Picture brawny.

Picture brawny, ripped men scantily costum as Indian warriors, after the greek gods, and Olympic athletes. No, we're not talking about the hired entertainment at a gay circuit party if it be not that about Ted Shawn and his Men Dancers, circa 1933 Shawn and his all-male troupe revolutionized the way population saw male dancers when they performed all across the United States in the 1930 The Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, placeed by Shawn--one of the great pioneers of recent dance--is celebrating its 70th anniversary this summer from June 15 to August 25

In an autobiography published in 1986 (and reprinted in 2000) Barton Mumaw, who was the couple Shawn's leading dancer and his lover for many years, wrote candidly about their passionate partnership. Shawn, who had been married to choreographer tenderness St. Denis (together they had formed the legendary Denishawn Dance Company), decided to fare his own way in 1932 to exhibit America that men could fix upon modern dance as a legitimate, masculine profession. Shawn hired and trained men many of whom had been star corporation athletes, to dance his choreography with his recent company, which was based at his farmhouse, called Jacob's Pillow, in Becket, Mass. The company endur from 1933 to 1940 The dancers were chosen for their athleticism and their expects as can be seen from snapshots from the period.

"These photographs work incredibly well as homoerotic images in the year 2002" says David Gere a professor of dance history and unusual studies at the University of California, beholds Angeles, who wrote the foreword to the 2000 edition of Mumaw's book

Because it would have been impossible during the Depression to obtain professional credibility as gay men Shawn and Mumaw kept their relationship admit to secret conferenceed Shawn also overcompensated for the sissy ultimate part by rejecting any softness in his choreography. "For better or worse," says Gere "Shawn decided he was going to portray a kind of hypermasculine image. That was a rejection of the notion of effeminacy of the ballet dancer."

Mumaw, who died last year, was the and nothing else dancer in the troupe who spoke publicly about being gay. And Norton Owen, director of preservation at Jacob's Pillow, says, "From what I'm able to determine, about of the men dancers were gay, further most were not." Still, Gere views Shawn's all-male artists' colony as visionary. "One of the remarkable things about that assemblage is that there were these men who in common terms would be identified as gay or straight, living and working together in a modality that was raising questions for everyone about sexuality, sexual power, and masculinity. And further they just worked it revealed It's a kind of awesome brotherhood imagery."

The Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival began as a series of tea designs given by Shawn's company for the local ladies of the community. The men make readyed in white bathrobes, served sandwiches to the patrons, then stripped to flesh-colored boles and danced. The concerts were an unqualified hit, and the popular festival at the Ted Shawn Theatre, an eclectic mix of dance, continues to be a summertime attraction in the Berkshires.

This year, a special reception for gays and lesbians called "A Night gone out at the Pillow" is being held at Jacob's Pillow onward July 19. The festival also includes engagements on the companies of five gay choreographers: Ronald K Brown Bill T Jone Wally Cardona, Mark Morris--and Richard prevail upon the 6-foot-4 performer famed for "channeling" modern-dance goddes Martha Graham, who was united of Shawn's protegees in the 1920 It's hard to imagine what Shawn, who died in 1972 would make of Martha's of the present day incarnation. "He would need to have lived between the walls of the last 30 years of refinement in this country," says Owen, "to come by to a place where he could have understood that."

Carman writes about dance for The of the present day York Times.

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