<Li> Alwin Nikolais--A student of Hanya Holm . Nikolais's use of multimedia in works such as Masks, Props, and Mobiles (1953), Totem (1960), and Count Down (1979) was unmatched by other choreographers . Often presenting his dancers in constrictive spaces and costumes with complicated sound and sets, he focused their attention on the physical tasks of overcoming obstacles he placed in their way . Nikolais viewed the dancer not as an artist of self - expression, but as a talent who could investigate the properties of physical space and movement . </Li> <P> In 1915, Ruth St. Denis founded the Denishawn school and dance company with her husband Ted Shawn . St. Denis was responsible for most of the creative work, and Shawn was responsible for teaching technique and composition . Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman were all pupils at the school and members of the dance company . Seeking a wider and more accepting audience for their work, Duncan, Fuller, and Ruth St. Denis all toured Europe Fuller's work also received little support outside Europe . St. Denis returned to the United States to continue her work . </P> <P> Martha Graham is often regarded as the founding mother of modern 20th - century concert dance . Graham viewed ballet as too one - sided: European, imperialistic, and un-American . She became a student at the Denishawn school in 1916 and then moved to New York City in 1923, where she performed in musical comedies, music halls, and worked on her own choreography . Graham developed her own dance technique, Graham technique, that hinged on concepts of contraction and release . In Graham's teachings, she wanted her students to "Feel". To "Feel", means having a heightened sense of awareness of being grounded to the floor while, at the same time, feeling the energy throughout your entire body, extending it to the audience . Her principal contributions to dance are the focus of the' center' of the body (as contrast to ballet's emphasis on limbs), coordination between breathing and movement, and a dancer's relationship with the floor . </P> <Ul> <Li> 1923: Graham leaves Denishawn to work as a solo artist in the Greenwich Village Follies . </Li> <Li> 1928: Humphrey and Weidman leave Denishawn to set up their own school and company (Humphrey - Weidman). </Li> <Li> 1933: Shawn founds his all male dance group Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers based at his Jacob's Pillow farm in Becket, Massachusetts . </Li> </Ul>

When did modern dance choreographers first begin to set pieces for ballet companies