Charles Weidman

Portrait of Charles Weidman by Carl Van Vechten, Dec. 4, 1933

Charles Edward Weidman, Jr. (1901 in Lincoln, Nebraska – 1975) is a renowned choreographer, modern dancer and teacher. He is well known as one of the pioneers of Modern Dance in America. He wanted to break free from the traditional movements of ballet and other current dance forms to create a uniquely American style of movement. Born in 1901, he choreographed from the 1920’s to the 1970’s until his death in 1975. While he is most famous for his work with Doris Humphrey, Weidman did a lot of work on his own. He created a bridge to a new range of movement that he only began to explore. His work inspired many and helped to create a whole genre of dance that is still evolving today.

Career

Charles Weidman began choreographing in a time of great change in American Culture. He began his career as a dancer for the Denishawn Company, but soon decided to break free from their exotic style of movement and create a new style that was unique to America. He started the Humphrey-Weidman Company with Doris Humphrey in 1927, right in the midst of the Roaring 20s. During this decade society, art and culture were blossoming and thriving. Jazz music began to flourish, dancing became a popular activity, technology flourished, and the US enjoyed a general sense of economic development. This was the perfect time for Weidman to break away from the tradition of Balletic movement. “It was a positive time, one that said yes to human values, a time full of vitality, there was that urgent need to express oneself but also to express the time in which one lived. There was a belief in the future” ^[1]. In a time when change was coming rapidly, where innovations were popular, Weidman brought this to the dance world and changed dance forever. While Weidman began his choreography during this immense time of change, he also choreographed for four decades after he began. He worked through the Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II. Although his work is not very political, his themes and ideas were designed to embody American culture.

Ideas about Dance

Charles Weidman wanted to create a uniquely American style of movement. He wanted to develop movement that was not based on animals or bugs or fairy tale stories like the common themes in popular ballets. He also wanted to break free from the current ideas of modern dance embodied by the DeniShawn company (of which he was a member). He wanted to “dance man and woman in America today.” He was most famous for his work with Doris Humphrey with whom he started the Humphrey-Weidman Company. The two met when they were dancing in the DenisShawn Company (of Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis) and they soon after decided to create a dance company that built off of “dance style that sprang from American Soil” ^[1]. Weidman’s work was completely new to the dance world because he was trying to fight against the idea of the typical ballerina that was constantly fighting gravity and flying through the air in seemingly impossible feats, and create a dance style that gave in to the natural “pull of gravity” (Nikolais).

Technique

Weidman’s movement vocabulary was based on gravity. In concentrating on this element, the “fall was rediscovered.” ^[1] The idea was to explore how giving into gravity makes one fall, while balancing your body against gravity could create movement as well. In addition, he emphasized the movements that occurred before and after falling ^[2]. From these ideas came suspension, or the “body's resistance to gravity”; and succession, or the “progressive unfolding of the body as an impulse flows from joint to joint” ^[2]. This created a whole new phrase of movements, which includes a lot of floor work, a lot of jumping and a lot of falling. In addition to his unique new way of moving, Weidman brought a personal element to the dance world: his dramatic abilities. “Arguably, no one has dramatic skill equal to Weidman” ^[3]. His choreography was very expressive and usually very emotional. His range of emotion went from comedy to seriousness—yet the expression is always important and always present in his choreography.

Choreographic Themes

Weidman was also well known for the range of choreographic styles in which he worked. He worked in several different elements including religious, comedic, tributary and serious work. Arguably his most famous work “Flickers” was a comedic sketch of silent films. This piece was filled with “jerky movements and corny situations” ^[4]. The piece is cut into four different reels that are four different stories or scenes. The pieces are very theatrical and comedic with many exaggerated facial expressions. Racial and sex stereotypes are exaggerated to a point of hilarity. In stark contrast Weidman choreographed a series called Atavisms which featured a piece called Lynch town, a choreographic depiction of a lynch mob. The other work in Atavisms was This Passion, a series of popular murder cases.^[5] In this piece the dancers appear very bloodthirsty and animalistic—like vultures about to devour their prey. Contrasted against that again was a series of dances made as tributes to his mother’s side of the family called “On My Mothers side” this featured a succession of dances based on different members of his mothers side of the family. His later work is best known in his “Oratorios” or “Braham’s Waltz’s” which he choreographed religious ideas to Braham’s series of waltzes. Said Clay of these works: “It is a work magnificent in its scope and power and is arguably Mr. Weidman’s master opus.”

Legacy

Charles Weidman has had an immeasurable contribution to the dance world which was recognized in 1970 by the National Dance Association who honored him with the Heritage Award. He forever changed the way dance was danced by working in different parameters. He has heavily influenced all modern dance that came after him. One of his former dancers said “all male dancers took concepts from Charles” ^[2]. In his company he trained famous choreographers such as Jose Limon and Bob Fosse. Charles Weidman created a completely new style of dance by rejecting ballet and embracing gravity. He laid the foundation for modern dance and many of his ideas are still the basis for modern dance today. Unfortunately his work is not well known and has been hard to reconstruct because very little of it is on tape and only some of it is in labonotation. Therefore, it has been up to his former dancers to reconstruct most of his works from memory. However, his passion, influence and ideas have had an incredible influence on the way movement is studied and created today.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Weidman, Charles. Charles Weidman, On His Own. Prod. Janet Mendelshon and Virginia Brooks. Dance Horizons Video. 1990.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Nikolais, Alwin. Charles Weidman, On His Own. Prod. Janet Mendelshon and Virginia Brooks. Dance Horizons Video. 1990.
3. ^ Daniel, Clay. "Reconstructing Weidman: A Dancer's Perspective." Dance Research Journal. 39,2 (Winter, 2007): 83-98.
4. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/07/arts/dance-works-by-charles-weidman.html?scp=1&sq=charles%20weidman&st=cse
5. ^ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/638930/Charles-Weidman/ Charles Weidman Britannica Encyclopeadia

External links

• Charles Weidman School of Modern Dance, Inc. Records, 1918-1975 - The New York Public Library
• The Charles Weidman Archives(Official site)
• Dance Works by Charles Weidman
• Heroes and Visions
• Weidman, Charles. Flickers. produced by Ted Steeg Productions, Inc. 1941.
• Charles Weidman, Britannica Encycolpaedia

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