The upstaging of Ted Shawn

TED SHAWN: Father of American Dance, by Walter Terry; Dial, 179 pp., $10.

By Wilma Salisbury

Ted Shawn was a difficult person-to like. The first American to make serious dance an acceptable profession for men, Shawn was always overshadowed by his partner and wife, the First Lady of American Dance, Ruth St. Denis.

Perhaps in reaction to Miss Ruth's greater genius and superior attitude, Shawn was forever praising his own achievements. A non-stop talker, he told his dancers what to think and his critics what to write. A shameless self-promoter, he used his colleagues, then "released" them when they had served his purpose. Preferring to dance nude (or nearly nude), he had atrocious taste in costumes and make-up. Insanely jealous of his wife's romantic affairs, he eventually turned to homosexual love.

The Father of American Dance, in short, was arrogant, belligerent, egotistical and insecure.

On the other hand, Shawn could be charming; and he earned genuine respect for the significant contribution he made to the development of modern dance in America.

With his magnetic stage presence, he became the most popular American male dancer of the 1920s and 30s. With his company of men, he created virile, athletic choreography that helped dispel the "pansy" image of male dancers: With his wife, he founded Denishawn, the school that spawned Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman and other leading figures in American dance. On his Massachusetts farm, he started the prestigious Jacob's Pillow Summer Dance Festival.

Ted Shawn

Walter Terry, dance critic of Saturday Review, knew Shawn for nearly 40 years. The dancer's chosen biographer, Terry sifted through voluminous personal materials and conducted long interviews in the last years before Shawn's death in 1972 at the age of 80.

Written in a glib, anecdotal style, the illus. trated biography shines most brightly when Terry tells tales about Miss Ruth, who, in Shawn's life story as in his life, continues to upstage her talented but difficult husband.

Wilma Salisbury writes about music and the dance for The Plain Dealer.