Dance Article
"Rebels" - Helen Tamiris
an excerpt from Art Without Boundaries: the World of Modern DanceBy the late 1920's, three women had changed the shape of American modern dance: Helen Tamiris, Martha Graham, and Doris Humphrey.
Tamiris rebelled against ballet. She was a political rebel, as well. The daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants who settled in New York City, she was born Helen Becker in 1902. Her father, a tailor, made policemen's overcoats in sweatshop. As a child, Helen studied "Interpretative Dancing" with Irene Lewisohn and Blanche Talmud, and when she was fifteen she joined the Metropolitan Opera Ballet; she also studied ballet with Michel Fokine.
Helen was an outspoken young women with a stubborn streak. Her outspokenness prevented her from graduating from high school. After she made a street-corner speech opposing America's entry into World War I, her shocked principal told her that, as punishment, her diploma would be withheld from her. Her stubbornness was reflected in her dissatisfaction with both ballet and Interpretative Dancing. As she said in her unfinished memoirs, she soon concluded that "I don't want to be a Duncan dancer—or a ballet dancer—I want to be myself—But what was myself?"
Many of her contemporaries asked similar questions. For them self-discovery involved esthetic exploration. Nevertheless, all had to raise money to buy food and pay the rent. Helen did so by appearing in commercial entertainments. She cast aside Becker as a surname and professionally adopted Tamiris, the name of an ancient Persian queen. At first, she billed herself simply as Tamiris; later, she was known as Helen Tamiris. When she appeared at a Sportsmen's and Outdoor Show in Cleveland early in her career, posters announced her as "Tamiris—In an Astonishing Exhibition by the Modernistic Athletic Dancer." Other attractions on the bill included log rollers, a menagerie, "Exciting Stunts in the Big Tank," and a fashion show of women's sportswear.
Tamiris was not the only modern dancer forced by economic necessity to work in musical shows or nightclubs. Nevertheless, a few of Tamaris's colleagues spoke of her with slight disdain because they considered her too "commercial." Conceivably, they may have been jealous. Tamiris was a glamorous woman. With her mane of thick reddish-gold hair, she certainly did not look like a priestess of dance, and she was a vibrant personality on and off the stage.
Tamiris gave her first choreographic program in 1927. Her diverse offerings bore such titles as Circus Sketches and Impressions of the Bull Ring. Two items were somewhat out of the ordinary. Subconscious, set to Debussy, reflected America's growing fascination with psychology by showing a conflict between inhibition and liberation. The Queen Walks in the Garden, performed in silence, was the first of Tamarisks experiments exploring the relationship between movement and sound (or the lack of it).
The above excerpt is reprinted with permission from Jack Anderson's fascinating book entitled: Art Without Boundaries: the World of Modern Dance. For those interested in modern dance, this is an interesting and informative read. You can purchase Art Without Boundaries: the World of Modern Dance through the University of Iowa Press website by clicking on the book cover below.
Art Without Boundaries: the World of Modern Dance
by Jack Anderson
