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Doris Humphrey Doris Batcheller Humphrey was born October 17, 1895, on North Grove Ave. in Oak Park. During early childhood, Doris lived at the Palace Hotel in Chicago; her father was the proprietor and her mother supervised the staff. Doris attended the Francis Parker School and was a member of the first graduating class. She studied dance as a young girl with Mary Wood Hinman, who taught at Francis Parker. After graduating in 1913, she took a trip to New York where she studied very briefly with Irene and Vernon Castle. Upon her return to her family in Oak Park, she opened the Humphrey School of Dance, and with musical accompaniment by her mother, Doris taught children’s classes and social dances to adults. In 1917 she went to Los Angeles to study with Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn; she joined the Denishawn Company in 1918 and became the principal dancer, teacher, and co-choreographer with St. Denis. After ten years with Denishawn, touring America and the Orient, Doris established herself, with her partner, Charles Weidman, at the forefront of the newly developing Modern Dance movement. She and others were trying to explore the expression of the human body rather than colorful but superficial dances. Humphrey’s choreography set a standard and was an inspiration to the generations of modern dance choreographers that followed. For Denishawn in 1920, she choreographed the Hoop Dance, which she later taught Sally Rand, who changed the hoops to feathers. In 1932, she and Weidman choreographed the first “modern dance” in a Broadway show. She was instrumental in developing the talent of Jose Limon, and several of her works are in his company’s repertoire today. Humphrey taught at Bennington College, Connecticut College, and was one of the founding members of the dance department in 1951 at the Julliard School of Music. She died on December 29, 1958 and is buried in Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park, IL. |
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