The Denishawn School, founded by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, was active from 1915-1931.  In this climate of social, cultural and political transformation, Denishawn brought together individuals and ideas that created and nurtured a new art form. Denishawn is not just a historical organization frozen in time, but a dynamic institution that lives on to this day through the legacy of the teachers, students, dancers, and choreographers who were a part of it. Many of those  individuals are known today for the impact they have had on dance in America and in the world. Many others connected to Denishawn have been nearly forgotten but also profoundly influenced the dance of today. 

We continue to challenge some of the assumptions and ask some of the same questions that they were confronting in 1917, when this school catalogue was published. How do we embrace the dances of all cultures?  What is the role of schools of dance in the transmission of culture? How do we negotiate the relationship between the individual and the group? What is the role of gender in dance? How do we respect the past while creating the future? What is the role of theatricality?  What is the relationship between dance and spirituality? 

The chapters in this project reflect each individual’s exploration of some of these ideas.

In many ways the artistic and intellectual history of the 20th century can be read in the dance that it produced.    —Thomas Bryson

[Cover image from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90olwwLdEYg&t=60s Kenneth Udut. "The Hypercube: Projections and Slicing" 1978 Award-winning computer animation. Cleaned up version of "The Hypercube: Projections and Slicing" by Thomas Banchoff and Charles Strauss, Brown University, 1978. http://www.tombanchoff.com/the-hypercube-projections--slicing.html]