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Upcoming Performances
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About Doris Humphrey
DORIS HUMPHREY (1895–1958) is acknowledged as one of the greatest choreographers of the twentieth century. As a pioneer of American modern dance, Humphrey is celebrated not only as a prolific choreographer but also as a teacher, mentor, and author. Her influence on dance continues to resonate in the works of those choreographers whom she touched and on those who have come after her. Her book, The Art of Making Dances, is still used around the world as a guide for fledgling choreographers. In childhood, she was encouraged by her mother to study music and all forms of dance. Her performing career began in 1913, while still in high school, on a tour of the Santa Fe Railroad Men's Clubs. Four years later she traveled to Los Angeles to study at Denishawn, the enterprising school and company spearheaded by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. As a principal Denishawn dancer, Humphrey performed all over North America and Asia in many of the extravagant Denishawn pageants and spectacles as well as in her own choreography, which she was encourage to create by Ruth St. Denis. She remained with Denishawn until her abrupt departure in 1928. Thereafter, she broke new ground with her own works reflecting a contemporary American spirit, which became known as "modern dance." These dances, revolutionary and mysteriously different for their time, were crafted and based on her innate musical ability and sense of form. Much of her groundbreaking work was founded on the principles of fall and recovery, utilizing the body's potential to travel fearlessly between the polarities of balance and imbalance. During the 1930s she created some of the foremost pieces of the modern dance repertory: New Dance, With My Red Fires, and Passacaglia. When, in 1946, arthritis forced her to retire from performing, she turned her attention to developing the career of José Limón and his new company. For it she would choreograph dances that are regarded as masterpieces, including Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias, Ruins and Visions, Day on Earth, and Night Spell. During this same time she was a founder of the Dance Department at the Juilliard School of Music and served as head of the Dance Department at the 92nd Street YMHA. Central to Humphrey's approach to dance was her belief in its power to communicate the pathos, complexity, and richness of life itself. She trusted physical impulse to convey the deepest, yet most subtle, intricacies of human experience. Through motion and gesture, she used the human body as the most eloquent narrator of that experience. |