Skip to main content
Back to search
  • Add to playlist

Water Study

Numeridanse 1928 - Director : Reusch, Amy

Choreographer(s) : Humphrey, Doris (United States)

Present in collection(s): Numeridanse , Doris Humphrey

Video producer : Dance Horizons

en fr

Water Study

Numeridanse 1928 - Director : Reusch, Amy

Choreographer(s) : Humphrey, Doris (United States)

Present in collection(s): Numeridanse , Doris Humphrey

Video producer : Dance Horizons

en fr

Water Study

This is one of the first works Humphrey composed as an independent choreographer. Performed in silence, it conjures up a variety of sea moods ranging from calm to tidal to wind-driven turbulence. The dance demonstrates Humphrey’s signature use of fall and recovery and breath rhythm. The subtle and complex ensemble work requires synchronized rhythmic timing among the dancers without the aid of musical cues. 


Source: Dance Horizons, Doris Humphrey Legacy: Water Study DVD

More information

Humphrey, Doris

Doris Humphrey was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1895 and grew up in Chicago. Her father operated a residence home for vaudeville performers called the Palace Hotel, and her mother offered piano lessons. As a girl, Humphrey studied piano, ballet, ballroom dance, Americanized Delsarte and Dalcroze's system of Eurythmics. A talented dancer, she began teaching ballet and interpretive dance to children when she was 15. During the next few years, Humphrey traveled the Santa Fe railroad line with a variety troupe, giving performances to railroad employees of her home-made aesthetic dances and Spanish numbers. When she returned home to Oak Park she began her own studio with her mother as accompaniest and business manager.

By 1931, the Humphrey and Weidman companies and their joint studio/school were firmly established in New York City. With Graham, Humphrey was considered by most critics to be a primary innovator of the new modern dance. Her theory of "fall and recovery"-- and the technique that sprang from it--was the foundation of her teaching method and her choreography. Underlying it, according to Humphrey, was the German philosopher Frederick Nietzsche's idea about the split in the human psyche between each person's Apollonian side (rational, intellectual) and our Dionysian side (chaotic, emotional). The true essence of the modern dance was the movement that happened in between these extremes, which Humphrey labeled "the arc between two deaths."

Source: University of Pittsburg

More information

pitt.edu

Reusch, Amy

Amy Reusch is an American director. She directed the whole shows which compose the DVD serie called "The Doris Humphrey Legacy". 

Water Study

Choreography : Doris Humphrey

Interpretation : Doris Humphrey Workshop Dancers

Production / Coproduction of the video work : Dance Horizons

Princeton Book Co. Publishers

Specialists in the publishing and distribution of dance books and dance videos for over 35 years, with a list of over 500 dance related titles. We publish under the imprint Dance Horizons and distribute for The Dance Notation Bureau and Dance Books Ltd. In March of 2000 we launched a new imprint to publish books of general interest, Elysian Editions, with The Magic Of Provence: Pleasures of Southern France by Yvone Lenard. Visit our Elysian Editions pages to see Ms. Lenard's books as well as other titles under this imprint.  

Source: Princeton Book Co. Publishers

More information: https://www.dancehorizons.com

Our videos suggestions
02:56

Ligne de crête

Marin, Maguy (France)

  • Add to playlist
02:48

Questcequetudeviens ?

Bory, Aurélien (France)

  • Add to playlist
08:02

I think

  • Add to playlist
14:53

Counterpoint

  • Add to playlist
04:04

Cabaret Heels

  • Add to playlist
09:18

Accumulation

  • Add to playlist
06:08

Kwa Zulu Natal

  • Add to playlist
08:32

Signs and forms Perpetual Motion

  • Add to playlist
15:26

Look at me again!

  • Add to playlist
16:10

Boléro

  • Add to playlist
05:32

Sing Sing

Carlès, James (France)

  • Add to playlist
09:01

Canon 1

  • Add to playlist
04:52

Toujours mort, encore vivant

  • Add to playlist
06:39

Dans les plis du paysage : Création à la Maison

  • Add to playlist
18:31

Orifice Paradis

Teodoro, Ana Rita (France)

  • Add to playlist
01:38:49

Still waters

Carlson, Carolyn (France)

  • Add to playlist
04:46

Still waters

Carlson, Carolyn (France)

  • Add to playlist
01:19:53

Undici Onde

Carlson, Carolyn (Italy)

  • Add to playlist
09:16

Writings on Water

Carlson, Carolyn (Italy)

  • Add to playlist
02:57

BROTHER

Da Silva Ferreira, Marco (France)

  • Add to playlist
Our themas suggestions

Roots of Diversity in Contemporary Dance

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

Noé Soulier Rethinking our movements

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

Les Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

LATITUDES CONTEMPORAINES

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

40 years of dance and music

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

Amala Dianor: dance to let people see

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

James Carlès

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

Do you mean Folklores?

Presentation of how choreographers are revisiting Folklore in contemporary creations.

Parcours

fr/en/

Maison de la danse

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

The American origins of modern dance: [1930-1950] from the expressive to the abstract

Parcours

fr/en/

EIVV 2022 Dancing with the editing

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

Why do I dance ?

Social dances, anti-establishment, protest dances, rhythms or identities, rituals or pleasures... There are a myriad of reasons for dancing and a myriad of points of view. A webdoc to discover, enhanced with extracts from performances and accounts from amateurs... all the right reasons for dancing!

Webdoc

fr/en/

Käfig, portrait of a company

Webdoc

fr/en/

Genesis of work

A dance show is created in multiples steps between the enunciation of an initial desire which launch the project and the first representation. This parcours presents diff

Parcours

fr/en/

Hand dances

This parcours presents different video extracts in which hands are the center of the mouvement.

Parcours

fr/en/

Mexican Video Dance

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/

Outdoor dances

Stage theater and studio are not the only places of work or performance of a choreographic piece. Sometimes dancers and choreographers dance outside.

Parcours

fr/en/

The contemporary Belgian dance

This Parcours presents different Belgian choreographers who have marked history and participated in the creation of a "Belgian" style.

Parcours

fr/en/

Genres and styles

Dance is a rather vast term, which covers a myriad of specificities. These depend on the culture of a country, on a period, on a place. This Journey proposes a visit through dance genres and styles.

Parcours

fr/en/

The national choreographic centres

Exposition virtuelle

fr/en/
By accessing the website, you acknowledge and accept the use of cookies to assist you in your browsing.
You can block these cookies by modifying the security parameters of your browser or by clicking onthis link.
I accept Learn more