Charles Weidman

Charles Weidman
Portrait of Charles Weidman by Carl Van Vechten, Dec. 4, 1933
Born	July 22, 1901 Lincoln, Nebraska
Died	July 15, 1975(1975-07-15) (aged 70) New York, NY
Movement	Modern dance

Charles Weidman (July 22, 1901 – July 15, 1975) was 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 dance forms popular at the time to create a uniquely American style of movement. Born in 1901, he choreographed from the 1920s to the 1970s 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.

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. "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". 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.

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 Denishawn 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". Weidman's work was completely new to the dance world because he was trying to break away from ballet's nature of defying gravity to create a dance style that gave in to the natural "pull of gravity."