Ruth St. Denis Biography

Ruth St. Denis, Dancer

Born as	Ruth Dennis
Occup.	Dancer
From	USA
Spouse	Ted Shawn
Born	January 20, 1878 Newark, New Jersey, USA
Died	July 21, 1968 Los Angeles, California, USA
Cause	Natural Causes
Aged	90 years

Ruth St. Denis, an American modern dancing leader, was birthed Ruth Dennis on January 20, 1878, in Newark, New Jacket, to parents Ruth Emma Dennis and Thomas Laban Denis, who were strong believers in spiritualism and also frequently held séances at their residence. With an attraction for the imaginative as well as magical facets of the world from an early age, St. Denis was motivated to check out dancing as a kind of creative expression.

St. Denis was forced to dance skillfully after viewing an efficiency by the famous American skirt dancer, Loie Fuller. At the age of 17, she moved to New York City and also changed her surname to St. Denis, a nod to her dad's spiritualist mentors. In New York, she began examining numerous dance techniques and was soon offered a task in David Belasco's company as a featured dancer in their Broadway manufacturing of "Zaza".

When she was 29 years old, St. Denis extensively traveled to Europe as well as Asia, taking ideas from the art work, music, and also society she experienced. Her rate of interest in Eastern necromancy as well as its link to dance sustained her artistic undertakings. Not long after, St. Denis founded her own dance firm, executing her one-of-a-kind style of choreography that incorporated the timeless ballet techniques with spiritual and also social styles.

In 1914, St. Denis wed fellow dancer Ted Shawn, as well as the pair co-founded Denishawn Dance School and Company in Los Angeles in 1915. Their institution quickly acquired popularity and recognition, and also soon, trainees from around the world took a trip to research with St. Denis and her hubby. Her cutting-edge technique to dance choreography brought enormous popularity to modern-day dancing, turning it into a serious and also respected art kind. Among her trainees were future dancing icons Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, as well as Charles Weidman.

As modern-day dance progressed, a break formed between St. Denis as well as Shawn, both expertly as well as directly. The couple separated in 1930 yet did not officially divorce up until 1936. St. Denis remained to choreograph as well as educate, in spite of the economic hardships that would follow her for the remainder of her life.

Throughout the 1940s as well as 1950s, St. Denis dedicated her time to dealing with solo efficiencies as well as choreographing for tiny teams, traveling the globe extensively as a teacher as well as performer. Especially, she also began the Church of The Divine Dance, an instructional as well as spiritual company that embraced the web link between dance as well as spirituality.

In 1963, at the age of 85, St. Denis officially retired from the phase. Despite the fact that retired, she remained to choreograph periodically and also remained active in the dancing area. St. Denis died on July 21, 1968, in Hollywood, California, leaving behind an abundant tradition of innovative dancing methods, choreography, and also artistic vision.

Ruth St. Denis's influence on the world of dance continues to motivate as well as influence contemporary dancers and choreographers to this day. Her dedication to fusing social, magical, and also spiritual aspects with the basic strategies of classic ballet improved the understanding of dancing as an art type that goes beyond the physical and also touches the spiritual.

Our collection contains 13 quotes who is written / told by Ruth.

Related authors: Giulio Andreotti (Politician), Ted Shawn (Dancer), Doris Humphrey (Dancer), Martha Graham (Dancer), Louise Brooks (Actress)

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13 Famous quotes by Ruth St. Denis

"The real message of the Dance opens up the vistas of life to all who have the urge to express beauty with no other instrument than their own bodies, with no apparatus and no dependence on anything other than space"

"It is not a question of who dances but of who or what does not dance"

"But in reality we are accompanied by the whole dancing universe"

"You and I are but specks of that rhythmic urge which is Brahma, which is Allah, which is God"

"We can scale the heights of mountains and see the world rayed out before us, but we fail to recognize that which is before us"

"Our bodies are at once the receiving and transmitting stations for life itself. It is the highest wisdom to recognize this fact and train our bodies to render them sensitive and responsive to nature. art and religion"

"We should realize in a vivid and revolutionary sense that we are not in our bodies but our bodies are in us"

"Remembering that man is indeed the microcosm, the universe in miniature, the Divine Dance of the future should be able to convey with its slightest gestures some significance of the universe"

"I see dance being used as communication between body and soul, to express what it too deep to find for words"

"We have the capacity to receive messages from the stars and the songs of the night winds"

"I believe that my whole creative life stemmed from this magic hour under the stars on that hilltop"

"As we rise higher in the understanding of ourselves, the national and racial dissonances will be forgotten in the universal rhythms of Truth and Love"

"We can hear the silent voice of the spiritual universe within our own hearts"