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Dance and the Workers' Struggle

Author(s): Stacey Prickett


Source: Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research , Spring, 1990,
Vol. 8, No. 1 (Spring, 1990), pp. 47-61
Published by: Edinburgh University Press

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/1290789

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DANCE AND THE WORKERS' STRUGGLE
Stacey Prickett

The decade of the Roaring Twenties is mythologised today


era of abundance and carefree living in America. Socia
equalities and tensions existed nevertheless, and the gap
growing wider between rich and poor, employer and empl
Awareness of these rifts in society, coupled with a loss of fa
humanity after the atrocities of World War I, paved the way
acceptance of the ideals of socialism as exemplified by the y
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Artists and intellectuals
among those who embraced various versions of Marxism du
the inter-war period, as a tool for understanding and chan
society. The working class, the proletariat, held the hope f
better future. Following the example set by actors, pain
musicians and writers, young dancers soon took to the stage to
strains of the socialist anthem, the Internationale. A new movem
began, one of dance for and by the worker. The blend of Ma
ideology and dance spread as the Workers' Dance League
founded in 1932. And it shared common roots - in the mid 1920s
- with the emergent American modern dance movement. Some of
those involved in the dance movement are now prominent names
in dance history, yet the majority of names has gone unrecorded.
Isadora Duncan was one inspirational figure for the workers'
dance movement. Her passion for the struggling masses in their
fight for equality was manifested in dance with her performance to
the Marseillaise in 1916. Russian conditions inspired the Marche
Slave danced to Tchaikovsky's music, and Duncan's links with
Soviet Russia were strengthened when she accepted Commissar
Lunacharsky's invitation to open a children's school in Moscow.
Although her hoped-for dreams were shattered by the dismal
conditions in Moscow, Duncan's support for the Bolsheviks
continued. Duncan's visit to the United States in 1922 erupted
into scandal as she was interrogated on Ellis Island before being
permitted entry into her native country. She shocked conservative
audience members with her praise of communism at perform-
ances. The periodical, The Worker, which was funded by the
Communist Party, published articles documenting her appear-

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DANCE RESEARCH

-A -.---

Annul Inter-Racial Dance


ROCKLAND PALACE

SATURDAY, MARCH 22nd, 1930

PROGRAM

Black and White Workers Solidarity Dance Edth Segal and


Allison Burroughs

THE LIBERATOR-Organizer of the Negro Herbert Newton


LABOR UNITY-The voice of Militant
Labor of all races .. ... .. Wm. Z. Foster

Chairman .. ..... .... .... ... .... . Joseph Brodsky


Dance Music:

DUKE ELLINGTON and his FAMOUS ORCHESTRA

Mass Singing-THE INTERNATIONAL -


Arise, ye prisoners of starvation!
Arise, ye wretchei of the earth,
For justice thunders condemnation,
A better world's in birth.
No more tradition's chains shall bind us,
Arise, ye slaves; no more in thrall!
The earth shall rise on new foundations,
We have been naugbt, we shall be all.

REFRAIN:

'Tis the final conflict,


Let each stand in his place,
The Internatiowal Soviet
Shall be the human race.

Joint Auspices:
The Liberator Labor Unity
(Official organi of the (Official Organ of the
American Negrn Trade Union Unity
Labor Congresx) Lcague)
Organizer of the Negro The Voice of
Masses for Struggle Iabior of All Races

1. Programme for the Second Inter-Racial Dance, 22 March 1930 (Edith


Segal Archive).

ances and the surrounding controversy. Her support for the Rus-
sian government was expressed in interviews and in appearances
at charity events for the Friends of Soviet Russia. The State
Department ultimately withdrew her American passport on a
legal pretext involving the timing of her marriage to the Russian

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DANCE AND THE WORKERS' STRUGGLE

