During the Progressive Era (1890-1920) instructors taught gymnastic and dance practices in American settlement houses. Developed by white, educated middle-class women, settlement houses offered these classes to reflect the 'progressive ethos,' which hinged on the idea of individual responsibility for the greater good of society. Dance offered a method of molding and regulating the immigrant body into good, progressive Americans. This examination focuses on four primary practices ' physical culture/gymnastic body-strengthening exercises, ballroom dance, folk dance, and theatrical dance ' in three settlement houses: Hull-House (Chicago, founded 1889), Greenwich House (New York, 1902), and Northwestern University Settlement (Chicago, 1891). The overlapping chronology of both the houses and the dance forms show the flexibility of the organization of the settlement house and the amorphous nature of the value system advocated by Progressive reformers. Settlement workers built ideal tenement houses throughout the United States, which provided ample space, ventilation, light and cleanliness, in an attempt to counter the negative effects of rapid modernization and industrialization at the turn of the twentieth century. They replicated these ideals in the dance presented there. The resulting practices at settlement houses embodied middle-class ideals of morality, refinement, respectability and appropriateness. Investigation of the sources, however, reveals that despite their good intentions, the settlement workers' Americanization of movement subverted the spirit of immigrant cultures. The role of settlement houses has not been analyzed in terms of what they declared as legitimate movement in establishing proper 'Americanization.' This study will therefore look more closely at and compare the inclusion of dance from the founding of the three settlement houses and trace their re-visions. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Dance in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master
of Arts. / Summer Semester, 2009. / April 24, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references. / Sally R. Sommer, Professor Directing Thesis; Tricia Young, Committee Member; Patricia Phillips, Committee Member; Jennifer Atkins, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_253273 |
| Contributors | Herzogenrath, Jessica Ray (authoraut), Sommer, Sally R. (professor directing thesis), Young, Tricia (committee member), Phillips, Patricia (committee member), Atkins, Jennifer (committee member), School of Dance (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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