Being a Men Dancer

So I often think to myself, why did I choose Ted Shawn as a dance icon I wanted to learn more about? The proof, for me, was in his history.

I wanted to learn more about Ted Shawn because he is the reason I have more opportunities in the dance world. He began a "revolution" of sorts for men in the dance community. It is because of his work as a dancer and choreographer that I have the opportunity to do whatever I want with my future. I can dance in a company, I can form my own company, I can choreograph on myself or anyone who chose to work with me. The possibilities are endless, and I credit Ted for that.

Starting a blog about one person makes it very clear that I think it is important for the rest of the world to know about Ted Shawn. People may wonder, "Why Ted Shawn?" "It seems like all he did was make it more acceptable for men to dance, why is he so important?" I think the public needs to know about Ted Shawn and his accomplishments because dance may not be what it is today. As a male dancer, people always say, "Don't worry, you'll be cast. You're a guy". So what, maybe that was true when guys were slim pickings, but a lot has changed. There are plenty of men dancing in today's dance community and I think they are beginning to be taken for granted. If it weren't for Ted, men could quite possibly still be few and far between.

Besides his huge contribution to the male community, Ted created Jacob's Pillow. Jacob's Pillow is an amazing outlet for young, old, new, male, female dancers to grow as artists and people. It constantly brings in new dance companies as well as famous dance companies to perform each year, giving the students who attend an opportunity to see dance they may otherwise not have seen. Just to put it in perspective of the work Jacob's Pillow brings to the dance community, here is a list of all the companies that will be performing at Jacob's Pillow this year.

Kyle Abraham/Abraham.in.Motion

CND2

Jacoby & Pronk and Dancers

Pichet Klunchun Dance Company

Dance Theater of Harlem Ensemble

Camille A. Brown and Dancers

Armitage Gone! Dance

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company

Monica Bill Barnes and Company

Trey McIntyre Project

Yin Mei Dance

Les Ballets Trockadero de Montey Carlo

The Goteborg Ballet

Lucy Guerin Inc.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

The Vanaver Caravan

Nina Ananiashuili and the State Ballet of Georgia

Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal

Barak Marshall's MONGER

Shantala Shivalingappa

To view how diverse this group of companies is and more information on all the wonderful contributions Ted Shawn as done for dance, here is the link to Jacob's Pillow. I highly recommend checking it out. There is an endless supply of information and inspiration.

http://www.jacobspillow.org/

I could go on forever about the contributions Ted Shawn has made to dance and why the general public should know about him, but I'll stop here. Ted "Papa" Shawn is the grandfather of Modern dance and as a dancer, I respect my elders. Here's to you Grandpa!

What Ted was all about

Ted Shawn's core contribution to the dance world lies in all of the information I have already posted on this page. Every single biography I find about Ted Shawn attributes almost all of his success to his all male dance company. What Ted did for male dancers changed the future for every aspiring male dancer out in the world. He paved the way and created a world where it was more accepted for men to dance. However, he did more then that with his work.

Other men danced before Ted came along. There were men in ballet companies and other male modern dancers in his time, but Ted did something to stand out. He looked at what men did in their daily lives and created dances inspired from that. He really got to the heart of the physicality men were capable of. It wasn't always the grandiose physicality of modern dance that he portrayed either. In a dance titled "Labor Symphony", it is evidently clear of Ted's "work day" inspiration. There is a link below to a video of a cast dancing this four section piece, but the message is still quite clear. All four sections show the hard working man through the movement Ted created.

In the first section entitled "Labor of the Field", the MC states that the inspirations come from harvesting, cutting wheat, gathering, thrashing, and a celebration at the end. In the second section, "Labor of the Forrest", cutting a tree, sawing a tree, killing a small animal, and then carrying the log off stage are what inspired Ted (the picture on the left shows men today carrying a large log, and then a picture of Ted's company "carrying" a log).

In the third section, "Labor of the Sea" it is once again, "manly" behavior that takes hold of Ted. Carrying the boat, rowing the boat, casting a net, pulling in the catch, and then carrying off the boat are once again, very predominate. Finally, in the fourth section, Ted took to a more "modern" approach to the movement."Mechanized Labor" looks at the comparison of how the body moves fluidly and machines move rigidly. Each section comes off as extremely masculine in its movement, and even in this video, which is a cast of females, the masculine nature of the movement is evident.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fmhb-zHrRY

Without Ted Shawn, men may have never been allowed into the dance field and been taken seriously. It seems like such a small contribution to such a large filed, but even today, the ratio of men to women is so large that what Ted did should never be forgotten. Perhaps it is because I am a male dancer that I find this to be his biggest contribution, but I doubt that. When all writers credit Ted for this "simple feat", it is hard to ignore.