Dances by Charles Weidman

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There are two photographs of Charles Weidman in the program for Dances by Charles Weidman. One is Weidman lying on his side, feet flexed, in a whimsically funny pose; the other is him, arms raised dramatically, in a powerful stance. This is Charles Weidman in a nutshell: a choreographer who expressed great emotional depth, from humor to tragedy.

Weidman was a modern dance pioneer who partnered with Doris Humphrey in a legendary dance troupe that co-existed with the other mythical artist, Martha Graham. All three dance makers came out of the Denishawn (Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn) school and company and shared their theatricality and discipline, but went on their own way to discover new ways of moving and making dances.

Graham developed a technique that depended on muscular bodily contractions, a weighty way of moving while Humphrey and Weidman’s style depended on the rise and fall of breath an almost ballet style that was passed down to Jose Limón for whom Humphrey served as artistic director.

For some reason Weidman faded from the public eye the last decades of his life, offering performances at his studio on Sundays, an effort not rewarded properly by the dance world. This program helps correct this artistic injustice, providing ample proof of the breadth of his creativity.

The Dances of Charles Weidman helped tilt the scale back in the right direction with a program of four works, beautifully danced, that honored his place in the colorful history of American Modern Dance.

A short excerpt from the video “Charles Weidman on His Own,” narrated by another modern dance icon, Alwin Nikolais. was the perfect prelude to the live performances. The bit shown focused on a re-staging of his “Brahms Waltzes,” a group work that displayed his signature movements. Beatrice Seckler, who worked with those dancers, admonished them to dance on their breath, the hallmark of the Humphrey-Weidman technique.

“Men’s Dance,” an excerpt from Doris Humphrey’s New Dance (1936) was a section actually choreographed by Weidman, here danced by Paul Taylor Dance Company member Alex Clayton. To the percussive score by Wallingford Riegger, Clayton performed the mercurial movements—twists, tilts, skittery walks and light jumps—smoothly and wittily, capturing the humor in addition to the fall and recovery technique of the Humphrey-Weidman style.

“Lynchtown” (1936), probably Weidman’s best known work, is an indictment of lawlessness and group anarchy. It is one section of a three-part work called “Atavisms.” Members of the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble (Samantha Géracht, Eleanor Bunker and Lauren Naslund artistic directors) honored Sokolow’s commitment to chilling psychology interpreting Weidman’s choreography. (Sokolow was a Graham acolyte who went off on her own artistic path.)

The earth-colored paneled costumes (courtesy of Kanopy Dance) were a kind of camouflage for the large group of dancers led by the Inciter (Margaret Mighty Oak Brackey). They slinked in, stalking their poor Victim, Sam K who was distinguishingly dressed in blue. Their initial stilted, flex-footed walk slowly deteriorated into skitters, off-balance tilts and turns and stomps which turned into a pileup with the Inciter on top, scouting for their quarry.

Lehman Engel’s strongly percussive music supported the choreography perfectly as the Victim is trapped like an animal and dragged to his fate.

In its time, “Lynchtown” was a strong work and still retains much of its power.

Another solo, “Danse Americaine” (1923) was constructed by Ted Shawn to suit Weidman’s mimic powers. Dressed in a snazzy bright green suit and shoes, with a colorful shirt and derby hat topping it all, Nikolai McKenzie as a working class lothario, did a hilarious, but sadly dated, portrayal of what the average American male liked to do: play cards, toss dice, swing a bat, flirt with the gals, all danced with egotistic glee. Dent Mowry’s tipsy score was the perfect accompaniment to this mime/dance.

The final work was the heaviest: Weidman’s ”Bach’s Christmas Oratorio” (1961), a reboot of an earlier version choreographed after Weidman’s break with his longtime partner, Humphrey.

To Bach’s glorious music, the Sokolow dancers showed their range, embodying Weidman’s religious imagery, the women dressed in colorful dresses reminiscent of stained glass windows and the men in dark hues with brightly colored sashes. (Costumes by Candace Chase.)

Scenes of the Nativity combined smoothly with Weidman’s fluidly changing tableaux, including images of an Angel/Evangelist (Meggi Sweeney Smith, lovely in her calmness), the Madonna (Margaret Mighty Oak Brackey, striking a beautiful sculptural pose with her shawl wrapped about her), the Shepherds (Mary Karl, Cara Marguerite and Amelia Dawe Sanders, doing devout with style) as well as a full complement of worshippers.

A Q & A followed the dancing, for once informative and pointed.

This celebration of Charles Weidman was produced by New York publicist Audrey Ross.

Dances by Charles Weidman (February 15 & 16, 2025)

Scripps Studio Theater at the Paul Taylor Dance Company Studios, 551 Grand Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.eventbrite.com

Running time: 65 minutes without an intermission