Wild Grace: The Untamed Women of Modern Dance

Dance critic Veale debuts with a sinuous history of the women dancers and choreographers who transformed their male-dominated industry. She begins in the 1890s, when modern dancers rejected symmetrical forms of ballet and fluffy tulle in favor of “supple, free-flowing dances” and diaphanous tunics that shocked audiences. The 1910s saw the rise of a second generation of modern dancers, led by Martha Graham, who used their bodies to express freedom, empowerment, and equality. Veale credits these women—including Hanya Holm and members of the New Dance Group—with “reimagin[ing] the relationship between dance and society” by making the art form more accessible and mixing performances with advocacy against social ills. The third generation profiled emerged in the 1940s, as dancers harnessed “sweeping styles” and “visceral twists of the body” to celebrate individualism and revitalize marginalized histories. For example, Black dancers like Katherine Dunham combined modern dance with African and Caribbean influences, while Pearl Lang explored her Jewish identity in dances that dramatized the lives of biblical matriarchs. With evocative prose (“You could hear her body as it slapped the floor, heavy with suffering”), Veale vividly highlights how famous and lesser-known female dancers remade an often exclusionary art form while expanding the ways that art can be used to pursue sociocultural change. It’s a captivating chronicle. (Feb.)