Difference between revisions of "Ted Shawn" - New World Encyclopedia
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| − | Ted Shawn (1891-1972) was a key figure, and the only male figure, in the founding period of modern dance. With his wife, Ruth St. Denis, he was half of the production company "Denishawn." | + | Ted Shawn (1891-1972) was a key figure, and the only male figure, in the founding period of modern dance. With his wife, Ruth St. Denis, he was half of the production company "Denishawn." They danced on their 50th anniversary at the Casino in Saratoga Springs, New York. Saratoga Springs is now the home of the National Museum of Dance, the world's only museum dedicated to professional dance. Shawn appeared in the classic films Intolerance in 1916 and Don't Change Your Husband in 1919. |
Shawn's dance retreat in Becket, Massachusetts, became the renowned Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. | Shawn's dance retreat in Becket, Massachusetts, became the renowned Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. | ||
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==Biography== | ==Biography== | ||
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| + | Edwin Myers Shawn was born on October 21, 1891 in [[Kansas City, Missouri]], but grew up in [[Denver]]. While studying to become a minister, Shawn suffered a bout of diphtheria, leaving him paralyzed. He was 19. His physician advised him to take up dance as a form of physical therapy. Dancing cured Shawn's paralysis while spurring him on to leave divinity school and pursue the artform as a life-long profession. | ||
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| + | While Shawn did not have the ideal body type of a male dancer (he was over six feet tall and weighed 175lbs), he achieved some success starting out. Shawn's first dance experience was with a Metropolitan Opera ballerina and he garnered a few fans as part of an exhibition ballroom team. He soon moved to Los Angeles, opened a dance studio and joined forces with [[Norma Gould]],????. There he would make one of the first dance motion pictures ''Dancing of the Ages''. ??? | ||
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| + | During a tour in New York he met Ruth St. Denis (1878-1968) and married her almost immediately on August 13, 1914. Their union would set his artistic life in motion as the pair formed the Denishawn studios and dancers. | ||
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| + | Just before throwing himself into the dance world, Shawn served a stint in the United States Army, first as an enlisted man, then an Officer during World War I. | ||
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| + | During the next 15 years, the activities of the couple's Denishawn Company and School changed the course of dance history. It was the first American institution to combine performance and touring with dance curriculum. It was also the only respectable school to which parents could safely send daughters. Most of today's modern dancers trace their ancestry to Denishawn. It was Shawn who first recognized [[Martha Graham]]'s potential. He was also instrumental in shaping the early careers of [[Charles Weidman]], [[Doris Humphrey]] and [[Jack Cole]]. While St. Denis provided most of the creative sparks, Shawn had the business sense to make Denishawn a coast-to-coast success. | ||
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| + | During the darkest days of the Great Depression (1929-1939), Ted Shawn bought an abandoned farmhouse in western Massachusetts known as [[Jacob's Pillow]] (named after a large pillow-shaped rock behind the house). By the time Shawn acquired the Pillow in 1930, his stormy marriage to the famous dancer Ruth St. Denis had ended, which also brought on the dissolution of their cash cow, Denishawn. | ||
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| + | This property would become Shawn's summer dance retreat. He would also begin to lay the groundwork both for his revolutionary company of men dancers and America's oldest dance festival. | ||
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| + | In March 1933, "Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers" gave their first, historic, all-male performance in Boston. By May 1940 when Shawn disbanded the group, the Company had danced for over a million people in all of the United States, in Canada, Cuba and England. Having challenged the industry to accept them as a legitimate addition to the dance world, the troupe irrevocably changed the course of American dance. | ||
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| + | For the final three decades of his life, Shawn became a major impresario, bringing dance to mainstream America through the theater and school at Jacob's Pillow. To promote his principle of the importance and universality of dance, Shawn introduced countless foreign companies to American audiences, provided opportunities for promising young artists, and trained a myriad of students in a full range of dance styles. Shawn orchestrated premieres by both the established and emerging talents of his day including [[Agnes de Mille]], [[Anton Dolin]], [[Pearl Lang]], [[Merce Cunningham]], [[Anna Sokolow]], [[Alvin Ailey]] and [[Robert Joffrey]]. | ||
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| + | and the Pillow still offers an eclectic mix of training and performance so favored by its controversial founder | ||
==Later Years and Legacy== | ==Later Years and Legacy== | ||
Revision as of 16:55, 10 December 2007
Ted Shawn (1891-1972) was a key figure, and the only male figure, in the founding period of modern dance. With his wife, Ruth St. Denis, he was half of the production company "Denishawn." They danced on their 50th anniversary at the Casino in Saratoga Springs, New York. Saratoga Springs is now the home of the National Museum of Dance, the world's only museum dedicated to professional dance. Shawn appeared in the classic films Intolerance in 1916 and Don't Change Your Husband in 1919.
