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Humphrey, Doris

Dancer and choreographer.
Born October 17,1895, Oak Park, Illinois; died December 29, 1958, New York, New York.
Buried in Forest Park.

Born to a prominent local family, Doris Humphrey helped pioneer the art of modern dance, along with Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, and Martha Graham.

Humphrey attended Francis Parker School in Chicago, one of the first progressive schools in the area, and studied dance under Mary Wood Hinman. After graduating in 1913, Humphrey began teaching dance in Oak Park and River Forest, but soon felt isolated and despaired of making a name for herself. After five years, she joined the Denishawn Company in California and eventually established her own company in New York with Charles Weidman.

Humphrey’s movement idiom represented a radical break from ballet. She based her techniques on the body's relationship to gravity. Unlike many dancers, Humphrey could communicate her principles in a simple way. Her influence on dance continues through her book, The Art of Making Dances, which is still used by choreographers across the country.

Humphrey’s mother, Julia Ellen Wells, was a trained concert pianist; her father, Horace Buckingham Humphrey, was a journalist and hotel manager. Her grandfather was Reverend Simon Humphrey, a prominent Congregational minister who settled in Oak Park in 1867 and for whom Humphrey Avenue is named. Curving Elizabeth Court in Oak Park was named for his second wife, Elizabeth Emerson Humphrey. All are buried in the family plot.

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Numerous sources were used in the compilation of these entries including but not limited to:

• From "Nature's Choicest Spot" ... a Guide to Forest Home and Germany Waldheim Cemeteries prepared by The Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest.

• Graveyards of Chicago by Matt Hucke and Ursula Bielski -- a book which describes many of the Chicago area cemeteries.