Charles Weidman

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Lore & Background

Charles Weidman began his career as a dancer for the Denishawn Company but soon decided to break free from their exotic style to create a new style unique to America. He started the Humphrey-Weidman Company with Doris Humphrey in 1927, during the Roaring Twenties, a time of cultural and economic development. Weidman described the era as 'a positive time, one that said yes to human values, a time full of vitality.' He choreographed through the Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II, with themes designed to embody American culture. Weidman's movement vocabulary was based on gravity, exploring how giving into gravity makes one fall while balancing against it creates movement. He emphasized movements before and after falling, leading to concepts of suspension and succession. His technique included much floor work, jumping, and falling, and he brought dramatic abilities to dance, with expressive and emotional choreography ranging from comedy to seriousness. Weidman worked in a range of choreographic styles, including religious, comedic, tributary, and serious works. His famous comedic piece Flickers was a sketch of silent films with jerky movements and exaggerated stereotypes. In contrast, Atavisms included Lynch Town, a depiction of a bloodthirsty mob. Other notable works include This Passion, Brahms Waltzes (dedicated to Doris Humphrey), On My Mother's Side, and later Oratorios centered on religious themes.

Reader's Guide

Charles Weidman changed the way dance was danced by working in different parameters, rejecting ballet and embracing gravity. His contributions were recognized with the Heritage Award in 1970. He trained famous choreographers such as José Limón, Bob Fosse, and Louis Falco. Weidman helped lay the foundations for modern dance, and many of his ideas remain the basis for modern dance today. However, his work is not well known and has been hard to reconstruct because very little is on tape and only some is in Labanotation; former dancers have reconstructed most works from memory. His passion, influence, and ideas have had an important influence on how movement is studied and created today. He was inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame in 1987.

Did You Know?

• Weidman described the Roaring Twenties as 'a positive time, one that said yes to human values, a time full of vitality.'
• His comedic piece Flickers was a sketch of silent films cut into four different reels with jerky movements and exaggerated racial and sex stereotypes.
• Weidman trained famous choreographers José Limón, Bob Fosse, and Louis Falco.
• He received the Heritage Award in 1970 for his contributions to dance.
• Very little of Weidman's work is on tape or in Labanotation, so former dancers have reconstructed most of his works from memory.