poet, Sergei Essenin.1 Yet it was her spoken words more th


dances which sparked the controversy regarding her p
Duncan's emotionally expressive movement was more univ
than the specific expression of a particular political do
Others who followed were to develop the links further, inspir
her work in Soviet Russia and the power of her performan
The controversy over Isadora Duncan's outspoken view
reflective of a deeply rooted fear in the United States of p
ideologies such as socialism and communism. Within the p
realm, alignment with the left was viewed with a certain degr
tolerance, more so than in the post World War II years. Th
scare' of the late 1910s chipped away at the level of
membership, yet the number of communist and socialist
pathisers and 'fellow travellers' grew.2 Following the exam
the rise of proletarian culture in Russia and Germany, a fac
American artists expressed through their art forms their conc
hopes and aspirations for the oppressed workers or mem
ethnic or racial minorities. An influx of immigrants into A
had swelled the work force, resulting in discrimination in
practices, low wages and harsh working conditions. A Ma
vision of equality appealed to many, both native born Ame
and recent immigrants.
With a view to enriching the industrial worker's life, s
organisations were formed with cultural, educational or s
orientations. Small orchestras provided the amateur m
with performance opportunities and workers' drama club
modelled on the proletarian theatres of Meyerhold and B
Cultural events were sponsored by political organisations w
additional aim of raising class consciousness by addressing
issues, and, more directly, through speeches.
As in Russia, debates centred on the creation of a prole
culture which advocated the rejection of those traditional art f
which were taken to perpetuate bourgeois elitist aesth
Lenin's battle against the hardliners of the Proletkult [prol
culture] movement was successful, and the ensuing per
experimentation in the arts attempted to fuse the prolet
experience with traditional art forms such as dance and th
American workers' theatre groups also originally moved a
from theatre traditions in their productions. Much of the
work was agit-prop [agitation-propaganda] material w

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DANCE RESEARCH

presented political and social problems and potential


The themes were specific to the proletariat and presen
highly accessible forms. The style of agit-prop was ta
few of the less prominent workers' dance groups, ref
concept of class culture. Rejecting what they te
aesthetics, the messages in their dances were meant
the attack strong. Those working outside the tr
mainstream modem dance soon fell by the wayside,
Precedents for linking Marxism and dance a

Fight Imperllist War Preparatilons - Defend the Sovet Union!


JOIN THE COMMUNIST PARTY!

I ENIIN --
LENI1N MEMORIAL
1MEETIN0

.Att

Wednesday | Madi
Madison
Jan. 22 Sq. Garden
at 7 P. M. Seo lth St. aUd th Av.

PROGRAM
1. Singing of the International ....... ......... By the Assembly
2. Introductory remarks ................... By Chairman I. Amter
3. Labor Sports Union
4. Lenin Showed the Way for the Negro Masses! .... Address-Otto Hall
5. Greetings
6. Join the Party of Lenin! .. ....... .......... Address-By Robert Minor
7. Build Lenin a Revolutionary Monument!........ddress-By M. J. Olgin
8. Installation of Communist Recruits
(a) The Duties of a New Member
(b) Pledge of Revolutionary Loyalty
(c) Welcome to the Communist Party
9. The Belt Goes Red
A Mass Pageant, direction Emjo Basshe; conceived by Edith Segal.
Dances arranged by Edith Segal. Musical direction, Paul Keller.
Groups participating: Workers Dramatic Council, Workers Dance Group, Workers Lab-
oratory Theatre, Freiheit Gesangs Ferein, W. I. R., Brass Band and Chorus, Labor
Sports Union.
Scene I-The Belt (dance group). Scene 5-Strike (dance group).
Scene 2-American Federation of Labor Scene 6-From the U.S.S.R.
Convention.
Scene 3-Revolt (dance group). Scene 7-Memorial March (dance group)
Scene 4-Organization! Scene 8-Towards Struggle!

2. Programme for the Lenin Memorial Meeting (Edith S

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DANCE AND THE WORKERS' STRUGGLE

