Preface
When all is said and done, the purpose of this anthology is to rekindle interest in one of the most remarkable educators of the first half of the twentieth century. Margaret H’Doubler’s legacy—eclipsed for several decades—is still a living legacy, influencing dance curricula, pedagogy, theory, and scholarship without calling attention to itself. Most dance educators and artists of the twenty-first century—let alone students—have no real knowledge of H’Doubler’s pervasive influence or that they themselves are inheritors of that legacy. It is timely to revisit, in considerable depth, the legacy through the thinking and words of many of those who knew and studied close up with the founder of dance in higher education.
The original idea for this anthology came in 1981 as a result of my conversations with Margaret H’Doubler and, often, her husband, Wayne Claxton. These conversations were spread over many years from the late l960s to the time when “Marge” was no longer able to track the thread of a discussion and was moved into an assisted living facility in Tucson. There I visited her twice, and one last time Wayne brought her to my home to visit my wife and me on a lovely Sunday afternoon. That was the last time we saw her; for her rapid deterioration required that she be moved to a full care nursing home in Springfield, Missouri where her nephew was the chief resident physician.