Roger Pryor Dodge (21 January 1898 — 2 June 1974) was an American ballet, vaudeville, and jazz dancer, as well as a choreographer and pioneering jazz critic. He formed the first extensive collection of photographic portraits of Vaslav Nijinsky.
Self-taught, his original thinking contributed to the understanding of the relationship of jazz to classical music and to dance. He endeavored to break down barriers between jazz and other 'serious' art forms and build the respect it deserved.Bacon, Anne. The Jazz Writings of Roger Pryor Dodge. 1974 (original typescript, Roger Pryor Dodge Archive)
Dodge’s taste in jazz was formed in 1924, initially from listening to recordings of Fletcher Henderson and others, then refined when Miguel Covarrubias, newly arrived from Mexico and already ensconced in the Harlem Renaissance, introduced Dodge to recordings of Bessie Smith.Dodge, Roger Pryor. "Jazz in the Twenties." JAZZ (July 1942)
Jazz inspired Dodge to crystalize a unique style of white American dance, whereupon he choreographed dances to Duke Ellington's recordings with James "Bubber" Miley among others. For years, he performed these pieces in multiple locations in New York, brought a dance trio to perform in Paris, and filmed several of these numbers years later, c1937. His performance career ended in 1942 due to a back injury.
Early life
Dodge was born in Paris during one of the family’s extended sojourns. His father, American muralist William de Leftwich Dodge, a first place laureate of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, would visit to paint and exhibit at the Salon, often residing in Giverny.Balge, Marjorie. "William de Leftwich Dodge: American Renaissance Artist." Art & Antiques (January–February 1982) Upon their return, Dodge spent his childhood in Setauket, near Stony Brook on Long Island. He attended the Phillips Brooks School in Philadelphia, followed by The Pennington School in New Jersey, but quit before graduating. Later the family moved to Greenwich Village.
Dance Education
In 1916, Dodge’s Ritz-Carlton ballroom social dance partner introduced him to ballet—Les Ballets Russes starring Vaslav Nijinsky. This pivotal experience inspired Dodge to study classical ballet, attend performances of and study with Fokine and Fokina in 1919-1920, experience the Isadora Duncan Dancers (“Isadorables”), and shortly thereafter, to leave for Paris to continue his ballet studies with Nikolai Legat, one of Nijinsky's teachers, Lyubov Yegorova, who had partnered with Nijinsky, and Léo Staats, the maître de ballet at the Paris Opera.Dodge, Roger Pryor. Hot Jazz and Jazz Dance: Collected Writings, 1929-1964 (New York:Oxford University Press, 1995)
Upon his return to New York in 1921, Dodge continued studying with Michel Fokine (1922). His desire to explore dance expression beyond ballet inspired him in 1922 to study eurhythmics at the Dalcroze School, Isadora Duncan technique with Elise Dufour, and modern dance with Michio Itō.
Nijinsky photographs
Nijinsky’s career ended in 1917. As he had never been filmed, Dodge realized that the only available means to experience Nijinsky’s greatness would be through photography. While in Paris taking ballet lessons and with the foresight to preserve a photographic record, Dodge proceeded to order prints from the photographers who had taken studio portraits of Nijinsky in his various roles. At times skipping meals to afford them, he assembled the most comprehensive collection of photographic images of Vaslav Nijinsky. By 1937 memory of Nijinsky had faded, prompting Dodge to help revive interest by donating his collection to the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library.
Practically every book on Nijinsky has borrowed from the Dodge collection, beginning in 1934 with Nijinsky by his wife Romola.Nijinsky, Romola. Nijinsky (New York:Simon and Schuster, 1934) After Dodge's numerous failed attempts to publish a book of his entire collection, in 1975 Lincoln Kirstein produced Nijinsky Dancing, drawing from half of Dodge’s collection.
Under Acknowledgements, Lincoln Kirstein writes:
Kirstein comments on viewing Dodge's performance to Ellington's "Black and Tan Fantasy" in 1935:
Dance partners (selection) Dodge created his earliest choreography in 1922 for all-male ensembles.
In 1930, Dodge formed a male trio with Jack Nile, and Arthur Mahoney who he had met during their engagements at the Metropolitan Opera House.
The same year, Dodge met Mura Dehn, a recent Russian émigré, when they each presented their jazz dance numbers in the Billy Rose Show “Sweet and Low.” As Dehn states, their pieces were “A daring jump into the Modern-Grotesque for the producer: a first such experiment in a commercial musical.”Dehn, Mura. Roger Dodge—A Jazz Dancer. 1974 (original typescript, Roger Pryor Dodge Archive)Harker, Brian. Louis Armstrong, Eccentric Dance, and Evolution of Jazz on the Eve of Swing. Journal of the American Musicological Society (April 2008)
They formed a professional dance relationship and appeared in each other’s choreography. Dodge filmed their dances c1937. They frequented the Harlem and Savoy Ballrooms, “and always had tumultuous discussions about art, dance, theatre, comedy. He rarely accepted other people’s understanding of his theories, even if they repeated them ‘verbatim’. He suspected it to be a superficial echo, rather than an inner experience.”ibid. Dodge was instrumental in Dehn’s appreciation of the importance of film for dance.
Dance performances (selection)