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1 results

  • Inevitable Designs: Embodied Ideology in Anna Sokolow's Proletarian Dances

  • Hannah Kosstrin
  • Journal:
    Dance Research Journal / Volume 45 / Issue 2 / August 2013
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    11 February 2013, pp. 5-23
    Print publication:
    August 2013
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  • Anna Sokolow (1910–2000), an American Jewish choreographer known for her social statements, led the workers dance movement and performed as a soloist with Martha Graham. She imbued her dances Strange American Funeral (1935) and Case History No.— (1937) with proletarian ideology that spoke to 1930s working- and middle-class audiences aligned with values of revolutionary and modern dance. These choreographies spoke to a political atmosphere focused on social justice while they appealed to a broad dance-going public. Sokolow's Graham training engendered a modernist aesthetic in her choreography that led critics to consider her work universal instead of marked as coming from a working-class left-wing Jewish dancer. This article argues that while narratives about Sokolow's work downplay her Communist affiliations, these ideals played a critical role in her choreography and in her navigation of international Communist circles. As Sokolow's choreography reinforced her politics, so too did her affiliations support her dance work.