Mura Dehn

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Mura Dehn (1905 - 1985) documented African-American social jazz dancing at the Savoy Ballroom in New York between 1920 and 1940, a time that she referred to as the "Golden Age of Jazz."

Dehn was raised in Russia where she was schooled in ballet. She realized early on that dance would be her passion in life. While in Russia, she studied under Isadora Duncan, a very famous ballerina in Russia at the time. During her training she was exposed to many styles of dance, including jazz. However, she did not become interested in the style of jazz dance until later.

In 1925 Dehn ventured to Paris in hopes of furthering her dance career. There, she met Josephine Baker. At that time in Paris, Baker was regarded as one of the best jazz dancers in the country. Baker had the talent and the technique that showed off all that jazz dancing had to offer and Mura Dehn then realized what the style of jazz dance was all about. She instantly became a fan and decided to take up jazz dance to see where it would lead her.

Modern dancers doing the Lindy Hop, 2006.

By 1930 Mura Dehn had immigrated to New York. One night in New York Dehn stumbled across the Savoy Ballroom. Inside, she witnessed dancing that was completely foreign to her and she loved it. She took it upon herself to somehow document what she saw for later generations. The best way that she could think of was to put it on film.

This process was a long and hard one that took many, many years but she believed it had to be done. She also believed that African-Americans, through authentic jazz dancers, changed the way the world experienced rhythm and viewed the dancing body. In the end she created two films: The Spirit Moves and In A Jazz Way.

The Spirit Moves: A History of Black Social Dance on Film, 1900-1986 is her five-hour documentary about the evolution of black dance in urban America in the early 1900s-to the mid-Eighties. The film is a unique visual record of vernacular jazz dancing that celebrated the heritage of movement that shaped the way we dance, on and off stage.

In a Jazz Way was continuation of The Spirit Moves. Both of these films had many types of dance from the lindy hop to the electric boogie.