Marion Rice

Marion Rice
Marion Rice in Ruth St Denis' Tunisienne 1940
Born	September 9, 1904 Fitchburg, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education	Sullins College, Bristol, Virginia
Occupation	Dancer, teacher, choreographer, producer
Years active	1928–1990
Spouse(s)	James Parker Rice

Marion Burbank Stevens Rice (September 9, 1904 – April 12, 1995) was an American modern dance choreographer, dance teacher and producer.

Rice was born in Hingham, Massachusetts. She studied ballet at Sullins College. She settled in Fitchburg, Massachusetts and founded the "Marion Rice Studio of the Dance" where she taught and performed Denishawn technique for over 60 years. She studied in the late 1920s and early 30's with Ted Shawn, Ruth St. Denis, Miriam Winslow and the Braggiotti sisters at the Braggiotti-Denishawn School of Dance in Boston, often performing Denishawn works in their concerts.

She produced work by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn as well as her own choreography. Among the dancers and choreographers she trained were her daughter Carolyn Brown of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, her daughter-in-law Mona Irvine Rice, and her granddaughters Robin Rice and Rebecca Rice.

She also operated her own dance company, the Marion Rice Denishawn Dancers, and in 1980 staged her version of "Soaring," for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montreal. Marion Rice Denishawn performed at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in 1972, the Marymount Manhattan Theater (New York) in 1976 and City College (New York) in 1986 at the "Roots: Foundations of American Modern Dance Festival".

Marion Rice Denishawn or Marion Rice Denishawn Dancers is a dance company devoted to preserving Denishawn dance, the choreography of modern dance pioneers Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, taught and staged by Marion Rice. Marion Rice dedicated her creative life to teaching, preserving, protecting and performing the fifty or so dance works taught to her by Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Miriam Winslow and other modern dance luminaries while she was a student and performer at the Boston Braggiotti School in Boston in the early 1900s. Along with members of her family, daughter Carolyn Brown, daughter-in-law Mona Irvine Rice, granddaughters Robin Rice and Rebecca Rice, these Denishawn dances have been performed by Marion Rice and her students for over 75 years.