America as early as 1924. One example of this was when


Pavlova gave striking garment workers free admission to on
performances.3 The programme contained no hint of a
with the workers' cause, rather it provided the opportu
momentary relief from the struggle. The birth of the w
dance movement occurred in the same year when Ed
performed a solo dance in memory of Lenin. Armed w
conviction that she had something significant to offer
dance, Segal attempted to overcome the scepticism
Communist Party leadership. Ultimately the Party S
Ruthenberg gave her permission to dance a solo at the 19
Memorial Meeting in Chicago's Ashland Auditorium. Dr
a black cloth of mourning, she danced to the piano acc
ment of the 'Workers' Funeral March'. The second section was a
celebration of Lenin and the ongoing struggle against capitalist
dominance; the black scarf was thrown aside, the red of her
underlying tunic symbolised the optimism of socialism as she
danced to the Internationale.4
Returning to New York City after her success at the 1924 Lenin
Memorial, Segal set out to begin a children's dance group. Six
girls and one boy formed the first Pioneer Dance Group, their
motto 'Always Ready' became the title of a performance piece.
Years later, a programme note on the function of children's dance
stressed: 'The dance must be used to teach workers' children that
they belong to the working class.'5 Stimulating class consciousness
through dance became part of the goal of the adult lay dance.
Segal developed a version of her Lenin Memorial solo for the
Pioneer Dance Group. An expanded version using fifty dancers
was performed in Madison Square Garden at the 1927 Lenin
Memorial Meeting. Resistance to the inclusion of dance at
political gatherings had lessened since Segal danced her solo. The
union hall and political rally became a ready stage for the
emergent workers' dance groups. At the next Lenin Memorial
Meeting, adult dancers shared the bill with workers' drama
groups. Segal's newly-formed Red Dancers joined with the
Workers' Laboratory Theatre, the Workers' Dramatic Council,
and the Jewish organisation Freiheit Gesangs Ferein, among other
groups to perform in a pageant. The Belt Goes Red symbolised the
harmony and unity that could be achieved in a Marxist society.
The assembly line belt provided a powerful symbol of the

5'

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DANCE RESEARCH

industrial capitalist method of production and dominan


the workers. As Segal described: 'Through the belt came
the machine being built, ... represented by dancers
straight postures. When the "parts" were assembled
machine completed, through the belt came a bolt of red
which was carried by the workers who surrounded the
indicating that they had taken possession of the mach
built.'6 Lucille Marsh remarked in the daily newsp
World: 'If any one doubts that the dance is a real, live a
of expressing life today in all its forms, let him drop in on
the gatherings of the Workers Communist Party at
Square Garden. Here he will see the workers, men and
dancing their ideals in vivid pageants of their cause. T
ments are simple, even primitive, but true and powerf
dances are conceived with real inspiration and execu
thrilling dedication. Edith Segal is to be congratul
directing this energy and spirit into such creative chan
Segal pointed out over half a century later, the capacity
18,000 comprised the largest audience for a dance in A
that time.8
The stock market crash of 1929 signalled the beginnin
Depression, a period in which the imbalances in soci
heightened. Levels of poverty, unemployment and real n
inexorably. Discontent with economic and social condit
amplified and dance was increasingly turned to as an exp
protest. The Red Dancers were soon followed by the form
other workers' dance groups. Segal also directed the
Friends Dance Group, composed of members of Nature F
sports and cultural organisation the members of which
German descent.
By 1932 eleven workers' groups had been formed in the New
York City area. Banding together after a mass dance celebrating
May Day, the Workers' Dance League was born. Anna Sokolow
headed the Dance Unit, unions sponsored the Needle Trades
Industrial Workers Union (N.T.I.W.U.) Dance Group and the
Furriers Dance Group both under Edith Segal's direction. The
Harlem Dance Group was also a founding member. The New
Dance Group celebrated their first anniversary with dances drawn
from Norwegian and Slavic folk idioms and satires such as
Jingoisms and Parasite. Support for the League came from the

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DANCE AND THE WORKERS) STRUGGLE

mARICH
1933
Wokes *b t -tIje a d e d*OAWAV
AND THE ART '1 HATRES

" MAXIM GORKY'S


-? _ * ~ ~ ~ iE NEW PLAY

o FIFTEEN YEARS
OF THE SOVIET IrHEATRE

THE PARIS COMMUNE-


A MASS RECITATION

REVIEWS

CORE SPOtaE NCE

en s

3. Cover of the Workers Theatre issue for March 1933.

Workers' Laboratory Theatre, already established as a national


organisation with a monthly periodical, the New Theatre. The call
for dancers was issued in 1933: 'In this period of tremendous
historical importance, we call upon all dancers to watch the march
of events and make the dance a means of social protest, a
revolutionary expression of the workers.'9 The belief that capital-

