ABSTRACT
One of Denishawn’s most important contributions to the development of American modern dance lay in the fact that St Denis and Shawn believed in cultivating their students’ natural talents and powers of movement expression. By not subjugating their students to the demands of a single system, according to Ruyter (1979) Denishawn helped to set nonacademic dance in America in a direction of diversity and individuality of form, which it has continued to maintain. Although Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman were trained in what might be called the Denishawn style or look, they were, nevertheless, very different from each other: Humphrey was lyrical, Graham displayed a dramatic intensity and Weidman had a flair for comedy. These differences were promoted by either St Denis or Shawn, although, as Shelton (1981) has pointed out, the dancers often complained that they always appeared as someone other than themselves.
