References

"Agnes De Mille and Rodeo." ARTSEDGE. The Kennedy Center, n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2015.

"Biography." Agnes DeMille Dances - Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.

Long, Robert Emmet. "Agnes De Mille." Broadway, the Golden Years: Jerome Robbins     

         and the Great Choreographer-directors: 1940 to the Present. New York: Continuum,  

         2001. 21-59. Print
(This was one of the main resources I used in my blog. Excerpts from the book can be found here- http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=rKxJiOAb6LAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA9&dq=broadway,+the+golden+years&ots=6EZGxlEapm&sig=E8rOg9404oLpiXI3T2mZBLcuBdI#v=onepage&q&f=false. The chapter about Agnes de Mille in this book focuses on her life journey and how her determination allowed her to achieve far beyond what she initially set out to do.)

Maher, Erin K. "Ballet, Race, and Agnes De Mille's Black Ritual." Musical Quarterly. Oxford 

        Journals, 23 Oct. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

"Oklahoma!" Our Shows. Rodgers and Hammerstein, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

Symonds, Dominic and Taylor, Millie. Gestures of Music Theater: The Performativity of 
        Song and Dance.  Oxford University Press, 2014. Web. 19 April 2015. 

 "THREE VIRGINS AND A DEVIL." Agnes De Mille. About.org, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. 
  
Van Vechten, Carl. "Agnes De Mille: Dancer, Choreographer, and Author." Extravagant    
        Crowd: Carl Van Vechten's Portraits of Women. Yale University Library, n.d. Web. 10 
        Apr. 2015.

So Why Should She Matter?

 http://agnesdemilledances.com/biography.html

Agnes de Mille is an amazing success story that overcame trials and hardships to become not only a famous choreographer, but director, author, and speaker. Her multiple awards and recognition should be enough evidence to justify her importance, but her contributions to theatre and to females in theatre make her more important than some may think.

Though she was raised in a privelaged home for the majority of her childhood, she suffered her own trials and hardships. From poverty, to failed attempts to launch her career, she remained determined for success. Agnes worked her way as a dancer to a choreographer to a director. Before her career choreographers were referred to as dance directors, and were not held in very high regard. Her success allowed them to gain the recognition they deserved. Also her taking on the role of a director was a huge achievement for her not only as an artist, but as a female. She was one of the only female directors at this time, and though she did not experience large success, she set an example for other female directors to follow. 

Agnes lived through some of the most influential years in United States history. Born in 1905, she lived through two World Wars, depression, and a time when women were still very limited in their rights. Even with all of these environmental factors, her drive for success kept her going and made her a success. 

Agnes de Mille is a true inspiration to me. Though many sources have spoke of her conceitedness or bad attitude, I believe this is what allowed her to achieve her goals. I do not agree with all of her beliefs, but those beliefs are what shaped her into the artist she was. She never let anyone take away her dream of becoming an artist. She worked her way up to success and never turned back. Her stroke did not deter her from pursuing work, instead she became more famous and recognized than she ever was before. She overcame and she concurred and for that reason I believe Agnes de Mille should be an inspiration to us all.

Big Personality, Big Problem?

As mentioned before, Agnes' personality did not mesh well with those she worked with. Her arguments with Rodgers during a production completely destroyed her collaboration with the duo. The mentality she had about what she needed to do to be successful hindered relationship with friends, dancers, and other professionals. She often alienated other professionals and elites in the theatre, which would often cost her a job as a choreographer or director (Long, 57). 

Another reason she was not the most popular person to work with was her view on homosexuality. Even being a part of the theatre and dance world, in which homosexuality was normally accepted or ignored, she remained homophobic (Long, 57). She often would make rude or inappropriate comments that damaged her reputation in the industry. 

 http://en.geneastar.org/genealogie/?refcelebrite=demillea&celebrite=Agnes-DE+MILLE

A lot of her personality can be contributed to her upbringing. She touches on the subject in many of her books. Though her parents seemed to be happily in love to her as a child, they were left by her father. Her father was never supportive of her choice to pursue dance as a career, and never seemed to be pleased with her work. She had to overcome poverty and struggles before she became successful. For this reason, her drive for success may have hurt people along the way that she never even realized. Actor James Mitchell wrote about de Mille, "She won some great battles and took enormous losses, but she never lost her awesome will to leave her mark on her time" (Long, 59).

Other Accomplishments

Though Agnes is most recognized for her work in the theatre world, she also was a very famous writer and speaker. 

Writer

After some failed attempts at directing, Agnes turned her luck around when she published her "first volume of memoirs, Dance to the Piper, which sold well and opened up a second career for her as an author" (Long, 51). The book was published in 1951, and though Agnes at that time was still choreographing pieces, that part of her career took a downward spiral. She did not work well with her collaborators, and after an argument with Rodgers, her main collaborators Rodgers and Hammerstein agreed never to work with her again (Long, 53). Though her career in the theatre had taken a turn for the worse, she became more famous then she ever expected as an author. Her first book Dance to the Piper was about her childhood and her journey to becoming a dancer and choreographer. She wrote four other memoirs and after she suffered a stroke in 1975 she wrote five books. One of these books includes a biography of the famous dancer and choreographer, Martha Graham ("Biography").