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DANCE RESEARCH

ism as a system had failed, fuelled the radicals' opti


midst of the Depression.
The New Dance Group was originally orientated to
lay dance. With leadership drawn from Hanya Holm
students, the dancers abandoned their classroom for t
make contact with the workers. They joined a demo
Pennsylvania Station at six in the morning; 'With be
and a tension that is felt only in such moments', they w
joined in a workers' tribute to a 'murdered comrade
into its existence, the New Dance Group made conta
forces they were to dance for and represent during
years.
Orientated 'toward the mass of workers who had never had an
opportunity either to dance themselves or attend recitals of
dance'," the revolutionary dance focused upon issues of the
worker both in performance and in the studio as more classes were
offered to the young workers. The New Dance Group's classes
augmented those available from Anna Sokolow, Helen Tamiris
and Edith Segal. Dances were performed at union meetings,
exposing the industrial workers to the new modern dance.
Participation in dance classes had benefits beyond the tradi-
tional physical conditioning: 'Each individual in order to be of
maximum usefulness in the group must be developed in relation
to his equipment as a dancer. Through group discussion and
active participation in class struggle events we build up a keen
group understanding and an ideological homogeneity."2 Support
was built through a sense of community; the sharing of ideals and
discussion on contemporary issues functioned to raise an aware-
ness of class identity.
From the original core of six dancers the NDG boasted 300
members by the end of their first year. Examples of mass dance
were provided by the choric dance forms developed in Germany
by Mary Wigman and Rudolph von Laban. Reports from the
U.S.S.R. stressed the significance being placed on the mass
dance there: 'The training of a vast army of dancers among the
great population is as important to the government as the
training of any army of soldiers for the defense.'13 Folk material
was used by the groups owing to the simplicity of its basic form
and its adaptability for large numbers of dancers. According to
some factions of the revolutionary movement, the art of dance

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DANCE AND THE WORKERS' STRUGGLE

broadened its accessibility through the development of a mass


dance organisation. Edith Segal used folk dances in her class
for the Furriers Dance Group. She explained that the Swedish
'hazing dance', the 'ochsen tanz', was the basis for the danc
Practice for the Picket Line.'4
Despite disenchantment with the trends towards abstraction i
concert dance, the presentation of the proletarian dance could n
wholly dispense with a technical knowledge of movement which
had hitherto been the possession of an elite: 'We shall not
repudiate the technique which the bourgeois dancers have so we
developed, but learn the 'mechanics' of dance which we will utili
as a basis for building further'.15 Incorporating the technical
training received at the dance studios of Martha Graham, Hany
Holm, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman, the dancers set
out to develop a dance form appropriate to the expression of th
workers' struggle. Technique was viewed as a means to an en
and not considered as an end in itself. None of the existing dan
styles was ignored in the search for a revolutionary dance form
Ironically, the arguments against ballet lay in its subject matte
and in audience expectations. Helen Tamiris summed up after a
performance: 'The reception for the Ballet Russe was a goo
indication of the state of mind of the general audience, wh
wanted to be amused but did not want to see the creative artists
who will [prompt] them into thinking about themselves.'6
The union sponsorship of dance was strongest in the garmen
industry. Many of its workers were East European immigrant
women who had left behind strong cultural traditions in their
native lands. Their new lives in urban society were devoid
indigenous traditions of cultural life of a kind accessible to the
low income status. The unions helped overcome this, providing
opportunities for creative activity in the fields of dance, music and
theatre.
The utilitarian function of the union dance activities was
exemplified by the Needle Trades Industrial Workers Union
(N.T.I.W.U.) Dance Group. In the advanced classes, a union
representative provided ideological assistance as the dancers
worked to transform mundane activities from work into material
for a dance. The focus upon 'various problems that make up the
life of those in the needle trades' resulted in the following scenes as
outlined in New Theatre (formerly Workers Theatre):

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DANCE RESEARCH

1. In a worker's home (morning)


2. In the boss's (sic) home (morning)
3. In the shop
4. Speed-up, accidents, discharge
5. Strike
6. On the picket line
7. The AFL (American Federation of Labor) misleaders and
the boss's (sic) henchmen
8. The settlement committee
9. NTIWU - The leader of the needle trades workers.17

