissioned
scores, and sets by sculptor Isamu
Noguchi.
 New Dance Group

Starting in the 1930’s and continuing

to the 1950’s, the New Dance Group
the first interracial arts organization in
New York was the center for dance,
music, and visual arts for artists from
various ethnic backgrounds. In its
inception, the New Dance Group had
two rules; creates dance works on
themes that really matters (no swans
or princesses) and that communicated
to the audience.
 Dance Literature
The maturing of American modern dance brought dance literature with
it. Dance Index was a series of monographs written by artists and
scholars beginning in the early 1940s and spanning nearly 30 years.
•During the 1950s Suzanne Langer's philosophy books, Philosophy in a
New Key (1951), Feeling and Form (1953), and Problems of Art (1957)
opened dance aesthetic and philosophical enquiry.
•Walter Terry, critic and writer, captured 20th century history in his work The
Dance in America (1956).

•Doris Humphrey's The Art of Making Dances

(1959) presented modern dance with a foundational choreographic theory and
practice. One of the seminal works of the 20th century, it was so powerful that
dancers were able to apply its concepts and ideas to ballet and other dance
forms.
 Summary

From the end of World War Il to 1960, American modern

dance matured and became a strong force through the
achievements of major artists and their companies. The
expansiveness and diversity of the choreographic works
that were created during this period crystallized modern
dance as a strong dramatic and thematic structural
form.
Thank you!