ABSTRACT
The ephemeral nature of dance has been a challenge to its creators for centuries, and so it is not surprising that preservation would have been a concern as modern dance began to develop in the early 1900s. The pioneering dancer-choreographer Ted Shawn (1891-1972) was as aware as anyone that his creative efforts were totally dependent upon the live bodies that executed his choreography. His frustration at losing his painstakingly trained men dancers in the 1930s is evident in this letter to a friend: “It is as if you had painted a picture and the blue or the crimson had decided to walk off and go somewhere else.”1
