Politics and the Dancing Body
Exploring National Roots

Dancer and choreographer Ted Shawn (1891–1972), an early pioneer of modern dance, wrote about American dance: “Its organization will be democratic, its fundamental principles freedom and progress.” Shawn found inspiration in indigenous dance rites and created numerous dances based on his interpretations, including Invocation to the Thunderbird (1921); The Feather of the Dawn (1923); Zuni Ghost Dance (1931); and Hopi Indian Eagle Dance (1934).

California dancer and choreographer, Lester Horton (1906–1953) choreographed works centered on rituals of native peoples in the U.S. and Mexico. He noted: “If dancers would only make an effort, to preserve this beauty which exists literally at our back doors, something magnificent might be born. A dance can be built upon these art forms that would be truly representative of this great country, something new and fundamental.” Horton and Ted Shawn responded to the admiration for the eagle. Frequently performed to guarantee good hunting, these dances portrayed the bird as noble, beautiful, and strong.

Martha Graham (1894–1991) used a modernist lens to construct her new American dance form. She created Primitive Mysteries (1931) after visiting the Southwest, where she studied the practices of Native Americans, who blended indigenous rites with Catholicism introduced by Spanish missionaries. The work premiered during a Broadway concert series that included Doris Humphrey’s (1895–1958) Americana work, The Shakers (1931).

During the Depression, choreographers often employed American folk traditions to express the concerns of “the common man.” Jane Dudley (1912–2001) created Harmonica Breakdown (1938), set to the blues of Sonny Terry (1911–1986). The work addressed the plight of African American sharecroppers. “I think of it as a dance of misery—and defiance rising out of it.”

Sophie Maslow (1911–2006) choreographed Folksay (1942), based on verses from Carl Sandburg’s The People, Yes and accompanied by ballads composed by singer-songwriter Woodie Guthrie (1912–1967). Guthrie accompanied the dancers on stage with a guitar signed, “This guitar Kills Fascists,” to protest the political threat in Europe during WWII.

Sierra Leone-born musician, dancer, and choreographer Asadata Dafora (1890–1965) explored dance within the experience of the African diaspora. A New York Herald Tribune review of A Tale of Old Africa (1946) noted that the performance “not only provided memories for those who knew the rich continent and its richly gifted peoples, but it also provided others with a glimpse of a culture alien to some of us but worthy of our interest and our fostering.”

Katherine Dunham (1909–2006) studied the African-based dances and rituals of the Caribbean area and based many choreographic works on that research. Dunham’s Bal Negre (1946) toured the United States for nine months before opening in New York. One of its most popular numbers was Shango (1946), based on Haitian vodun (voodoo) ritual.

Alvin Ailey (1931–1989), who studied with both Sophie Maslow and Lester Horton, set his Revelations (1960) to spirituals. He stated: “Revelations began with the music. As early as I can remember I was enthralled by the music played and sung in the small black churches in every small Texas town my mother and I lived in. There we would absorb some of the most glorious singing to be heard anywhere in the world.”

The stock market crash of 1929 resulted in the Great Depression, creating rampant unemployment and poverty. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal included the Works Progress Administration that led to the establishment of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) in 1935. Many of the radical dancers, who came to believe in reform rather than revolution, joined the government projects that sought economic change. One of the earliest productions of the FTP was The Eternal Prodigal (1936) with choreography by Gluck Sandor (1899–1978).

In her signature work How Long Brethren (1937), a production of the Federal Theatre Project, Helen Tamiris (1905–1966) exposed poverty, injustice, and the hopelessness of unemployed Southern black workers. It was performed to Lawrence Gellert’s “Negro Songs of Protest,” sung by an African American chorus and accompanied by a full orchestra. Dance Observer noted: “It is Tamiris at her best, Tamiris turned back to her jazz rhythms—richer for all her long work with themes of basic social input.” How Long Brethren ran for forty-two performances and won the 1937 award from Dance Magazine for the best group choreography.

Katherine Dunham produced her first full-length ballet, L’Ag’Ya (1938) in Chicago under FTP sponsorship. Dunham based L’Ag’Ya on a fable of love, jealousy, and revenge. The work combined ballet, modern dance, and traditional folk and social dance forms and culminated with the ag’ya, a fighting dance of Martinique. In 1938, she was named director of the Negro Unit of Chicago.