Forgotten “New” Dancer of New York City's Gilded Age: Genevieve Lee Stebbins and the Dance as Yet Undreamed

Abstract

In the Gilded Age, Genevieve Lee Stebbins (1857–1934) became a dance soloist admired in New York City's theater world. Stebbins created a foundation from which a new “serious” dance aesthetic emerged and notably inspired the early dance work of Ruth St. Denis and Isadora Duncan; however, she remains an overlooked figure within American dance history. This article chronicles Stebbins's innovations and clarifies misrepresentations of her work in recent scholarship. Unlike other American dance pioneers, there is no public archive dedicated to Stebbins, therefore this article draws upon newly available primary sources to explore Stebbins's foundational work.