Ruth St. Denis portrait (1964)

1964

A photograph of Ruth St. Denis from 1964. Ms. St. Denis is pictured posing looking at her left, with her hand in her waist, and wearing a white dress. At her side there is a vase with flowers on a stool. Ruth St. Denis (1878?-1968), American dancer and choreographer, was one of the founders of modern dance. Her work was characterized by its religious and Far Eastern content. The daughter of a strong-willed and highly educated woman (Ruth Emma Dennis was a physician by training), St. Denis was encouraged to study dance from an early age. In 1898, the young vaudeville dancer was noticed by David Belasco, a well-known and highly successful Broadway producer and director. He hired her to perform with his large company as a featured dancer, and was also responsible for giving her the stage name "St. Denis." She became very interested in the dance/drama of Eastern cultures, including those of Japan, India and Egypt. In 1914 Ruth St. Denis married her dancing partner, Ted Shawn, and they set up the Denishawn School of Dancing, the first serious school of dance in America which was the training ground for America's leading dancers and choreographers. Thirteen Denishawn tours of America helped create a basic audience for modern dance and establish dance in America as an accepted art form. St. Denis and Shawn separated, both professionally and maritally, in 1931, though they never divorced. In 1938 St. Denis founded Adelphi University's dance program, one of the first dance departments in an American university. It has since become a cornerstone of Adelphi's Department of Performing Arts. Often called the “first lady of American dance,” she remained active into the 1960s, when many of her better-known solos were recorded on film. For biographical information on Ted Shawn, see: https://springfield.as.atlas-sys.com/agents/people/584.