Sophie Maslow, 1911-2006, Modern Dance Pioneer Dies in Manhattan
On June 25, Sophie Maslow passed away at her home, according to her daughter, Abigail Blatt. She had tireless energy and was seen everywhere, at every dance event, viewing it all from her wheelchair and not missing a single step. Sophie Maslow, a member of the Martha Graham Contemporary Dance Company from 1931-1944, received her dance education at the Neighborhood Playhouse with Graham, Louis Horst (in composition) and formed her own company, the Sophie Maslow Dance Company, in the 1940s. With Jane Dudley (another early Graham member) and William Bales, she formed the Dudley-Maslow-Bales Trio.
According to Yuriko, a Graham performer and current restager of early Graham works, who appeared in Maslow's off-Broadway musical "Sandhog," in 1954: "Maslow and Jane Dudley were my first teachers when I was released, in 1943, from my wrongful interment in a U.S. camp for Japanese. It was at the Neighborhood Playhouse where Maslow meticulously taught the Graham technique."
As did so many from the Graham
company, Maslow became a choreographer in the 1940s. She embraced the populist view drawing upon American folk ballades, songs by Woody Guthrie, and Carl Sandburg's poem "The People, Yes," for her cheerful "Folksay," (1942); and "Champion" (1948), for which she received rave reviews. Her versatility extended to a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen," (1953), and a lyrical piece set to a lush romantic work by Robert Schumann. She also created several works on Jewish themes, most notably "The Village I Knew" (1950) and "The Dybbuk," (1966), a motion picture for the Harkness Ballet, to the music of Robert Starer. She
choreographed annual Hannukkah festivals at Madison Square Garden, and for the New Dance League, a forerunner of the New Dance Group where
low-cost classes in various techniques were offered. (NDG still exists and is planning its first move from it 47th Street site.)
As for her "populist view," she is
quoted as saying in 1946: "We
(meaning the Trio) are popular, if by 'popular' you mean 'of the people.' But this is the Age of the Common Man, and it is the common people who are the backbone and the strength and hope of our civilization and our culture. We are artists, and above all as thinking people, are touched by problems of
our fellow men because they are our problems."