ABSTRACT
This paper examines the impact of the ideas of Delsarte and Dalcroze on forms of expressive movement in dance and gymnastics which developed around the turn of the twentieth century. It shows how they were taken up, influenced and furthered by specific innovators, affecting physical education philosophy and practice on both sides of the Atlantic. Both Margaret H’Doubler and Rudolf von Laban were instrumental – in different though interconnected ways – in introducing expressive forms of movement to the physical education curriculum in an era when progressive educational ideas flourished. H’Doubler’s interest in dance was unequivocally that of an educator and she set up the first dance education program in higher education at the University of Wisconsin in the United States. Laban was a dance choreographer and stage director in Germany before becoming involved with physical education in the final two decades of his life and successfully promoting modern dance and educational gymnastics in English Primary schools. H’Doubler’s efficacy as dance education pioneer came in large measure from her not being a dancer, not being an artist, for it allowed her more credibility with administrators and policy-makers. Laban, whose genius was very much as a dancer, artist and choreographer became a physical educator more by accident than design, and his educational innovations in schools were implemented more by proxy than in person.
