The Divine Spaces of Metaphysical Spectacle: Ruth St Denis and Denishawn Dance Theatre at Lewisohn Stadium, the esoteric model in American performance

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Notes

¹Sales of The Light of Asia in the United States are estimated by Edward Arnold's biographer to be between 500,000 and 1 million copies (Tweed 1992: 29). St Denis heard a reading of The Light of Asia by Edmund Russell in 1905 (St Denis 1939: 59, 201–202; Shelton 1981: 49,141).

²Swedenborg, defined the Trinity as ‘soul, body and operation’. Operations are actions coordinated by body and soul. These essential aspects of God constitute the essence of being. Delsarte, whom St Denis studied, set forth in his Law of Trinity a synthesis of mind, body and soul. Following Swedenborg, Delsarte conceived the universe as consisting of three co-existent spheres: the natural, the human and the divine. The interplay of the material world, human consciousness and spiritual revelation flow back and forth, inwards and outwards, revealing ‘correspondences’ between the natural and the supernatural, the visible and the invisible, the material and the immaterial. The three realms of experience formed a unity of consciousness, mirroring the infinite motion of being (Swedenborg 1946 [1771]: 254).

³The operating costs of the school at that time were $8,000. However, a large portion of the income earned from the concerts was characteristically absorbed in production costs. St Denis and Shawn earned a little over $8,000 for three performances in the summer of 1929. Half of that money covered production expenses (Shelton 1981: 230).

⁴The scenic descriptions for each production are compiled from St Denis's outlines and notebooks.

⁵The design for the theatre never appears to have developed beyond Bragdon's sketches and a preliminary drawing by architect Hugh Ferris. Among St Denis's notebooks is a sketch for a temple set that details a spherical stage ringed by mirrors, panels and a circular lighting track. It is dated 26 December 1927.

⁶Quoting from Hall's Lectures of Ancient Philosophy: An Introduction to the Study and Application of Rational Procedure (1929), St Denis pursued his aesthetic theory: ‘When we love the beautiful as we now love the dollar, we shall have a great and enduring civilization.’ Hall's interests concentrated on Eastern and esoteric philosophies, occult studies and astrology.

⁷Wigman's essay elaborated the scientific principles supporting the neo-Darwinist theory of eugenics. The New Decalogue of Science first appeared in the Century Magazine (March 1922). St Denis repeatedly quotes Wiggam's declaration: ‘Art is the Ark of the Covenant in which all ideals of beauty and excellence are carried before the race.'

⁸In 1913, the introduction of modern European art at Armory Show in New York launched virilent attacks from the American academic painters. Among them Kenyon Cox responded with a painting of a maidenly figure symbolizing tradition carrying an oil lamp lit by the everlasting torch of the beautiful (Shapiro 1978: 165).

⁹Walter Terry replaced Watkins at the New York Herald Tribune in 1939 (Terry 1976: 124–5).

¹⁰ The Modern Dance was based on series of lectures-demonstrations Martin gave at the New School in 1931–2.