Shawn's dance retreat in Becket, Massachusetts, became the renowned Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival.
The following quote is attributed to Ted Shawn: "I believe that dance communicates man’s deepest, highest and most truly spiritual thoughts and emotions far better than words, spoken or written."
Biography
Edwin Myers Shawn was born on October 21, 1891 in Kansas City, Missouri, but grew up in Denver. While studying to become a minister, Shawn suffered a bout of diphtheria, leaving him paralyzed. He was 19. His physician advised him to take up dance as a form of physical therapy. Dancing cured Shawn's paralysis while spurring him on to leave divinity school and pursue the artform as a life-long profession.
While Shawn did not have the ideal body type of a male dancer (he was over six feet tall and weighed 175lbs), he achieved some success starting out. Shawn's first dance experience was with a Metropolitan Opera ballerina and he garnered a few fans as part of an exhibition ballroom team. He soon moved to Los Angeles, opened a dance studio and joined forces with Norma Gould,????. There he would make one of the first dance motion pictures Dancing of the Ages. ???
During a tour in New York he met Ruth St. Denis (1878-1968) and married her almost immediately on August 13, 1914. Their union would set his artistic life in motion as the pair formed the Denishawn studios and dancers.
Just before throwing himself into the dance world, Shawn served a stint in the United States Army, first as an enlisted man, then an Officer during World War I.
During the next 15 years, the activities of the couple's Denishawn Company and School changed the course of dance history. It was the first American institution to combine performance and touring with dance curriculum. It was also the only respectable school to which parents could safely send daughters. Most of today's modern dancers trace their ancestry to Denishawn. It was Shawn who first recognized Martha Graham's potential. He was also instrumental in shaping the early careers of Charles Weidman, Doris Humphrey and Jack Cole. While St. Denis provided most of the creative sparks, Shawn had the business sense to make Denishawn a coast-to-coast success.
During the darkest days of the Great Depression (1929-1939), Ted Shawn bought an abandoned farmhouse in western Massachusetts known as Jacob's Pillow (named after a large pillow-shaped rock behind the house). By the time Shawn acquired the Pillow in 1930, his stormy marriage to the famous dancer Ruth St. Denis had ended, which also brought on the dissolution of their cash cow, Denishawn.
This property would become Shawn's summer dance retreat. He would also begin to lay the groundwork both for his revolutionary company of men dancers and America's oldest dance festival.
In March 1933, "Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers" gave their first, historic, all-male performance in Boston. By May 1940 when Shawn disbanded the group, the Company had danced for over a million people in all of the United States, in Canada, Cuba and England. Having challenged the industry to accept them as a legitimate addition to the dance world, the troupe irrevocably changed the course of American dance.
For the final three decades of his life, Shawn became a major impresario, bringing dance to mainstream America through the theater and school at Jacob's Pillow. To promote his principle of the importance and universality of dance, Shawn introduced countless foreign companies to American audiences, provided opportunities for promising young artists, and trained a myriad of students in a full range of dance styles. Shawn orchestrated premieres by both the established and emerging talents of his day including Agnes de Mille, Anton Dolin, Pearl Lang, Merce Cunningham, Anna Sokolow, Alvin Ailey and Robert Joffrey.
and the Pillow still offers an eclectic mix of training and performance so favored by its controversial founder
Later Years and Legacy
External Links
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
Credits
Initial content was copied from the following Wikipedia article:
- Ted_Shawn (Dec 10, 2007) history
All credit for producing the original text goes to the WikiMedia Foundation and its selfless team of volunteer contributors. It was copied here in compliance with the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). Any changes made to the original text since then create a derivative work which is also GFDL licensed. Please note the current version here and at Wikipedia are liable to diverge over time. Check the edit history for details.
