ers she portrayed. Her movements were not always “pretty,” because the feelings she tried to express included fear, jealousy, anger, and hatred. Early in her career she sometimes shocked audiences with her sharp angular poses and her abrupt, jerky actions. Martha Graham also danced with the Denishawn Company from 1916 to 1923. During the 1930’s Graham began to choreograph dances for her own company based on primitive rituals and on American life. In the 1940’s, she began interpreting the feelings of women. Her dances were inspired by the lives of Emily Dickinson, the Bronte sisters, and the great features of Greek mythology as interpreted be the psychoanalytic theories of the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. Perhaps the greatest of the Greek dances was Clytemnestra (1958), and study of guilt and redemption. But along with such stark tragedies, she also created her joyous Appalachian Spring (1944) and the sparkling comment on dancers and their discipline, Acrobat of God (1960).Bill “Bo jangles” Robinson was born in Virginia as Luther Robinson in 1878. He became one of the most popular and beloved performers of his day. His combination of tap dancing, song, telling jokes, and imitating natural sounds proved a popular one for audiences for many years. It is claimed that some of his contemporaries were superior in dancing ability and had a wider rang of steps, but he was the acknowledged master in appealing to the public. Robinson had his first break through in film in 1935 when he appeared in The Little Colonel with Shirley Temple. For this performance the taught a child star a version of the step dance. Because of his great dance performance “Bo jangles” was offered to be in more films. Such as Hooray for Love, The Big Broadcast of 1937, and he also played Will Rogers servant in The Old Kentucky. Robinson became on of the major stars of his age. His career lasted long enough to...
