For decades, the development of American modern dance was largely seen as a reaction to classicism. But many other forces drove modern pioneers’ art. “At the heart of modernism, there is trauma,” says art historian Bruce Robertson. Robertson­ and dance historian Ninotchka Bennahum are the curators behind the New York Public Library for the Performing­ Arts’ exhibit “Border Crossings: Exile and American Modern Dance, 1900–1955,” which recognizes the foundational—and often overlooked—contributions that marginalized dancers, including Limón, made to the development of American modern dance.

In the September 1973 issue of Dance Magazine, contributing editor Olga Maynard took a deep dive into what Gerald Arpino had dubbed his “Berkeley ballets,” one result of The Joffrey Ballet’s residencies at University of California at Berkeley.­

In the March 1973 issue of Dance Magazine, we profiled Mia Slavenska. The ballerina had been declared a star after her performance debut in Zagreb (then part of Yugoslavia) at age 5.

“I have always thought of myself as a kind of vessel through which the work might flow,” Valda Setterfield told us in the February 1993 issue of Dance Magazine.

November 1957 marked Chita Rivera’s first appearance on the cover of Dance Magazine.

New York City Ballet first toured continental Europe in summer 1952. This snapshot from the Dance Magazine Archives, labeled “swimming party at the Spellmans,” shows members of the company enjoying a day away from the theater, likely during that five-week tour.

When Genevieve Oswald began working at the New York Public Library in 1944, there was no division dedicated specifically to dance.

Paul Taylor proved to be a prolific, chameleonic choreographer who drew from an eclectic musical palette.