ABSTRACT
In their pursuit of a serious American dance under the auspices of art for art’s sake, Graham, Humphrey and Weidman banished themselves to the cultural margins. They abandoned the financial security that popular organisations like the Follies and Denishawn offered. Art, for the dissenters from Denishawn, was not for sale to the highest bidder. In a metaphorical sense they became the pioneers of dance, hacking out a space for their art from an inhospitable terrain. To the American public, dancing, above all else, was supposed to be pretty and entertaining. The iconoclasts from Denishawn did not seek to be decorative or to pander to the audience. Rather, they sought to engage their audience, to make people think, to be thoroughly modern and direct in their approach.
