Marion Rice Denishawn Dancers
Encyclopedia
Marion Rice Denishawn Dancers is a dance company devoted to preserving Denishawn dance, the choreography of modern dance pioneers Ruth St. Denis
and Ted Shawn
, taught and staged by Marion Rice
, a Massachusetts modern dance and ballet teacher, performer, choreographer and producer who died in 1995.
Marion Rice
dedicated her creative life to teaching, preserving, protecting and performing the fifty or so dance works taught to her by Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Miriam Winslow and other modern dance luminaries while she was a student and performer at the Boston Braggiotti School in Boston
in the early 1900's. Along with members of her family, daughter Carolyn Brown, daughter-in-law Mona Irvine Rice, grand-daughters Robin Rice and Rebecca Rice
, these Denishawn dances have been performed by Marion Rice and her students for over 75 years.
Marion Rice Denishawn performed in Fitchburg, Massachusetts as well as
at the Jacob's Pillow
Dance Festival in 1972, the Marymount Manhattan Theater (New York) in 1976 and City College (New York) in 1986 at the "Roots: Foundations of American Modern Dance Festival".
In 2000, Marion Rice Denishawn performed at the "Dance in Millennium" Festival in Washington. The company presented "Boston Braggiotti and Denishawn", a lecture demonstration illuminating a select number of the early Denishawn works.
Village Voice critic Deborah Jowitt
wrote about the performance in the following review:
Ruth St. Denis
Ruth St. Denis was an early modern dance pioneer.-Biography:Ruth St. Denis founded Adelphi University's dance program in 1938 which was one of the first dance departments in an American university...
and Ted Shawn
Ted Shawn
Ted Shawn , originally Edwin Myers Shawn, was one of the first notable male pioneers of American modern dance. Along with creating Denishawn with former wife Ruth St. Denis he is also responsible for the creation of the well known all-male company Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers...
, taught and staged by Marion Rice
Marion Rice
Marion Burbank Stevens Rice was an American modern dance choreographer, dance teacher and producer.-Early life:...
, a Massachusetts modern dance and ballet teacher, performer, choreographer and producer who died in 1995.
Marion Rice
Marion Rice
Marion Burbank Stevens Rice was an American modern dance choreographer, dance teacher and producer.-Early life:...
dedicated her creative life to teaching, preserving, protecting and performing the fifty or so dance works taught to her by Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Miriam Winslow and other modern dance luminaries while she was a student and performer at the Boston Braggiotti School in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in the early 1900's. Along with members of her family, daughter Carolyn Brown, daughter-in-law Mona Irvine Rice, grand-daughters Robin Rice and Rebecca Rice
Rebecca Rice
Rebecca Rice is a Boston-based modern dance choreographer whose work blends modern contemporary dance and ballet.-Biography:Rebecca is artistic director of Rebecca Rice Dance, a company that focuses on blending ballet with the creative, innovative energy of 20-21st C. modern dance...
, these Denishawn dances have been performed by Marion Rice and her students for over 75 years.
Marion Rice Denishawn performed in Fitchburg, Massachusetts as well as
at the Jacob's Pillow
Jacob's Pillow
Jacob’s Pillow Dance is a dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The organization is known for the oldest internationally acclaimed summer dance festival in the United States. The facility also includes a professional school and extensive...
Dance Festival in 1972, the Marymount Manhattan Theater (New York) in 1976 and City College (New York) in 1986 at the "Roots: Foundations of American Modern Dance Festival".
In 2000, Marion Rice Denishawn performed at the "Dance in Millennium" Festival in Washington. The company presented "Boston Braggiotti and Denishawn", a lecture demonstration illuminating a select number of the early Denishawn works.
Village Voice critic Deborah Jowitt
Deborah Jowitt
Deborah Jowitt is an American dance critic, author, and choreographer. Her career in dance began as a performer and choreographer. Jowitt has received several awards for her work, including a Bessie for her work in dance criticism.Beginning in 1967, she wrote a weekly dance column for the Village...
wrote about the performance in the following review:
Ruth St. DenisRuth St. DenisRuth St. Denis was an early modern dance pioneer.-Biography:Ruth St. Denis founded Adelphi University's dance program in 1938 which was one of the first dance departments in an American university...
, American mystic, and Ted ShawnTed ShawnTed Shawn , originally Edwin Myers Shawn, was one of the first notable male pioneers of American modern dance. Along with creating Denishawn with former wife Ruth St. Denis he is also responsible for the creation of the well known all-male company Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers...
, entrepreneur, were a great team. During the glory days of their Denishawn company—roughly 1916 to 1931—a gifted disciple could obtain a franchise and open a Denishawn school. For a price, a young dancer could learn a colorful routine and secure its sheet music and costume design. Last month, two companies—the Marion Rice Denishawn dancers at the "Dancing in the Millennium" conference in Washington, D.C., and Dansarté, at Jacob's PillowJacob's PillowJacob’s Pillow Dance is a dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The organization is known for the oldest internationally acclaimed summer dance festival in the United States. The facility also includes a professional school and extensive...
—presented programs of dances by St. Denis, Shawn, and their pupils.
What's intriguing about these dances—learned by Robin and Rebecca Rice at their grandmother's studio, and from Shawn at Jacob's Pillow in 1942 and 1943 by Dansarté's director, Sharry Underwood—is the way they combine the notion of art dance with a vaudeville structure. They tend to be about three minutes long, with reassuring amounts of repetition, structured in A-B-A form. Shawn and St. Denis captured the look and ambience of "exotic" styles, if not their steps. Dansarté's beautiful Maris Wolff, gorgeously costumed, performs an orientalist's dream of an Indian "nautch" dance—all rippling midriff, swaying steps, and flirtatious glances. Rice dancer Laurie Cameron appears for the circa 1930 fantasy La Peri (by either St. Denis or Miriam Winslow, who took over the Boston Denishawn school of the Braggiotti sisters), wafting swags of material that depend from her cap. The heelwork that Dansarté's Jean-Marie Mellichamp beats out in Viva Faroan has the air of flamenco without its now familiar complexities. In the early 20th century, what did American audiences know or care about authenticity?
On these fine programs, you can see the influence of Isadora DuncanIsadora DuncanIsadora Duncan was a dancer, considered by many to be the creator of modern dance. Born in the United States, she lived in Western Europe and the Soviet Union from the age of 22 until her death at age 50. In the United States she was popular only in New York, and only later in her life...
in Chopin dances performed with lovely sincerity by the Rices, or get a whiff of German modernism in Miriam Marmein'sMarmein DancersThe Marmein Dancers was an American vaudeville act and early proponent of avant garde dance performed by the sisters Irene, Miriam and Phyllis Marmein.-Henry and Anna:The Marmein Dancers were the daughters of Henry J...
circa 1932 mime, Argument des Boulevardiers, in which Valerie Farias Newton and Rebecca Rice wear mannish attire and gesticulate with rhythmic fury. Jess Meeker's music for Shawn's Gypsy-Rondo-Bout-Town nudges Dansarté's Genevieve Pellman and Neth Urkiel-Taylor from Haydn to swing. In all these early pieces, theatrical traditions, fashion, and experiment tiptoe toward modern dance.