The staging of performances on the concert stage was not the


primary aim of the union-sponsored groups, however. Edith Segal
related that the work of the N.T.I.W.U. and the Furriers Dance
Groups centred mainly around their classes although they
occasionally performed at other left-wing gatherings.'8
Members of the Workers' Dance League had opportunities for
performance before the general public as well. John Martin's
evenings of dance at the New School for Social Research included
the Workers Dance League in 1934. Nadia Chilkovsky spoke of the
need for dancers to align themselves with the workers' revolu-
tionary movement: 'The function and accomplishment of an artist
is the reflection of the aspirations and desires of the age in which
he lives. In a revolutionary period such as we are experiencing
today, when all humanity is divided into two opposing camps, the
dancer must reflect either one or the other of these antagonistic
points of view.'19
Helen Tamiris was one of the established dancers whose
alignment to the left was reflected in her work. She choreographed
group pieces and solo dances which illuminated the antagonism
between the bourgeois and the proletariat. In 'Conflicts' from h
Cycle of Unrest, the bourgeoisie was personified by three ladies in
evening gowns while the three proletarians wore sweaters and
skirts. A Daily Worker review described how the working cla
overcame the bourgeoisie in this dance: 'When this vanguar
brought forward their forces and a mass of workers appeared
the stage defying the decadent finery and power of the bour
geoisie, the perfumed ladies sat down and rose up in ludicrous
fashion only finally to wilt away before the strength and militancy
of the mass.'20 Other concert dancers whose choreography wa

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DANCE AND THE WORKERS' STRUGGLE

4. Sophie Maslow in her solo Three Songs about Lenin. (By courtesy o
Dance Group Studio).

aimed at the workers were Sophie Maslow, Jane Dud


Anna Sokolow.
Sophie Maslow's solo, Two Songs About Lenin ('In January he
died', 'In April he was born'), drew upon her partly Russian
heritage in this dance of contrasting moods. Her inspiration for the
highly acclaimed dance came from the film Three Songs About
Lenin which 'spoke about the revolution in [The East] of Russia

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DANCE RESEARCH

and how people had changed.'2' The lyricism of th


Slavic folk songs used as accompaniment was matc
quality of her movement. Maslow's dances were praise
their evocation of Slavic culture than for their expression
of socialism. Although League classes were offered in
of Communism' and 'Marxist Theories of Art',22 not all the
members worked towards a fusion of art with political ideology in
their work.
Jane Dudley's solo works were more specifically aligned with
the proletarian cause. In Time is Money, she incorporated the
silences in the reading of Sol Funaroffs poem into the rhythmic
structure of the dance.23 Her Middle Class Portraits ('Swivel Chair
Hero', 'Dream World Dora', 'Aesthete' and 'Liberal') attacked
bourgeois values through satire and caricature.
The use of satirical movement became increasingly popular as
the movement grew. Anna Sokolow made a number of light-
hearted attacks on bourgeois traditions of the dance hall and
actors in Romantic Dances and Histrionics (1934). John Martin
described her success: 'Her wit is devastating and in her current
solos she turns it full blast upon certain romantic insincerities.'24
Satirical dances fulfilled a need for entertainment as well as
attacking the ruling class.
Sokolow's Strange American Funeral stands out as a powerful
tribute to the worker, set to Michael Gold's poem, 'Strange
Funeral at Braddock' which tells the story of Jan Clepak, a steel
worker who fell into a vat of molten ore. As 'his flesh and blood
turned to steel',25 a block of hardened steel was presented to his
widow to symbolise the coffin. Dances to poetry had met with
success on previous occasions; Sokolow's use of a singer instead of
a speaker and musical accompaniment added two elements to the
power of the dance.
The theme of racial oppression was evident in a number of
dances. Versions of Helen Tamiris' Negro Spirituals were first seen
in 1927, where her movement echoed the haunting qualities of the
songs. Edith Segal's Black and White was choreographed in 1928,
its movement drawn from work situations such as sawing a log.
Tensions between two dancers, one black and one white (in casts
from 1930 on), dissipated as they began to work with each other
instead of against each other. Segal's dance was frequently
performed, on one occasion sharing the evening with Duke

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DANCE AND THE WORKERS' STRUGGLE

5. Jane Dudley in 'Dream World Dora' from her Three Middle Clas
based on characters from a poem by Kenneth Searing, 1933. (Pho
her husband Leo Hurwitz).

Ellington and his band at 'The Second Inter-racial Dance


under the auspices of The Liberator and Labor Unity or
tions.
By 1935 the dancers were organised under the banner
Against War and Fascism'. The retitled New Dance
signalled a shift in focus away from the plight of the
Although concern for the workers did not dissipate alt
dances in the later 'thirties were created from instances of
repression abroad, such as the rise of fascism and the Spanish Ci
War. Whereas the formative years of the Workers' Dance Leagu
were openly Marxist in orientation, the years of the New Dan
League attracted a broader audience and membership.

