Dorothy Madden, dance pedagogue and transformer of dance training in the UK

What is it about?

Dorothy Madden was an inspirational dancer, teacher, writer and choreographer; she studied with many of the great figures of American modern dance including Holm, Nikolais, Graham, Humphrey and Limón, and in particular Louis Horst, whose protégé she became. In the early 1960s she was invited to the UK by the Ministry of Education to introduce her approach to American modern dance into the British education system. As is noted in Valerie Preston- Dunlop and Luis Espana’s film The American Invasion 1962-72, her work was seminal to the development of contemporary dance in the UK. Her students who include choreographers Rosemary Butcher, Sue Maclennan and Janet Smith as well as educationalists June Layson, David Henshaw and Stuart Hopps, helped shape British contemporary dance. This essay is based on interviews made with Madden in the late 1990s, research into her archive held at Trinity Laban, and interviews with her colleagues and students. It provides a historical overview of her work and explores her lasting, though largely forgotten, influence on the development of contemporary dance in the UK.

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Why is it important?

Madden's work in Britain in the early 60s paved the way the development of Dance in HE in the UK as we know it. This is the first publication to document her work.

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