The Legacy

I chose Doris Humphrey for this blog because I found her fall and recovery technique to be very interesting and I wanted to know what exactly it was that made her choose to move in this way. However, after researching her, one thing that has really stood out to me about her was the difference between instruction and education. Once I graduate, I don’t plan to join a dance company or even audition to be in a dance company. I want to simply share and teach dance with the community. Doris Humphrey was an excellent teacher because she did find the difference between instruction and education. First, she would tell the students what they had to do, and secondly she would let them develop their individuality and independence of thought, which was her aim. I think why this method of teaching really stands out to me is because this is how I was often taught at my dance studio by one of my favorite instructors. She would give us an idea or concept and then we had the opportunity to explore through movement. This is where I found myself to strive the most and is what I hope to continue to educate dance students with.

As for her work, after watching and reading up on many of her dances, the movement quality stands out to me. I move in a very similar way as she does in most of her work. I am a very fluid dancer and I enjoy the fall and recovery look in choreography. But her dance technique isn’t just what stands out to me, but the meaning behind a lot of her dancing appeals to me. Many of the pieces that she choreographed had to do with life events. I’ve always believed that when you don’t know what to dance about, you should dance about what you know. I feel as though this is similar to what she brought into her pieces.

With so many pieces of work and choreography that is still being taught, I believe that everyone who strives to choreograph should read her book, “The Art of Making Dances”. I think that we can all learn a lot through her own mistakes and ideas to better ourselves when creating our own dance pieces. Doris Humphrey is one of the choreographers that changed modern dance into what it is today. She took many steps in a different way than where dance was going. For example, she experimented with dance and music, or in some cases, silence. But she didn’t just stop there. She was one of the first choreographers to take modern dance to groups, and not only be performed by soloists. She also took a few steps towards abstraction, which then other choreographers then ran with. Overall, her technique is still taught today, her book is still read, and her choreography is still performed. When a legacy lives on like this for so long, it is clear that they had an impact on the society.

World Events During This Time

Doris Humphrey reached the peak of her career during a time in which America was struggling in the Great Depression. She moved to New York City in 1928 and formed the Humphrey-Wiedman dance company. Like the rest of the United Sates, they didn’t have a lot of money. Therefore, they had to live together in the same apartment even after Humphrey was married and had a son. With money tight, they taught dance technique classes in order for them to make any income and put on performances.

With teaching these classes came teaching Humphrey’s technique of fall and recovery. Although this technique is tied to our psyche and the psychology book she read. It also ties to this time of the Great Depression in our world. As Jennifer Dunning wrote in the New York Times, Humphrey "abstracted the soul … in the central concept of her choreography. Falling, the recovery from a fall and the body's arc between were for her an expression of the fundamental tension and precarious balance between failure and triumph that we struggle to maintain throughout our lives." It can be seen then, that this technique was related to what was going on in the world at this time as people were struggling to make it.

Although many dancers were struggling during this time, the Humphrey-Weidman company was successful during the Great Depression. They toured America and invented new types and styles of dance movement. These new dances weren’t based on old tales, but incorporated current events and concerns of the time.