Ted Shawn: His Life, Writings, and Dances

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Paul A. Scolieri (Chair & Professor of Dance, Chair & Professor of Dance, Barnard College, Columbia University)

Ted Shawn

His Life, Writings, and Dances

Paul A. Scolieri (Chair & Professor of Dance, Chair & Professor of Dance, Barnard College, Columbia University)

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English

Oxford University Press Inc
16 December 2019

Contemporary dance; Social issues & processes; Gender studies, gender groups

"Ted Shawn (1891-1972) is the self-proclaimed ""Father of American Dance"" who helped to transform dance from a national pastime into theatrical art. In the process, he made dancing an acceptable profession for men and taught several generations of dancers, some of whom went on to become legendary choreographers and performers in their own right, most notably his protégés Martha Graham, Louise Brooks, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman. Shawn tried for many years and with great frustration to tell the story of his life's work in terms of its social and artistic value, but struggled, owing to the fact that he was homosexual, a fact known only within his inner circle of friends. Unwilling to disturb the meticulously narrated account of his paternal exceptionalism, he remained closeted, but scrupulously archived his journals, correspondence, programs, photographs, and motion pictures of his dances, anticipating that the full significance of his life, writing, and dances would reveal itself in time. Ted Shawn: His Life, Writings, and Dances is the first critical biography of the dance legend, offering an in-depth look into Shawn's pioneering role in the formation of the first American modern dance company and school, the first all-male dance company, and Jacob's Pillow, the internationally renowned dance festival and school located in the Berkshires. The book explores Shawn's writings and dances in relation to emerging discourses of modernism, eugenics and social evolution, revealing an untold story about the ways that Shawn's homosexuality informed his choreographic vision. The book also elucidates the influences of contemporary writers who were leading a radical movement to depathologize homosexuality, such as the British eugenicist Havelock Ellis and sexologist Alfred Kinsey, and conversely, how their revolutionary ideas about sexuality were shaped by Shawn's modernism."

By: Paul A. Scolieri (Chair & Professor of Dance Chair & Professor of Dance Barnard College Columbia University)
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 160mm, Width: 236mm, Spine: 38mm
Weight: 930g
ISBN: 9780199331062
ISBN 10: 0199331065
Pages: 552
Publication Date: 16 December 2019
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Paul A. Scolieri is Chair & Professor of Dance at Barnard College, Columbia University, and the award-winning author of Dancing the New World: Aztecs, Spaniards, and the Choreography of Conquest.

Reviews for Ted Shawn: His Life, Writings, and Dances

"""Impeccably researched, incredibly detailed and super approachable, Scolieri's addition to the existing scholarship on Ted Shawn (1891-1972) is real and thorough."" -- Heather Desaulniers, CriticalDance ""What a thrill to see Paul A. Scolieri's extensive research brought to life in this magnificent overview of Shawn's life and career! The historical context, contemporary perspective, and personal insights make this book both a revelation and an indispensable resource for anyone interested in learning more about the beginnings of dance in America."" -- Norton Owen , Director of Preservation, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival ""Queering the father of American Dance, Paul A. Scolieri masterfully reanimates the life of Ted Shawn from a new perspective in this layered reading of a trailblazer. Revealing Shawn as a difficult and restless artist, Scolieri plumbs archives and images to show how Shawn courted notoriety yet hid his own homosexuality under a veil of homophobia even as he steadily authored a hypermasculine identity for the male dancer. Scolieri excavates Shawn's archives skillfully, illuminating him as a difficult yet pivotal figure in early contemporary American dance history. By tracing confluences between Shawn's gendered aesthetics, eugenic paradigms and emergent sexuality studies, as well as his work as an amateur ethnographic collector of men's dances, Scolieri reveals Shawn's prototype of a male dancer as the product of these layers and shadowed by cultural borrowing and a sensual imagination."" -- Janice Ross , Professor of Theatre & Performance Studies, Stanford University"