Shawn and His Dancers, 1931. Poster designed by Major Felten for Ted Shawn. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dance Division.
Ted Shawn.
(Photograph above from the archives of Jacob's Pillow, Becket, Massachusetts.)

A pioneering figure of modern dance, champion of the male dancer, and founder of Jacob's Pillow, Ted Shawn (1891-1972) was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He took his first ballet lessons after a serious illness left his legs temporarily paralyzed, subsequently abandoned the ministry, and made his professional debut in 1913 as a ballroom dancer. The following year he joined Ruth St. Denis, became her partner, and married her. Together they founded the Denishawn school in Los Angeles and nurtured the company from which Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and so many other celebrated modern dancers later emerged. When Denishawn broke up (along with his marriage to St. Denis), Shawn formed an all-male dance troupe based at his Massachusetts retreat Jacob's Pillow. His goal was to gain acceptance for the male dancer by emphasizing masculine movement and displays of strength; a number of dances were on Native-American themes. The Men Dancers toured successfully throughout the 1930s. The country's oldest summer festival, Jacob's Pillow remains a tribute to Shawn's love of dance in all its forms.