Doris Humphrey: An artist first, A woman afterwards
This well worn out book with peculiar smell formed a bridge between a modern dance beginner student of business major, who has absolutely zero knowledge of modern dance history, and one of the people who created it, Doris Humphrey. On the Internet, I found facts, dance terms, and timelines; however, I was intrigued more by the story of this woman, what kind of childhood she had, what her inspirations were, what she despised, and whom she loved. Therefore, I picked up An Artist First (1966), an autobiography of Doris Humphrey.
I wanted to explore her own thoughts and philosophy of her life, and I was astonished to find myself relating to her experience from the first page of the book. Her relationship of love and defiance with her caring but strong mother, and the childhood as she had described resonated with me. Her parents wanted to provide her with everything they had. Her father, Horace Humphrey, gave up his job at the “Chicago Daily News” as a compositor in pursuit of finding a job that would afford to pay for the family. That ended up being a manager’s position at The Palace Hotel, which housed vaudeville actors and performers. A trained concert pianist, Doris’ mother, Julia Wells took a job as a housekeeper at the hotel. Most of Doris’ childhood was spent at The Palace Hotel in Chicago that she reminisces fondly of.
Doris grew up surrounded by art, parents who were artistic and neighbors-in-motion at the hotel who performed art. Julia wished her to be pianist, a better than her own, so she started teaching her piano. As Doris recalls, they were stormy sessions where her mother would get frustrated with her mistakes and scolds her and Doris would end up bursting into tears. She had hard time distinguishing flats and sharps and all the notations she had to remember. However, when she took a dance class at her school, she found it quite pleasing. They were moves that she simply had to copy, and it was delightful experience for her unlike the piano lessons.
Mary Wood Hinman, the enthusiastic teacher became one of the biggest influences in her life. She continued to have great faith in Doris over the years and really convinced her and her family that she would be successful in dance. Her mother began to support her, and her father even had an idea to dance with her at the church. As Ms. Hinman suggested her mother started taking her to different teachers and dancers who taught Doris the different style of dance, ballet being the main one.
From the way Doris talked about her parents in her autobiography, you can tell that her parents were great folks who supported their only child in ways that were possible to them. She was raised without many restrictions, and liberal was a recurring word in her book. Although most of her relatives were religious, her parents were not, and she strongly disliked the times she had to stay with her religious relatives and the routine and practices that she had to follow. On the other hand, she admiringly described a girl, who is a distant relative that she got spend a summer with, as carefree and fun. Those stories tell me that she always sought freedom and joy.
When she graduated from her high school, her parents suddenly lost their jobs because of the hotel owner’s decision to sell The Palace Hotel. Her mother had the idea of opening a dance school in Oak Park, IL, in her hometown, in which Doris would teach classes and the mother would play the piano. She told Doris that it was time that they take care of the family, since the father is in great distress due to losing his job. Doris felt indebted to her parents, and she had to no choice but to go with the idea. The idea worked, and the school was doing excellent. However, Doris was physically exhausted most of the time, and she wanted to dance instead of teaching it. It became an obligation, and she felt stuck.
She gave great importance to a story when she asked some money from her mother. It was another story of liberation in a way. Her mother asked what she was going to use it for, she boldly said she was earning half of the income and she was entitled to some money without being questioned. She got ten dollars from her mother, and she went and saw a ballet in Chicago.
After teaching in Oak Park for five years, she was once again encouraged by Ms. Hinman to join Denishawn school in LA. The school’s founders Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn are the first generation pioneers in modern dance in America. By the time, her family was doing well financially, and her mother gladly agreed for her to continue dancing. Miss Ruth noticed Doris in a private lesson. Doris eventually received an offer of her dreams to join the Denishawn and become a teacher and a dancer.
Miss Ruth also recognized her ability of musicality. She supported her to create her own compositions such as “Soaring” and “Hoop dance”. At Denishawn, she met two of her long time partners, Charles Weidman and Pauline Lawrence, whom she would later establish Humphrey-Weidman school with.
With Denishawn, she along with Charles and Pauline got to explore most exotic destinations in Asia for two years. It is when she started realizing that she was growing bored of the dance routines. She also felt like as an artist she was not growing much. The traveling was also taking a toll on her physically, and she mentions that during one of the shows she had fallen asleep on stage. However, she thoroughly enjoyed the places she has been to, and she had met men who showed great interest in her. She entertained the idea of settling down with one of the rich men only to realize that she could not live with herself if she did that.
When they returned, Charles and Doris were put in charge of Denishawn in New York. It’s when she started experimenting with movements and started composing in the direction of her preference. After a year, Ms. Ruth and Mr. Shawn introduced an idea of the expansion of Denishawn where new policies would be introduced which she couldn’t agree to. She was let go.
Then after hours of chatting with Charles and Pauline that night, they decided to establish their own studio. They faced many struggles such as financial and personal problems; Doris simply could not compromise her artistry. She said dance was close to perfection when it was far from personality, and she stayed true to that. However, when she met her husband, whom she called Leo, she was inspired by their philosophical conversations and she would compromise the freedom of her single life. Selma Jeanne Cohen, who wrote the part 2 of the book, hints that New Dance, a highly praised composition of Doris, might have been inspired by her love for Leo.
Modern dance was a vague idea in early 20th century, and while everyone had their distinct style of movements, Doris’s every untamable ideas and movements helped shape the new form of dance. Creating new forms of movement, experiment, and artistry was important to her. That was her ultimate freedom, self-expression, and her philosophy.
