Denishawn: The Birth of Modern Dance
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DVD details
Actor: Ruth St. Denis, Ted ShawnDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 40 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-02-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video
DVD Reviews of Denishawn: The Birth of Modern Dance
DVD Review: Better than nothing
Summary: 3 Stars
The story of Denishawn is a huge, sprawling one that spans nine decades and several continents. To try to squeeze two larger-than-life personalities and their amazing contribution to the world of dance into only 40 minutes is simply impossible. This little TV film is wrong-headed from the start. The worst parts of the film are the fake interviews with [hammy] actors portraying the elderly Shawn and St. Denis. This sort of thing may work in the theatre, but in a film blurs the line between fact and fiction and casts everything else in a questionable light. (The filmmaker also seems to focus a great deal on the marital relationship of the Shawns without ever mentioning that both of them were homosexuals.) The best parts of the film are the archival footage of Shawn and St. Denis dancing their own work. We actually get to see a few seconds of Shawn performing the Dance of Shiva and the Death of Adonis. There is also some footage of Jane Sherman's recreations of dances from the Denishawn repertoire, but these can all be seen on the DVD DENISHAWN DANCES ON. The filmmaker botched a great opportunity here. I would have much preferred a straightforward documentary. The film nonetheless provides a sketchy, once-over-lightly introduction to St. Denis and Shawn for the uninitiated. If this film prompts further interest in its subject, it's worth having. I'll be generous and give it three stars simply because there is so little about Denishawn in circulation these days and something is better than nothing.
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Description of Denishawn: The Birth of Modern Dance
This historic dance documentary tells the story of one of the least-publicized, yet most influential modern dance companies in America. Founded by Ruth St. Denis and her husband Ted Shawn at the turn of the century, Denishawn has become legendary for its unique approach to contemporary dance. Martha Graham, Jack Cole, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman and countless others have built their companies and their work on the foundation established by St. Denis and Shawn. Incorporating elements of Far and Middle Eastern dances to create abstract pieces they called "musical visualizations," the couple rejected the tradition of basing dances on fairy tales: their dancers played human beings, not sugarplums or swans. Husband-and-wife actors Paul and June Reed portray the Shawns in "interview" segments, and rare film footage of the real St. Denis and Shawn show them at the peak of their creative talents. The current Denishawn company re-stages some of the founders? original choreography, which remains as vital and modern today as it was then.Bestsellers in DVD
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