The dance dramas of Ruth St. Denis, 1910--1931: Spectacles of the "Orient," American style.
Item
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Title
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The dance dramas of Ruth St. Denis, 1910--1931: Spectacles of the "Orient," American style.
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Identifier
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AAI3127927
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identifier
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3127927
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Creator
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Tenneriello, Susan.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Samuel L. Leiter
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Date
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2004
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Theater | Dance
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Abstract
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My dissertation reopens the legacy of the American dance pioneer Ruth St. Denis in order to broaden her significance in American theatre as a vital link in the chain of efforts that attempted to energize and promote a national culture in the early decades of the twentieth century. Historically, St. Denis's reputation as an "interpretive" dancer aligns her with contemporaries Loie Fuller and Isadora Duncan. This designation rests primarily on a select body of solo work, notably her 1906 signature dance "Radha," and excludes a major portion of her choreographic output that experimented with enlarging the framework of dance performance in the United States. Reaching beyond representative solo dances, I examine a collection of dance dramas that were produced between 1910 and 1931. My study extends from the beginning of St. Denis's career through her partnership with husband Ted Shawn, cofounder of the Denishawn School and dance company.;Using an interdisciplinary approach, I explore the intersections between dance and theatre, cross-cultural idioms and non-Western aesthetics, and the overlap among popular culture, commercial institutions, and aesthetic practices in St. Denis's artistic development. I develop the various ways St. Denis forged a ritualized notion of dance performance that borrowed and blended, both directly and indirectly, a diverse assortment of religious, cultural, and theatrical influences. I argue that St. Denis's large-scale spectacles reveal continuous reinvention, which shaped, directed, and incorporated modernist trends into a vocabulary of dance theatre that eventually flowed into the cultural mainstream. I distinguish how St. Denis's eclectic creative process encounters and reflects the cultural fabric of the era. Her vision of dance theatre connects her to modern performance practices and makes her a pivotal figure in the modern art movements that circulated into twentieth-century American theatre and beyond.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
