ABSTRACT
The anecdote points toward the complex transformations of Ausdruckstanz across the Atlantic. As American modern dance consolidated over the 1940s and 1950s, Martin's prejudice against improvisation took hold and marginalized the methods of Ausdruckstanz or, more accurately, the Americanized versions of Ausdruckstanz. The performances sparked the curiosity of the dance world at large about Ausdruckstanz, and their overwhelmingly positive reception reflected an undercurrent of interest in the new possibilities of modern dance. In this way eurhythmics and Ausdruckstanz influenced the development of African-American concert dance. At Howard University Erika Thimey continued Von Grona's and Burrough's training of black dancers in the tradition of Ausdruckstanz. The author point here is not to bemoan the historiographic ellipsis of Ausdruckstanz across the Atlantic. The history of Ausdruckstanz in its entirety demands more, for the improvisational methods developed in Germany during the 1920s and 1930s traveled far and wide.