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DANCE RESEARCH

The first choreographic contest sponsored by the W


Dance League in 1933 was called a Spartakiade, named a
communist Spartacus League in Germany. (In 1919, the
cus leaders, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, were
murdered, endowing them with martyr-like status.) Significantly,
membership of organised radical parties in America remained
small among the dancers. Nadia Chilkovsky reported only twenty
avowed communists out of a League membership of 800 in 1934.26
Jane Dudley described herself as an 'actively engaged artist' as
opposed to a 'politically active artist' during those years.27 Instead
of working within established political circles to change society,
the dancers focused their energies on changing the world through
their dance activities.
Joseph Stalin's decree of socialist realism in the arts was
announced in 1932. By definition, the term implies 'an art imbued
with communist ideology,... its very core is a deliberate purpose-
ful struggle for the victory of communism, an evaluation of life in
the light of communist ideals.'28 While the artistic guidelines of the
Soviet brand of socialist realism proved limiting, the American
version, which was free from the dictates of the Communist Party,
opened the way for experimentation and development of the
American modem dance. John Martin's comparison between a
Russian ballet performance and a Workers' Dance League recital
in 1934 illuminates the differences. Tatyana Vecheslova and
Vakhtang Chabukiani were critically acclaimed for their tech-
nique but were attacked for the choreographic content of their
dances. Martin noted the Russian dance 'undertook to deliver no
message whatsoever and employed as its method the popularized
style of the old ballet.'29 The WDL recital, on the other hand,
presented an evening of revolutionary dances employing modern
dance forms and a variety of non-dance elements in communicat-
ing their messages. Martin commented: '... (T)he Workers'
Dance League performance succeeded in being so alive and
stimulating that it might not be amiss for the Soviet government to
send over a commission to see how this sort of thing can be
done.'30
It is impossible to gauge the extent to which the dancers'
activities effected change in American society. One area was
profoundly affected by the workers' dance movement, the art of
dance itself. And for a number of America's industrial workers, the

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DANCE AND THE WORKERS' STRUGGLE

dance became a significant aspect of their lives, however


arily.

NOTES

The Worker, March 24, 1923.


2 The terms 'communism' and 'socialism' are used in a broad sense in the context of
this article to encompass belief in a political ideology derived from Marxist doctrines.
'Fellow travellers' were those whose alignment to the left stopped short of membership
in a political party. A general definition of the complex concept of Marxist theories of
art states that art is emergent from the social and economic conditions of its creation.
3 The Daily Worker, March 15, 1934.
4 Segal, Edith, personal interview, September, 1987.
5 Anyon, Nell, New Dance Group programme, 1933.
6 Segal, Edith, correspondence, January 15, 1990.
7 The World, April 8, 1928.
8 New Theatre, September/October, 1933.
9Segal, Edith, op. cit., September, 1987.
n0 New Dance Group programme, 1933.
t Anyon, Nell, op. cit.
12 Chilkovsky, Nadia, The Dance Observer, August/September, 1934, p. 68.
3Johnson, Oakley, 'Mass Dance in the Soviet Union', New Theatre, February, 1934,
pp. 4-5.
14 Segal, Edith, correspondence, November 1987.
15 New Dance Group programme, op. cit. A more complete discussion on issues of
technique, content and form of the revolutionary dance is found in 'From Workers'
Dance to New Dance' in Volume VII, Number 1 of this journal.
16 Tamiris, Helen, The Dance Observer, March, 1934, p. 21.
17 'Dance Group in Trade Union', New Theatre, January, 1934, p. 17.
18 Segal, Edith, correspondence, November 1987.
19 Chilkovsky, Nadia, op. cit.
20 The Daily Worker, May 16, 1934.
21 Maslow, Sophie, personal interview, September, 1987.
22 Notice in New Theatre, January 1934, p. 16.
23 Dudley, Jane, personal interview, July, 1987.
24 Martin, John, The New York Times, December 2, 1934.
25 Gilford, Henry, The Dance Observer, May,1936, p. 54.
26 Chilkovsky, Nadia, op. cit.
27 Dudley, Jane, op. cit.
28 Vladimirov, N., quoted in The Art of Dance in the U.S.S.R., by Mary Grace Swift,
University of Notre Dame Press, 1968.
29 Martin, John, The New York Times, January 21, 1934.
30 Ibid.

ADDITIONAL SOURCES

Personal interviews with Bonnie Bird, Jane Dudley,correspondence w


Meyers.

6i

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