The Film

To Feel the Earth and Touch the Sky is a film highlighting the boundary breaking figures in the evolution of American Modern Dance. Iconoclasts in their own time, they have become icons in ours.

Each one of these courageous choreographers brought their own philosophy of life into dance. Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, Katherine Dunham, Anna Sokolow, The New Dance Group, José Limón, Alvin Ailey, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, David Parsons, Robert Battle and Mark Morris ignite our imagination with innovative and original uses of movement. They broke from the past and made room for the future of Modern Dance.

Katherine Dunham Clip

Written by Marie-Christine Dunham Pratt

Director’s Statement

The first time I saw “West Side Story”, I knew I wanted to dance. My mother was skeptical as we were coming from a religious background in the mid-west. So, I started backwards and won a high school audition to choreograph “The Music Man.” After a few dance lessons on Saturdays during senior year, I went to Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York.  Skidmore had just hired an energetic and skilled dance teacher, Nancy Comstock.  All my free time was spent dancing. Though a dance-drama major had opened up at Skidmore, I opted for History and Philosophy major. These dual interests allowed me to branch out from a single focus career.  Thirty years later, after performing, teaching, choreographing and founding Dance Currents Inc., I began teaching the History of Dance at Emerson. This experience revived my dual interests and this is where the film began. 

The family tree is the main image in the film. I discovered in teaching how this scaffold allows students to make connections and understand the history of modern dance, as it is filled with significant choreographers, all committed individuals.

Just as trees draw water from the soil, dancers draw inspiration from their teachers and the artists who preceded them. With grounding in the history of their tradition, they recognize the determination, joy, strength and vulnerability to persevere and keep creating dance.  

In May, 2009,  Nga Trang, videographer, filmed our historical repertory.  At that point we had eight pieces from 1903-2002, dances by Isadora Duncan, Ruth St Denis, Ted Shawn, Charles Weidman, Anna Sokolow, Donald McKayle, David Parsons and Carla Maxwell, Jose’ Limóns’ artistic director.  These dances had been taught by Jill Beck of the Dance Notation Bureau and The American Dance Legacy Institute.  In 2009 I hired Nga Trang’s assistant, James Usmanov, to film interviews with dance teachers  and choreographers in the Boston area who had direct contact for a long time with some pivotal founders of modern dance. Our first step was to put the dances and the interviews together. This presented a picture of how the aesthetic of modern dance continues to change and grow and how the persistence of great artists and teachers allow this to happen.

Initially my goal in making this film was to preserve the dances for future use and to give understanding to the work of these choreographers.  Since then we have produced a number of programs showcasing these dances and I have taught many dancers over the years this repertory. The film has grown to cover more history, more choreographers and a larger goal:  to help people understand the need to sustain modern dance as a rigorous physical and mental pursuit which allows for change in the artist and the way she/he connects, physically with their world.

View the 2-Minute Trailer