Ted Shawn
Ted Shawn | |
---|---|
Born | Edwin Meyers Shawn October 21, 1891 Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
Died | January 9, 1972 | (aged 80)
Occupation | Dancer |
Spouse | Ruth St. Denis (1914–1968) |
Ted Shawn (born Edwin Myers Shawn; October 21, 1891 – January 9, 1972) was a male pioneer of American
Ted Shawn and the creation of Denishawn
Ted Shawn was born in Kansas City, Missouri on October 21, 1891.[2] Originally intending to become a minister of religion, he attended the University of Denver where he caught diphtheria at the age of 19, causing him temporary paralysis from the waist down. It was during his physical therapy for the disease that Shawn was introduced to dance in 1910, studying with Hazel Wallack, a former dancer with the Metropolitan Opera. In 1912, Shawn relocated to Los Angeles where he became part of an exhibition ballroom dance troupe with Norma Gould as his partner.[3]
After moving to New York in 1914, Shawn married
Notable performances choreographed by him during Denishawn's 17-year run include Invocation to the Thunderbird(1917), the solo Danse Americaine, performed by Charles Weidman (1923), Julnar of the Sea, Xochitl performed by Martha Graham (1920) and Les Mystères Dionysiaques.[5] In addition to spawning the careers of Weidman and Graham, the Denishawn school also housed Louise Brooks and Doris Humphrey as students.
Style and technique
Together, Shawn and Ruth St. Denis established an eclectic grouping of dance techniques including ballet (done without shoes) and movement that focused less on rigidity and more on the freeing of the upper body. To add to St. Denis's mainly eastern influence, Shawn introduced elements of North African, Spanish, American and Amerindian dance, ushering in a new era of modern American dance. Breaking with European traditions, their choreography connected the physical and spiritual, often drawing from ancient, indigenous, and international sources.
Ted Shawn and His Male Dancers
I believe that dance communicates man's deepest, highest and most truly spiritual thoughts and emotions far better than words, spoken or written.
— attributed to Ted Shawn,
in Outback and Beyond[6]
Due to Shawn's marital problems and financial difficulties, Denishawn closed in the early 1930s. Subsequently, Shawn formed an all-male dance company of athletes he taught at Springfield College, with the mission to fight for acceptance of the American male dancer and to bring awareness of the art form from a male perspective.[7][citation needed]
The all-male company was based out of a farm that Shawn purchased near
Shawn had a romantic relationship with one of his dancers, Barton Mumaw, from 1931 to 1948. One of the leading stars of the company, Barton Mumaw would emerge onto the dance industry and be considered "the American Nijinsky". While with Shawn, Mumaw began a relationship with John Christian, a stage manager for the company. Mumaw introduced Shawn to Christian. Later, Shawn formed a partnership with Christian, with whom he stayed from 1949 until his death in 1972.[8]
Jacob's Pillow
With this new company came the creation of Jacob's Pillow: a dance school, retreat, and theater. The facilities also hosted teas, which, over time, became the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival.[9][10] Shawn also created The School of Dance for Men around this time, which helped promote male dance in colleges nationwide.
Shawn taught classes at Jacob's Pillow just months before his death at the age of 80.
Saratoga Springs is now the home of the
Writings
Ted Shawn wrote and published nine books that provided a foundation for Modern Dance:[12]
- 1920 – Ruth St. Denis: Pioneer and Prophet
- 1926 – The American Ballet
- 1929 – Gods Who Dance
- 1935 – Fundamentals of a Dance Education
- 1940 – Dance We Must
- 1944 – How Beautiful Upon the Mountain
- 1954 – Every Little Movement: a Book About Francois Delsarte
- 1959 – Thirty-three Years of American Dance
- 1960 – One Thousand and One Night Stands (autobiography, with Gray Poole)
Legacy
In the 1940s, Shawn bestowed his works to the
See also
References
- ^ "Ted Shawn". Jacob's Pillow Dance, jacobspillow.org. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
- ^ Birth data: Astrodatabank
- ISBN 978-0-19-933108-6.
- ^ Schlundt 1998, p. 583
- ^ Schlundt 1998, p. 585
- ^ Nolan, Cynthia (1994). Outback and Beyond. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. pp. 50, 51.
- ISBN 978-0-19-517369-7.
- ^ Foulkes 2002, pp. 85–86
- ^ Foulkes 2002, pp. 84–85
- ^ Cohen-Stratyner, Barbara N. (1982). Biographical Dictionary of Dance. New York: Schirmer Books. p. 811.
- ^ Benbow-Niemer 1998, p. 716
- ISBN 9780736060356.
- ^ Weinert, Adam. "The Reaccession of Ted Shawn". Retrieved September 9, 2014.
- ^ Scherr, Apollinaire (August 19, 2014). "Downtown Dance Festival, Wagner Park, Lower Manhattan, New York". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2022-12-11. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
Further reading
- Dreier, Katherine S.; Hawkins, Ralph (1933). Shawn the Dancer. Berlin: Drei Masken Verlag.
- Terry, Walter (1976). Ted Shawn: The Father of Modern Dance. New York: Dial Press. ISBN 0-8037-8557-7.
- Shelton, Suzanne (1981). Divine Dancer: A Biography of Ruth St. Denis. New York: Doubleday.
- Jordan, Stephanie (1984). "Ted Shawn's Music Visualizations". Dance Chronicle. 7 (1).
- Bentivoglio, Leonetta (1985). Danza Contemporanea. Milan: Longanesi.
- Benbow-Niemer, Glynis (1998). "Shawn, Ted". In Benbow-Pfalzgraf, Taryn (ed.). International Dictionary of Modern Dance. Detroit: St. James Press.
- Foulkes, Julia L. (2002). Modern Bodies: Dance and American Modernism From Martha Graham to Alvin Ailey. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press.
- Schlundt, Christena L. (1998). "Shawn, Ted". In Cohen, Selma J. (ed.). International Encyclopedia of Dance. Vol. 5. New York: Oxford University Press.
External links
- Works by or about Ted Shawn at Internet Archive
- Ted Shawn at IMDb
- John Willis Collection of Ted Shawn at the Harry Ransom Center
- "Shawn the Dancer". The Stowitts Museum & Library. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19.
- Ted Shawn papers, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
- Ted Shawn papers, Additions, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
- Shawn, Ted (2005). Chaque petit mouvement: à propos de François Delsarte. Editions Complexe. ISSN 1761-1695.
- The Reaccession of Ted Shawn danced by Adam Weinert
Media
- Archive footage
- Ted Shawn's Men Dancers performing in Finale from The New World in 1936 at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival
- Ted Shawn performing Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen from Four Dances Based on American Folk Music in 1938 at Jacob's Pillow
- Ted Shawn's Men Dancers performing Kinetic Molpai in 1937 at Jacob's Pillow
- Jacob's Pillow Men Dancers rehearsing Kinetic Molpai with Barton Mumaw in 1992 at Jacob's Pillow
- Ted Shawn's Men Dancers performing in Sixth Prelude from The Well Tempered Clavichord in 1933 at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival
- Barton Mumaw performing Ted Shawn's O Brother Sun and Sister Moon (A Study of St. Francis) in 1981 at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival
- Photographs
- Photograph of Ted Shawn by James Walter Collinge (10th picture in gallery)