Tag: leap

Olympic swimmer dancing

Underwood & Underwood ~ Olympic champion swimmer Martha Norelius in a dance pose, May 1925 | src worthpoint
Reverse of the press photograph above, with credit stamps and snippet

Leaping dancer by Delight Weston

Irma Delight Weston :: Dance Liftoff, 1921. Bromide print. | src Photoseed
Irma Delight Weston :: Dance Liftoff, 1921. Bromide print. | src Photoseed
Irma Delight Weston :: Dance Liftoff, 1921. Bromide print. | src Photoseed
Irma Delight Weston :: Dance Liftoff, 1921. Bromide print. | src Photoseed
Delight Weston :: Airborne dancer, 1921. Bromide print.
Irma Delight Weston :: Airborne dancer, 1921. Bromide print. | src Photoseed
Delight Weston :: Airborne dancer, 1921. Bromide print.
Irma Delight Weston :: Airborne dancer, 1921. Bromide print. | src Photoseed

These pictorial studies of a female dancer leaping are believed to have been taken at the former Ruth Doing Camp for Rhythmics in New York state’s Adirondack mountains. In the 1920’s and 30’s, photographer Delight Weston lived with camp founders Ruth Doing (1881-1966) and Gail Gardner (1878-1949) in New York City, along with other women artists, in a building at 139 W. 56th St. near Carnegie Hall. 

Established in 1916, the summer camp was first located on the shores of Upper Chateaugay lake near Lyon Mountain until 1925, when it moved to Upper St. Regis Lake in Paul Smiths, New York. Renamed the Gardner-Doing Camp after this time, it was coeducational: besides regular summer camp activities, it specialized in the “rhythmic” style of dancing popularized by famed dancer Isadora Duncan, whom Ruth Doing was a former student of. Doing’s life partner, Michigan native Gail Gardner, had earlier made a name for herself as an accomplished and world-traveling opera singer. [quoted from Photoseed]

Irma Delight Weston :: Leaping dancer, 1921. Bromide print. | src Photoseed
Irma Delight Weston :: Leaping dancer, 1921. Bromide print. | src Photoseed
Delight Weston :: Leaping dancer, 1921. Bromide print.
Irma Delight Weston :: Leaping dancer, 1921. Bromide print. | src Photoseed
Delight Weston :: Outstretched arms. Rhythmic dance study, 1921. Bromide print. | src Photoseed
Delight Weston :: Outstretched arms. Rhythmic dance study, 1921. Bromide print. | src Photoseed
Delight Weston :: Outstretched arms. Rhythmic dance study, 1921. Bromide print. | src Photoseed
Delight Weston :: Outstretched arms. Rhythmic dance study, 1921. Bromide print. | src Photoseed

Valerie Bettis’ “Leap”

Barbara Morgan :: Valerie Bettis, "Leap" [A woman leaping and twisting in the air, her feet and skirt visible], 1935-1945. src The J. Paul Getty Museum
Barbara Morgan :: Valerie Bettis, “Leap” [A woman leaping and twisting in the air, her feet and skirt visible], 1935-1945.
src The J. Paul Getty Museum
Barbara Morgan :: Valerie Bettis, "Leap" [A woman leaping and twisting in the air, her feet and skirt visible], 1935-1945. src The J. Paul Getty Museum
Barbara Morgan :: Valerie Bettis, “Leap” [A woman leaping and twisting in the air, her feet and skirt visible], 1935-1945.
src The J. Paul Getty Museum

Dancer flying free, ca. 1927

S. Rybin :: A young woman jumps, leaps, takes to the air (She indeed flies free). We do not know her name, only that she flies in the free dance studio of Vera Maya in Moscow, perhaps in 1927. Courtesy A.A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow. | src Space Embodied – Het Nieuwe Instituut (the Russian Art of Movement 1920-1930)

Dancer in long dress by Michaelis

Margaret Michaelis (1902-1985) ~ No title [Female dancer in long dress, arms extended], 1940s | src NGA
Margaret Michaelis (1902-1985) ~ No title [Female dancer in long dress, leaping with arms raised], Sydney, 1940s. | src NGA
Margaret Michaelis (1902-1985) ~ No title [Female dancer in long dress, stepping forward], 1940s | src NGA

Dancer jumping, 1940s

Margaret Michaelis (1902-1985) ~ No title [Female dancer in black leotard, jumping], 1940s | src NGA
Margaret Michaelis (1902-1985) ~ No title [Female dancer in black leotard, leaping], 1940s | src NGA

Anna Pavlova, ca. 1915

Arnold Genthe :: Anna Pavlowa, about 1915. Gelatin silver print.
«The Russian ballerina Anna Pavlowa (or Pavlova) so greatly admired Arnold Genthe’s work that she made the unusual decision to visit his studio, rather than have him come to her rehearsals. The resulting portrait of the prolific dancer, leaping in mid-air, is the only photograph to capture Pavlowa in free movement. Genthe regarded this print as one of the best dance photographs he ever made.»
src The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles