Advertisement
Advertisement

Women In Dance In The Early 20th Century

Created on May 02, 2016 by Kathy Pinna

From skimpy costumes to being covered head to toe, dancers in the first half of the 20th century were a diverse lot.

The women dancers of the early 1900's began to change the form of dance and the way people viewed women in general.

These are photos of those diverse, independent dancers and their impact on society and thinking in the early 20th century.

Continue Reading Below
Share and discover the people and places from your past

Photos of 1900's women dancers

Loading...one moment please loading spinner

Gypsy Rose Lee

[ Click image for details ]

A famous "striptease" dancer, Gypsy Rose Lee shed her clothes (but not all of them!) with elegance and wit.

Mata Hari

[ Click image for details ]

Grietje Zelle, known as "Mata Hari" on stage, in 1906 Paris. Her stage presence - and her life - were considered scandalous but she lived the way she chose to!

Quaker School dancers

[ Click image for details ]

1920 dancers at the Friends Select School - May Festival.

Advertisement

Ginger Rogers

[ Click image for details ]

Best known for dancing with Fred Astaire, she could do it all - from tap to dancing backwards in high heels!

TheIsadorables

[ Click image for details ]

Isadora Duncan is considered "The Mother of Modern Dance". These are some of the girls she taught.

Elizabeth Duncan

[ Click image for details ]

Sister of Isadora, she ran a school of dance in Germany and Greece

Ruth St. Denis

[ Click image for details ]

Another pioneer of modern dance, this is Ruth St. Denis in 1909.

Advertisement

The "Butterfly Dance"

[ Click image for details ]

Suffragettes performing their own version of modern dance for the cause in 1913.

"Dancer"

[ Click image for details ]

Her name isn't recorded but this colorized close-up of a dancer somewhere in the '20's or 30's gives you an idea of the types of costumes during that era.

The artistry

[ Click image for details ]

This is a 1927 photo of Ruth St. Denis - the focus in dance was on the artistry, as this photo shows.

Guthrie dancers 1924

[ Click image for details ]

Greek and Roman influences were a large part of the modern dance movement.

Autochrome of a dancer

[ Click image for details ]

The autochrome process (a color photo) was patented in 1903 and widely used from the 1910's through the mid 1930's.

Dancers in nature

[ Click image for details ]

The female form, as well as nature, was celebrated in modern dance.

Advertisement

Bebe Daniels 1934

[ Click image for details ]

She was a silent screen star and dancer - nothing "natural" abouthercostume!

Maria-Theresa Duncan

[ Click image for details ]

These are the Isadorables, including Maria-Theresa Duncan who was an adopted daughter of Isadora Duncan.

Florence Fleming Noyes

[ Click image for details ]

Florence Noyes danced for women's rights - can't you see the movement in this photo?

Women as Madonna?

[ Click image for details ]

These are the Isadorables, posed more as a tableau than a dance form.

Ruth St. Denis

[ Click image for details ]

Is she scared? Is she amazed?? What exactly is she portraying in this dance?

Frolicking!

[ Click image for details ]

Dancing in nature was a favored part of the Duncan sisters' art.

1940's Glam

[ Click image for details ]

She was a 1943 dancer at the Roxy.

Fairies?

[ Click image for details ]

The lights on this circa 1920 photo could be deterioration but it looks like fairies to us!

1919 Grace

[ Click image for details ]

Aren't they just the picture of grace?

"La Argentina"

[ Click image for details ]

Antonia Mercé y Luque, known as "La Argentina", in 1935.

Marion Morgan Dancers

[ Click image for details ]

Marion Morgan was a vaudevillian who created her own dance troupe.

Look at her muscles!

[ Click image for details ]

Look closely, Marion Morgan really worked out with her dance.

A nymph by the waterfall

[ Click image for details ]

Another outdoor dance!

Isadora Duncan

[ Click image for details ]

She lead a tragic life (all her children died young, as did she) but she left great beauty and a lasting legacy.

Outdoor Elizabeth Duncan

[ Click image for details ]

The art of the photo, both in dance and reflection!

Marion Morgan

[ Click image for details ]

The cymbal and the form!

A flowing costume

[ Click image for details ]

The artistry comes from the interplay of costume and dance.

Perky!

[ Click image for details ]

It isn't known if she was a USO performer or on the stage - but she sure is perky!

Like a statue!

[ Click image for details ]

She's posed - not yet dancing. But her costume allows everything to be seen when she does dance.

Isadora

[ Click image for details ]

Isadora Duncan was known for her dancing with scarves. And it was a scarf that killed her in 1927 - a scarf that she was wearing was caught in the spokes of the wheels of a car and strangled her.

Blog posts

Back to Top