Classical Mythology

CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY IN MUSIC, DANCE, AND FILM 737

TED SHAWN AND RUTH ST. DENIS

One of the many contributions of Ted Shawn (1891-1972) to American dance
was his proud celebration of the male dancer; the all-men's company that he
eventually founded was a realization of "the Greek ideal of the perfect body
moving in strength, beauty, eloquence."^37 He tells with good humor of his brave
fight against prejudice as he brought his dances inspired by Greece and Rome
to Americans:

On the morning of January 2, 1914, I dropped off the train at Gallup, New Mexico,

where I was to play a one-night stand with a company that carried my own name....

How would the male citizenry react to a man garbed in aflame-colored chiton as I would

be that night when I performed my Greek dance? I formulated a dreadful answer. Be-

hind the footlights I would be at the mercy of any cowpoke who chose to spatter lead on

the stage while he yippied, "Dancer in the red nightshirt, boy. Dance. "... My sud-

den panic was not as unreasoned as it may seem.... A fraternity brother in Denver,

frankly appalled by my announced intention of becoming a dancer, had closed an im-

passioned harangue with aflat statement, "But, Ted, men don't dance." In vain I coun-

tered that men performed ritual dances in many countries of the world, that he and I

together had enjoyed performances by Mikhail Mordkin, partner of Pavlova, and by

Theodore Kosloff of the Gertrude Hoffman Company. "Oh, those people," he dismissed

them with a shrug. He admitted, though grudgingly, that dancing might be all right for

aborigines and Russians, but contended vehemently that it was hardly a suitable career

for a red-blooded American male.^38

Shawn tells of other significant events in these early years. At a Long Beach
studio in Los Angeles he made a movie for the Thomas A. Edison Company,
The Dance of the Ages, based on a sketchy scenario: "I wrote a thread-thin dance
history beginning in the Stone Age, progressing through the glorious ages of
Egypt, Greece, and Rome into Medieval Europe, and ending with the contem-
porary dance of the United States."^39 Thus Greek and Roman themes appeared
early in Shawn's repertoire. With Norma Gould, he gave ballroom exhibitions,
which included a dance entitled Diana and Endymion.
In 1914 he met Ruth St. Denis (1877-1968) in her studio in New York; they
were married on August 13. They coined the word Denishawn, which was used
during their many years together to designate their schools and their company.
Their first dance school was opened in Los Angeles. The composer Louis Horst
was among those who joined them; he was their pianist-conductor for eight
years. Among their many pupils who were to become distinguished pioneers in
modern dance were Doris Humphries, Charles Weidman, and Martha Graham
(she was one of the dancers in the Denishawn ballet Soaring, symbolizing Venus'
birth from the sea foam).
Among the many Denishawn dances inspired by ancient Greece was Greek
Scene (1918), choreographed by Ruth St. Denis, with music by Debussy and Gluck;
its four parts indicate the frame of reference: Pas de Trois, Greek Veil Plastique, Greek
Dancer in Silhouette, and Dance of the Sunrise. One of the more ambitious works of