Motion Arrested

Motion Arrested is a collection of reviews by eminent critic of the Boston Evening Transcript, H.T. Parker, and together these reviews form a unique historical record of the dance from 1904 to 1934. Edited by Olive Holmes, who studied at the Denishawn House, and danced with the Mimi Winslow Company in the 1930s, this book covers the exciting early years of modern dance, when Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, Anna Pavlova, Nijinsky, Martha Graham and others were bringing a revolution to the world of dance. Parker, known as HTP, reviewed all of the important dances of the period. In 1922 Isadora Duncan bared a breast before a Boston audience, and HTP was there. He was not impressed. But he nevertheless appreciated that she had “widened the expressive scope and vivedness of the dance...and increased its humanity.” Olive Holmes puts the reviews in historical context and provides insightful commentary on HTP and his time. The book is illustrated with delightful line drawings that accompanied the original reviews.