Hanya Holm: One Of The Pioneers Of Modern Dance

German born, Hanya Holm, is categorized as one of the pioneers of modern dance. From a young age, she took a special interest in modern dance and very soon joined Mary Wigman’s school in Dresden, Germany. There, Holm became a principal instructor of dance and soon became a master of Wigman’s ideology of modern dance. This ideology was highly focused on the emotional aspect so wildly acclaimed in modern dance (Ambrosio 94; Encyclopædia Britannica). Following Holm’s great success in Wigman’s dance school, in 1931 she was sent to the United States by Wigman to establish the Mary Wigman School in New York City. Later in 1936 this school became Hanya Holm Studio, where she focused her teachings upon both the technical aspect and the expression

I actually did not start this reflection as how I suppose my other peers indeed did. This meaning that I did not in fact pick a singular person and commence with my researching from there. But instead I started out by searching “modern dance poses” in the search bar of Google. From there I was encaptivated by this charismatic woman and found not only her background but also her successful legacy incredibly interesting. Another thing that intrigued me about Hanya Holm was that she choreographed for Broadway musicals. And as a fan of both Broadway and of musicals, I knew my decision to research about a woman who inspired my own dancing from a young age was completely warranted. The dance sequence that was very prevalent in my childhood was from Kiss me Kate and it surprised me that I never knew who choreographed my favorite childhood dance sequence. This woman not only inspired me from her choreography, but she was the first of her kind to advance choreography not only for the dance art form but also for musical theater during the revolution known as the modern