Broadway and the American Dream

Dance with a uniquely American identity first appeared in vaudeville and on Broadway—a performance art forged by the newness of the American experience. New York City emerged as the nation’s center of entertainment in the early twentieth century and fed a drive to discover a distinctly “American” sensibility that was unburdened by the past. The American Dream resonated with a sense of the new, and here, dance ranged from the staccato beat of tap and jazz dancing to the pulsating choreography of Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, and Bob Fosse.



National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

October 4, 2013
through July 13, 2014


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Loie Fuller 1862–1928
Jules Cheret (1836–1932)
Color lithographic poster, 1897
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Agnes de Mille 1905–1993
Maurice Seymour (1900–1993)
Gelatin silver print, 1942 (printed 1996)
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Bob Fosse 1927–1987
Harry Benson (born 1929)
Gelatin silver print, 1979
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