Doris Humphrey Research Paper

Doris Humphrey was born October 17, 1895, in Oak Park, United States and died on December 29, 1958 in New York, New York. Humphrey is an american modern dancer and an creator of technique, choreography, and theory of dance movement. In 1917, after graduating from high school and teaching dance in Chicago for four years, she joined the Denishawn dance school and company in Los Angeles. As she became a soloist in the company in 1920 she starting practicing choreographing. Her first major work, to Edward MacDowell “Sonata Tragica,” was presented in 1925. The piece had such strong choreographic rhythms that Humphrey’s mentor, Ruth St. Denis helped her with. After a two year tour of Asia sheand another Denishawn dancer, Charles Weidman directed the Denishawn House in New York City,but then they left to form the Humphrey Weidman school and company, which lasted until 1944 Sybil Shearer, Katherine Litz, and José Limón became the more famous members of their company. Humphrey wanted to create dances that reflected her individuality and were appropriate to contemporary America.

She understood that every movement a dancer makes away from the center of gravity has to be followed by to restoring balance and prevent uncontrolled falling the more extreme and exciting the controlled fall attempted by the dancer. As Mary Wigman had used space, Humphrey made dramatic use of gravity showing balance. Another one of her movements is not always the emotional impulse but can itself create meaning. Humphrey’s choreography began with experiments in dance theory and as an attempt to reduce dance to pure movement. For example, “Water Study,” had her theory of fall and recovery and used only nonchereomusical