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Loie Fuller
Loie Fuller started experimenting with the effects of gas lighting on her silk outfits in 1891. -
Period: to
Beginning of Modern Dance
Modern Dance was born in America during
the turn of the 20th century -
Ruth St. Denis
St. Denis had discovered the essence of her particular dance technique with Ruth by 1906, which merged spiral shape with equal parts voluptuousness, mysticism, and sensuality. -
Partnership
Ruth made a name for herself as a soloist and, in 1914, met Ted Shawn, a professional and personal companion. -
Denishawn
Denishawn was founded by the Ruth and Shawn and it nurtured the next generation of modern dancers, including Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman. -
Martha Graham enrolled at Denishawn
Martha Graham enrolled at Denishawn in 1916. Graham progressed from a student to a teacher to one of the company's most well-known performers during the next seven years. -
Doris Humphrey
Doris Humphrey attended the Denishawn School in Los Angeles, where she was rapidly renowned for her teaching and artistic ability. She left Denishawn in 1928 and delivered her first solo concert in New York with Charles Weidman, with whom she founded the HumphreyWeidman Studio and Company. -
Martha Graham had identified a new system of movement
By 1930, Martha Graham had developed a new movement method she dubbed contraction and release, based on her own interpretation of the Delsartean idea of tension and relaxation. -
Group of Men
In 1933, Shawn founded his all male dance group -
An Unfinished Life
In 1939 St. Denis published her autobiography, An Unfinished Life. -
Pearl Primus
Pearl Primus got a New Dance Group scholarship and made her debut at the 92nd Street Y in 1943. -
Pearl acquired a grant
Pearl acquired a grant in 1948 to collect material and chronicle African dances that were, in some cases, slipping from memory. -
African Performing Arts Center
Pearl became the director of the African Performing Arts Center in Monrovia, Liberia, the first organization of its kind in Africa. -
Pearl Primus School of Primal Dance
Pearl opened the Pearl Primus School of Primal Dance