Honoring the Divine Dancer - A Celebration of the Life & Legacy of Ruth St. Denis

Ruth St. Denis is considered by many to be one of the seminal figures in both American modern dance and American sacred dance. From the beginning of her career in the early 1900’s, Ruth St. Denis was ahead of her time in exploring dance forms from diverse world cultural and spiritual traditions. Denishawn, the dance company she founded with her husband and partner Ted Shawn, popularized dance as a performing art and trained a whole generation of American dancers, including Martha Graham, Charles Weidman, and Doris Humphreys. At Adelphi University, Ruth St. Denis helped found the nation’s first college dance program. In her later years, she returned to her roots, exploring dance as a form of religious and spiritual expression.