ABSTRACT
What propelled the major modernists in the dance world of the 1930’s through the 1970’s; Hanya Holm, Helen Tamiris, Charles Weidman, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, José Limón and Alwin Nikolais to spend their lives in a profession which placed overwhelming demands upon them? Any acclaim that these artists might have acquired through their unique style of dance was minimal; the number of working hours was enormous; the financial rewards were minor if not completely lacking. Confronted by such major disadvantages, why were these twentieth century innovators driven to follow dance as a chosen profession?
