Dance: A Creative Art Experience

218 Pages·1959·38.996 MB·English

by  Margaret N. H'Doubler, Margaret N. H¹Doubler, Mary Alice Brennan, Mary Alice Brennan

MARGARET N. H'DOUBLER
'JL Classic of
Dance Education
/I
A Creative Art Experience
Dance
A CREATIVE ART EXPERIENCE
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DANCE
A CREATIVE
ART EXPERIENCE
Margaret N. H'Doubler
DANCE SKETCHES BY
WAYNE L. CLAXTON
WITH AN ESSAY BY
MARY ALICE BRENN AN
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS
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The University of Wisconsin Press
1930 Monroe Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53711
3 Henrietta Street
London WC2E 8LU, England
Copyright © 1940 F. S. Crofts & Co., Inc.
Copyright © renewed 1968 by Margaret H'Doubler Claxton
Second edition copyright © 1957 The Board of Regents of the
University of Wisconsin System
Copyright © renewed 1985 by The University
of Wisconsin Foundation
"Margaret H'Doubler: An Appreciation" copyright © 1998 The University
of Wisconsin Foundation
Printed in the United States of America
16 15 14 13 12 11
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
H'Doubler, Margaret Newell, b. 1889.
Dance: a creative art experience I by Margaret N. H'Doubler;
with dance sketches by Wayne L. Claxton; with an essay by Mary
Alice Brennan. - 3rd ed.
216 pp. cm.
[SBN 0-299-01524-6 (paper)
1. Dance. l. Title.
GV1594.H44 1998
793.3-dc21 97-47359
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TO BLANCHE M. TRILLING
Who gave me inspiration, and whose
vision and faith in the educational
values of dance have made my work
possible
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CONTENTS
Margaret H'Doubler: An Appreciation zx
Mary Alice Brennan
..
Foreword to the 1957 Edition xvzz
Gertrude E. Johnson
Preface xzx
Acknowledgment xxzzz
Introduction xxv
Chapter 1 A CULTURAL SURVEY OF DANCE 3
Dance as an expression of the society it
represents; its growth, from the early ex·
pressive but random movements of primi·
tive man, to a consciously created art form,
satisfying man's aesthetic sense.
Chapter 2 THE PROVINCE OF DANCE 49
A rt as creative expression has its source
within man's physical, mental, and emo·
tional structure; dance therefore is the
heritage of all mankind.
Chapter 3 EDUCATION THROUGH DANCE 59
The need for creative art activity In the
educational system; how dance fulfills this
need.
Chapter 4 TECHNIQUE AND EXPRESSION 69
The psychophysical·anatomical structure
and its relation to movement and dance;
training the mind to use the body as an
expressive instrument; training the body
to be responsive to the expressive mind.
VB
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CONTENTS
Chapter 5 FORM AS ORGANIC UNITY 101
The importance of recognizing and con
sidering the organic stages of growth in the
development of dance as art.
Chapter 6 FORM AND CONTENT 111
The organization of psychological elements
into content. The aesthetic experience and
the dependence of dance and all art upon
it; manifestative and representative ways
of reacting to experience for dance compo
sition; abstraction as the discovery, selec
tion, and organization of essentials.
Chapter 7 FORM AND STRUCTURE 135
The organization of motor elements into
visible form. The relation of dance move
ment patterns to actual life activities;
factors in composition-distortion, line
consciousness, rhythm-consciousness, and
variety and contrast within unity; the pro
portion and manner of integration of these
factors in the final art form.
Chapter 8 DANCE AND MUSIC 153
The organic relation between the two arts;
music an aid to dance.
Chapter 9 WHY DANCE? 161
Final summary.
VIII
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Margaret H'Doubler: An Appreciation
Mary Alice Brennan
The adage "Timing is everything" is particularly
relevant to the republishing of this classic in the dance literature.
This text, written almost 60 years ago, embodies the thinking of
a woman whose singular vision propelled dance into the realm of
higher education where it has not only remained, but thrived.
Recently, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Dance Program
celebrated the seventieth anniversary of the establishment, by
Margaret H'Doubler in 1926, of the first dance major in the coun
try. The year-long celebration brought appreciative alumni from
past decades to perform, choreograph, and reminisce, verifying
the longevity of H'Doubler's contribution to the University and
the field of dance. At the time these words are read, the renova
tion of Lathrop Hall, where her dance work began and devel
oped, will have been completed. Within it is the new Margaret
H'Doubler Performance Space-a state of the art theater made
possible in large part by funds H'Doubler and her husband,
Wayne Claxton, left to the University for this purpose. Thus, this
book becomes available again at a time when it is important to
remind dance educators and artists of the ideas that initiated this
thrust forward in our art and provided the impetus to view dance
not only as an art but as an academic discipline worthy of study.
It is also necessary to revisit H'Doubler's ideas not only because
they define our heritage but because so much of her thought still
applies to dance in education and to what we do today.
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