Biography
There is only one thing to dance about: the meaning of one’s personal experiences. Doris Humphrey
Born Oak Park, Illinois October 17, 1895. Died December 29, 1958.
Doris Humphrey is one of the founders of American modern dance.Many of her dances speak of man’s nobility and are an affirmation of faith in the world and humanity. Water Study, choreographed in 1928, embodies Humphrey’s elements of “fall and recovery” (the process of falling away from and returning to equilibrium), breath rhythm (phrasing and dynamics associated with breathing) and natural movement (movement derived from natural sources), which became the basis of her technique. In Two Ecstatic Themes Humphrey poses the physical drama of rising versus sinking––the conquest of and the surrender to gravity. While promoting her company Humphrey wrote, “My dance comes from the people who had to subdue a continent, to make a thousand paths through forest and plain, to conquer mountains and eventually to raise up towns of steel and glass.”
Doris Humphrey's Works
Water Study
Premiere Date: 1928
Two Ecstatic Themes
Premiere Date: 1931
The Shakers- Dance of the Chosen
Premiere Date: 1930
Soaring
Premiere Date: 1920
Air for the G String
Premiere Date: 1928
Invention
Premiere Date: 1949