Speaker

Agnes took her career even further by speaking and lecturing about dance and dance history. Even after she suffered from her stroke, she continued to speak. She became the cohost of the Omnibus series on television in its programs on dance (Long, 57). She continued to do interviews and lectures as she was asked. Her speaking not only focused on her dancing, but she wanted to make a bigger impact. "She spoke three times in Congress: once in the Senate, once in the House of Representatives, and once in Congress for the Committee for Medical Research" ("Biography"). Her main purpose for speaking to Congress was on behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts, in hopes of gaining more funding for the arts. 

 http://agnesdemilledances.com/biography.html

Awards 

Handel Medallion 
- New York City's highest award for artistic achievement
-1977

Kennedy Center Career Achievement Award
-1980

National Medal of Arts
-Awarded to her at the Reagan White House
-1986

Seventeen Honorary Degrees from Colleges and Universities

Two Tony Awards 
-Brigadoon
-Kwamina

Emmy
-Agnes, the Indomitable de Mille
-1987

Superdirector

Agnes de Mille paved the way for the idea of a "superdirector," or a choreographer-director (Long, 21). The success of Oklahoma! brought the importance of the choreographer to the forefront of musical theatre. Agnes had not only become a famous choreographer after the musical, but her career progressed into her directing pieces.

One of her first attempts as both choreographer and director was for the musical Allegro. Before the idea of the superdirector dancers and actors rehearsed separately, giving them completely different roles in the theatre. Agnes tried to keep the actors, dancers, and singers in separate rehearsal spaces, but trying to keep all three busy was too much work ("Biography"). The director and choreographer becoming one, made it so that there could not be multiple rehearsals, thus getting rid of the idea of  the separate dancing chorus (Symonds, 83). Though Allegro was not the greatest success, this was not completely due to de Mille's inexperience. The musical score was weak and the book the play was being based off of was not completely finished yet, making the second act a disappointment ("Biography").

She continued her work as a stage director, but never became quite as famous for her directing as she was for her choreographer. Some other plays she directed include, The Rape of Lucretia, Out of This World, and Come Summer ("Biography").

Oklahoma!

The job that changed everything was her role as choreographer for the musical Okalahoma! The musical was created by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstien, it was their first collaboration and remains as one of their most innovative works ("Oklahoma!"). Oklahoma! established the idea of the musical play. Agnes as usual used a combination of dance genres in the musical. She combined ballet and pantomime with tap and folk dance (Long, 38). A large contribution to the musical was the fact that the dance added to the storyline. Before this play dance and music had been almost separate segments added into a play without much connection. Agnes and the directors not created a significant place for music and dance in theatre (Long, 21).

The most influential piece from Oklahoma! was the dream sequence. This dance "explored the main character’s psychology and inner turmoil" (Van). In her original production, Agnes had the main character Laury watching the dream sequence. She provided doubles for the leads to dance the dream sequence (Symonds, 87). The concept of dream sequences became very popular and was implemented in many other musicals during this time. 
 

http://agnesdemilledances.com/otherdances.html#ca

The musical play made history. Oklahoma! ran for five years on Broadway and toured internationally for ten. It held the record for longest running Broadway show for eighteen years (Long). Though it is not performed much today, de Mille's works are still being honored in different ways- http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/arts/dance/02demi.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1429768888-WK3GSKKcSsM/eFK1Rsev4A


The last reason Oklahoma! was so historical was its timing in history. The musical displayed a love for the American culture and the western lifestyle. This idea coincided with the patriotism during the time due to World War II (Long, 38). Oklahoma! spoke to the audience during the time. The characters lived in a land full of "freedom and large possibilities" and focused on the good of America (Long, 39).

Major Works

Romeo and Juliet

Agnes was studying and working in London, but would make trips back to the United States for visits and work. On one of her trips home she was asked to choreograph the ball scene in the 1936 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. She was very young at this time and had not fully started her career. After completing the work with the film she "commented that the custom at that time of cutting dances to pieces assured short lives for them" ("Biography"). 

Black Ritual

She created this dance for the Ballet Theatre in 1940. The piece was done by all black dancers, and this was the first time a major ballet company produced such a work ("Biography"). The piece was not a huge success, but left a large impact. It was only performed three times and has never been revived (Maher). Though there had been other productions done with all African American dancers, this was the first time a production like this had been done by an all white New York dance company.

Three Virgins and a Devil

http://agnesdemilledances.com/threevirgins.html

Though Black Ritual was not the largest success, de Mille bounced back just one year later with the piece Three Virgins and a Devil. This piece actually first premiered in London in 1934, but she brought it back to the Ballet Theatre in New York in 1941. She was the choreographer and a dancer in this piece. It was revived in 1973 and in 1993 ("Three").

Rodeo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8PGkJkpK1yU

The following year the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo asked her to produce a piece for them and she created Rodeo ("Biography"). This is the piece that created her career. De Mille was once again the choreographer and a dancer in the piece. When it premiered in New York in 1942 "she received 22 curtain calls and a standing ovation" ("Agnes"). She used this opportunity to combine dance genres and push the boundaries on traditional ballet. "She choreographed Rodeo as the first ballet to feature American tap dancing and indigenous folk dance, along with classical ballet technique" ("Agnes").

Oklahoma!

See next blog post!