Dance of the Peacock

Choreographed by Ruth St. Denis

Before Martha was Martha, she danced with Denishawn, the joint company of Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. After she left the company, she made ends meet by dancing an illicit version of the Dance of the Peacock in low visibility venues.

Dance of the Peacock is emblematic of the Orientalism and exoticism that Ruth St. Denis made her name on. She was inspired by historic illustrations from across Asia. Interestingly, in China there has been a resurgence of imagining a new style of dance based on historic illustrations. You can see this in Yang Liping’s work.