Doris Humphrey is considered to be one of the very first modern choreographers. She was a major contributor to the expansion of modern dance in the United States. Humphrey was a contemporary dancer alongside many modern phenomenon such as Martha Graham and Katherine Dunham. Her work at the Denishawn School proved to be iconic, but eventually, she left to start up her own dance school with Charles Weidman: The Humphrey-Weidman School of Dance. Humphrey is, credited with the “fall and recovery” technique, which involves balance and the pull of gravity. Her choreography captivated audiences across America and is still used today in a variety of dance schools.
Doris Batcheller Humphrey was born on October 17, 1895 in Oak Park, Illinois as an only child to parents Horace Buckingham Humphrey and Julia Ellen Wells. Her father was a journalist and hotel manager, while her mother was a trained concert pianist. Humphrey’s father was a direct descendent of William Brewster who was aboard the Mayflower in 1620. She was also a distant relative of the famous poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Doris Humphrey was known to be a very graceful child and showed an interest in dance from a very early age. Her parents supported her ambitions and enrolled her in ballet lessons to further her talent. She attended the Francis Parker School in Chicago and was inspired by one particular individual, Mary Wood Hinman. Hinman was a teacher at the school and Humphrey developed a special bond with her. Hinman also held pageants and interpretive dance programs, and because Humphrey excelled in these programs, her desire to be a dancer increased. Later on, she took a break from school to tour the west and dance with a concert group sponsored by the Santa Fe Railroad.
Upon her graduation from the school, Doris Humphrey decided to help her family out as they were not doing well financially. She decided the best way to help out was to open up a dance school in Oak Park. Her mother also became involved in this dance school as a manager and pianist. The school took off almost immediately and became a huge success. She offered a wide variety of training including classical, ballroom, and gymnastic dancing for children, as well as ballroom classes for young adults. While this dance school was dear to her heart, Humphrey was not artistically satisfied with her choreography. When her parents’ financials became stable in 1917, upon the advice of her school teacher, Miss Hinman, she decided to train as a professional dancer under the Denishawn dance school in Los Angeles, California. It was under their training that Doris Humphrey flourished. She started off as a student but became a dancer in this company relatively quickly because of her skill. She soon began to choreograph various pieces including Valse Caprice, Soaring, and Schero Waltz under this company.
Eventually, Humphrey’s dance style began to evolve. She began to focus less on the exotic aspect that was so important to Denishawn, and instead focused on self-expression and experimentation. She also stressed ensemble dance over solo pieces. Because of creative and political differences, Doris Humphrey and a fellow Denishawn dancer, Charles Weidman eventually left Denishawn to pursue their own school of dance. In 1928, they opened their company, Humphrey-Weidman School of Dance. During this time, Humphrey focused on developing new techniques and studying movement. The “fall and recovery” technique is one such technique and is still practiced to this day in a variety of dance schools. This technique emphasizes balance and motion. To Humphrey, the time between falling and standing represented the stress between security and oblivion. The vast majority of her choreography highlighted feelings and physical states. Her dances were very complex and intricate and could only work with select music. She created new vocabulary for her contemporary style and did not limit herself. Using this style, Humphrey choreographed many unique pieces such as, Water Study (1928), Life of the Bee (1929), and Drama of Motion (1930). Her company went on tour during the 1930’s across America. Because the United States was experiencing the Great Depression, Humphrey wanted to bring joy to people. Her pieces addressed modern concerns that were prevalent during this era. This era produced her dramatic trilogy: Theatre Piece, which focused on human rivalry and competition, With My Red Fires, which dealt with emotions, and finally New Dance, which portrayed individualism and “human harmony”. Additionally, she married Charles Francis Woodford, a merchant, in June 1932 and gave birth to a son shortly thereafter.
In her later life, Humphrey expanded to teaching dance for several Broadway productions, which were very successful. By 1945, she developed arthritis and could no longer perform. However, this fact did not deter her from continuing to choreograph. She became the artistic director of the Jose Limon company and developed various dance pieces. She also taught classes at Bennington College in Vermont, taught various summer workshops, and helped open the Juilliard School of Dance in 1952. In 1958, shortly before her death from cancer, she wrote “The Art of Making Dances”. This book explained how she taught dance in a way that is easy to understand, and it was well received by the public.
I personally did not have much knowledge about Doris Humphrey before researching her. I just knew that she was a modern dance pioneer. However, after reading about her life history, I became inspired by the number of hardships she went through. She was able to support her family at such a young age, and contributed to a new take on dance. I believe that the hardships she endured shaped her into the person she became, someone with resilience, passion and courage. Her character spoke volumes for what she believed was right in dance, and I really hope that more people will bring her story to light because she deserves utmost respect for her contributions.