The Art of Making Dances

Doris Humphrey's The Art of Making Dances is perhaps the most important book of its kind ever published. Written just before her death in 1958, it is Miss Humphrey's autobiography in art, a gathering together of her experiences in performance and a lucid and practical sourcebook on choreography. One of the truly great figures in the dance world - a pioneer of American modern dance, a great choreographer and teacher whose influences and innovations are apparent everywhere in the field - Miss Humphrey has given us the first modern book on the "art" of choreography, an indispensable guide not only for the modern dance but for all stage creations. The Art of Making Dances presents modern dance as theater. It contains a short history of the dance and various chapters discuss design, dynamics, and rhythm of dance. It includes a checklist for composers of dances and an appendix of all the dances composed by Ms. Humphrey. --- excerpt from book's back cover

Doris Humphrey was a dancer and choreographer of the early 20th century who studied and taught dance. She was an original faculty member of both The Bennington School of the Dance and The Julliard School and was the cofounder of the Humphrey-Weidman dance company.