UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #611
DAVIDSON, HERMINE

DAVIDSON, Hermine (1910-2007)
Undergraduate student
At UW: 1928-1932

Interviewed: 1997	
Interviewer: Buff Brennan
Length: 1 hour, 37 minutes

Undergraduate education; Physical Education and Dance; Margaret H'Doubler; Curriculum; Teaching at Ohio State; Graduate education at NYU; Orchesis; Dance courses.

Interview Session (March 8, 1997): Tapes 1-2

Tape 1/Side 1

00:01:18	Interviewer’s introduction.

00:01:41	Hermine Davidson recalls her first impressions of the University of Wisconsin-Madison when she arrived in 1928.

00:04:07	HD is a Madison native.  She talks about the amount of support for dance in Madison and in the curriculum.

00:06:22	She talks about Margaret H'Doubler.

00:08:10	HD describes how some colleagues challenged H'Doubler to engage with wider developments in dance. H’Doubler took students to performances in Chicago. 

00:12:08	Martha Hill’s influence on dance. 

00:14:22	H'Doubler's teaching and dancing technique.

00:21:13	HD describes H'Doubler's courses.  The curriculum required philosophy, physiology, and anatomy courses. 

00:25:58	She talks about taking art history courses.

00:27:28	All dance students were required to take courses preparing them to teach one individual sport and one team sport.

00:28:05	HD spent three years teaching physical education, dance, and swimming at Ohio State University beginning in 1932.  Contact with a fellow colleague convinced her that she needed to go to New York City for graduate study.

00:30:20	In 1935, HD went to NYU to pursue a master's degree.  She describes her study in this professional program, as well as at the Martha Graham studio. 

00:34:00	She discusses her background in tap dancing.  She taught tap, modern dance, and square dancing to male and female dance majors while in New York. 

00:38:15	In March 1935, H'Doubler was invited to perform in New York at the New School for Social Research. A similar invitation to perform in Milwaukee. 

00:45:37	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:45:49	Hermine Davidson talks about the whereabouts of papers and journals she has collected.

00:49:03	She talks about the impact of World War II on the department at NYU; during the war, she worked for the Red Cross.

00:50:16	After the war, HD returned to Madison to teach in public schools.  She mentions attending a dance course offered at UW by Louise Kloepper during this time.

00:51:14	She talks about recruiting someone to teach dance to elementary schoolchildren.

00:54:52	She hoped that Ruth Glassow would study children’s movement.

00:57:31	HD describes the field of physical education for women in the 1930s and 1940s.  She talks about the situation at Ohio State, NYU, and UW-Madison, particularly for gay dancers. 

01:01:07	She talks about Orchesis, Margaret H’Doubler’s evening dance course.

01:09:27	HD describes a rhythmic analysis course.

01:10:49	She talks about H’Doubler’s courses and her experimentation with different movements.

01:16:25	Buff Brennan and HD discuss faculty members in physical education and dance, their courses, and their teaching styles.

01:18:08	Anecdote about Ruth Glassow learning to use computers just before she died. 

01:21:09	HD describes Ruth Glassow’s courses.

01:23:39	She talks about a course on theory and philosophy of dance.

01:26:24	HD contrasts H’Doubler’s teaching with her written work.

01:30:54	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 2/Side 1

01:30:59	Hermine Davidson talks about the organization of an understudy group to learn dance parts.

01:32:18	She had been offered a full-time teaching appointment in New York.  HD also talks about Martha Graham.

01:37:08	End of side.  End of tape.  End of interview.

END