Mark Ryder

Mark Ryder (born in Chicago in 1921), and was raised by his mother in New York. 
== Early Life ==
He went with his mom when she left his dad at the age of one. His mom got two degrees in education and wound up being a typist. Mark met his dad once when he was six years old, and his dad used to teach piano. At the age of twelve, he began his dance training at the Neighborhood Playhouse. He was the only boy in class, and he had no desire of having a female identity. In his first year at the playhouse, he was the understudy of a lead role, and then played the lead, and part of it was ballet. Martha Graham taught the senior level at the playhouse, but not the children's classes when Mark began. Mark wasn't the best in school and only really achieved in dance classes. He studied with Charles Weidman at the age of fifteen, and was offered only half a scholarship to the Humphrey-Weidman Company but couldn't afford it. Out of high school, he studied ballet. He tried to make ballet more masculine because he wanted to dance it his way. He began taking the senior classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse when he turned eighteen. 
== Career/Dance Work ==
Martha Graham then invited him to perform in "Letter to the World". His dance career was interrupted when he served in World War II. He participated in the Normandy invasion, yet it did not affect his dancing career. Mark played the Seer in "Night Journey", choreographed by Graham. When Graham was choreographing, she would choreograph individually for who you were. The role is supposed to be blind, so he wanted to see what it would be like to actually perform the movement with his eyes closed, and Graham kicked him out of rehearsal. In "Errand into the Maze", Graham would always say to "objectify", meaning to try to find a myth, culture, or some expression that would allow for an objective reality. Ryder claims "Dark Meadow" was a failure but one of the greatest works she ever did. He was only a group member in this piece. Graham thought of darkness through this piece and had three couples doing a love dance in unison yet being intimate in their own way. In this work, Graham didn't leave her chair, she just called out what to do and knew very clearly what she wanted. The men had sections with each other, the women had sections with each other, and then the couples had sections with each other. When Graham created "Errand Into the Maze", at first Ryder didn't know he was in it. He claims he never really thought about learning, it was just hindsight. He participated so much in the process that he never realized he was learning anything until after the fact. In "Preacher in Appalachian Spring", Mark took on Merce Cunningham's role, who was a split character. Then in 1948, he did "Diversion of Angels", which was the last work he did with Graham. There was a couple in white, which Mark and another female dancer performed. He performed a gesture like he was crowning the woman and she reacts strangely. After the army, he decided he wanted to marry a dancer and proposed to that woman. Mark believes that the works of Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham should not be revived or recreated. He thinks it will destroy their purpose, as Martha choreographed each role to a specific dancer based on their individuality. Mark would rather see new work then have people try to recreate her work. 
== Personal Life & Later Years ==
Mark married Emily Frankel, who was also a dancer at the time.They formed a touring company called Dance Drama Duo and later called the Dance Drama Company. They eventually got divorced and he later married Ann Dumaresq. When he and Emily split, she got the dance company and he quit dancing for a year.In the 1960s he ended up teaching at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. He later spent 14 years teaching dance at the University of Maryland. Ryder died at the age of 85 due to Alzheimer's disease. 
==References==
Category:American people
Category:American dancers
Category:People from Chicago
Category:1921 births