St. Denis, Ruth (sānt dĕn`ĭs), 1877–1968, American dancer, b. Newark, N.J., whose name was originally Ruth Dennis. After her debut (c.1893) she toured with David Belasco. In 1906 she began her recitals of highly imaginative and spectacular dances inspired by the arts and religions of Egypt, India, and East Asia. She performed in Europe (1906–8) and in the United States (after 1909), exerting a widespread influence on modern dance. With Ted Shawn, whom she married in 1914, she founded the Denishawn Schools in Los Angeles and in New York City (1920). A divergence in their views after 1931 led her to found (1940) a separate school. Her dances include Radha, Incense, Cobras, and Nautch.

Bibliography

See her autobiography (1939). See study by S. Shelton (1981).

St. Denis, Ruth

orig. Ruth Dennis

(born Jan. 20, 1877, Newark, N.J., U.S.—died July 21, 1968, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. modern-dance innovator and teacher. She was a vaudeville performer before developing her dramatic dance act based on Asian dance forms. From 1906 to 1909 she toured in Europe to wide acclaim. In 1915 she and her husband, Ted Shawn, established the Denishawn dance company and school to present a new choreographic style of abstract “music visualization.” The company frequently toured until it disbanded in 1931 when St. Denis and Shawn separated. Her interest in the use of dance in religion led her to found the Society of Spiritual Arts. She continued to perform, teach, and lecture into the 1960s.

St. Denis, Ruth (b. Dennis) (1877–1968) dancer, choreographer; born in Somerville, N.J. Dancing from age six, she began in vaudeville and musicals at age 16 and then became an actress who worked with stage director David Belasco (1898–1905). Convinced that dance was the way for her to express her "noblest thoughts," she studied the cultures and dances of the East (although it is also claimed that she took her inspiration from a poster for Isis cigarettes) and then choreographed her own first dance, Radha (1906), based on Hindu mythology and using actual East Indian dancers. An overnight success with her mixture of exotic spectacle and high seriousness, she toured Europe for three years. After returning to the U.S.A., she produced elaborate dance productions based on Egyptian and Japanese elements. In 1914 she met and married dancer Ted Shawn and they went to Los Angeles and founded the Denishawn School of Dancing (moved to New York City in 1921) and the Denishawn Dancers. They toured widely, continued to choreograph independently, and trained many of the leading figures in modern American dance. By 1932 they were separated (although they never divorced). By this time she was increasingly embracing the religious element of dance, founding the Society of Spiritual Arts in 1931 and later the Church of the Divine Dance (1947), convinced that dance was a form of worship. In 1939 she published her autobiography, An Unfinished Life. From 1945 on she appeared with Ted Shawn at his Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and at special events. She continued choreographing and performing dances based on Asian and Egyptian mythology until the mid-1960s, often performing in churches to express her idea of the spiritual nature of her work.