Add this copy of Ted Shawn, Father of American Dance: a Biography to cart. $13.90, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1976 by Dial Press.
Add this copy of Ted Shawn: Father of American Dance to cart. $32.00, very good condition, Sold by Brattle Book Shop (ABAA, ILAB) rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Boston, MA, UNITED STATES, published by The Dial Press 1976.
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Seller's Description:
VeryGood. Hardcover. Hardcover. 8vo. Cloth in purple dust jacket. First edition. Signed by the author on freepaper. Some fairly light dampstaining to dj, light tanning. Light bumping to spine ends. Else, clean and sound. Very Good.
Add this copy of Ted Shawn: Father of American Dance to cart. $47.00, very good condition, Sold by George Houle rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Palm Springs, CA, UNITED STATES, published by NY, DIAL PRESS, 1976.
Add this copy of Ted Shawn, Father of American Dance: a Biography to cart. $51.90, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1976 by Dial Press.
Add this copy of Ted Shawn, Father of American Dance: a Biography to cart. $108.16, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1976 by Dial Press.
Walter Terry has written the only biography, so far, of Ted Shawn. And who is Ted Shawn?
Generally, Shawn was a dancer, choreographer, actor, writer, public speaker, ethnologist, teacher, and founder of Jacob's Pillow, an arts center and dance festival in Massachusetts.Specifically Shawn was, with wife Ruth St. Denis, the founder of modern dance in America. With their Denishawn dance schools and endless touring in lavish stage shows, Shawn and St. Denis made modern dance palatable to the masses, invented the genre as a uniquely American art, and established dance as a artform for men. In the 1930s Shawn formed a group of male dancers and toured successfully til WW II.
Shawn's untiring and amazing talents made him a central figure in American dance as a dancer, choreographer, and festival manager from 1914 til his death in 1972. That is work was groundbreaking goes unchallenged. In the 1920s the Denishawn dancers were major box office stars as they toured the country in recitals, vaudeville, and even in the Ziegfeld Follies. Both Shawn and St. Denis dabbled in the movies as well.
They choreographed and danced in D.W. Griffith's superb "Intolerance" in 1916. Shawn played the part of the faun in Cecil B. de Mille's 1919 "Don't Change Your Husband," sharing a fantasy scene with superstar Gloria Swanson. Shawn choreographed "Glorifying the American Girl," Ziegfeld's sole venture in producing a film.
Here, Terry also shows us Ted Shawn the man, not just the showman. We see the large ego always battling with St. Denis for center stage. We see Shawn's "battles" with his repressed homosexuality. We see his fears of being forgotten and overlooked. But overarching all this is Shawn's fierce talent and determination simply "to dance." And dance he did.
Shawn authored several books, including "One Thousand and One Night Stands," in which he humorously documents the endless touring. Shawn and St. Denis toured the Orient and brought back exotic and native dances which they recreated on stage. The Denishawn schools were hugely influential in creating major talent and ensuring future generations of dancers. Among their students were Martha Graham, Charles Weidman, Doris Humphrey, Louise Brooks (the movie star), Barton Mumaw, Jane Sherman, and Jack Cole.
Ted Shawn was a great man, and this biography gets us a little closer to the man who, in the 1920s, rivalled Rudolph Valentino, John Gilbert, and Ramon Novarro as the reigning American male sex symbol. He deserves to be remembered.
