How did concert dancers and choreographers create and respond to modernity’s fascination with mobility between 1900 and 1950? How does dance enter the archive? We answer these questions by probing ways gender, race, and sexuality shaped ideas of the modern in the dances of Isadora Duncan, Vaslav Nijinsky, Martha Graham, Katherine Dunham, Zora Neale Hurston, and others. Emphasis on US dancers, including transnational choreographies of African American artists, with comparative cases from Europe. Special attention to the ways ethnography informed choreography. Includes trip to NYPL Robbins Dance Division. No dance experience required.
