''Insincerities'', also known as ''Four Insincerities'', is a solo modern dance work created by

Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer, teacher and choreographer, whose style, the Graham technique, reshaped the dance world and is still taught in academies worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over s ...

. The piece consists of four sections: ''Petulance'', ''Remorse'', ''Politeness'' and ''Vivacity'' performed to music by

Serge Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

. It premiered on January 20, 1929, at the

Booth Theatre The Booth Theatre is a Broadway theater at 222 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1913, the theater was designed by Henry Beaumont Herts in the It ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Louis Horst Louis Horst (born January 12, 1884, Kansas City, Missouri – died January 23, 1964, New York City) was a composer, and pianist. He helped to define the principles of modern dance choreographic technique, most notably the matching of choreography ...

accompanied Graham on piano.

Background notes

Almost all of Graham's early works, including ''Insincerities'', are lost. It is known the solo drew on the idea of Delsartean tableaus, objective representations of mood and emotion. As she constructed her own movement vocabulary, Graham rejected the concepts of her teachers

Ruth St. Denis Ruth St. Denis (born Ruth Dennis; January 20, 1879 – July 21, 1968) was an American pioneer of modern dance, introducing eastern ideas into the art and paving the way for other women in dance. She was inspired by the Delsarte advocate Gene ...

and

Ted Shawn Ted Shawn (born Edwin Myers Shawn; October 21, 1891 – January 9, 1972) was an American dancer and choreographer. Considered a pioneer of American modern dance, he created the Denishawn School together with his wife Ruth St. Denis. After their ...

by initially referencing previous dance forms. ''Insincerities'' is also known to be one of Graham's first efforts at incorporating humor into her dances, and revealed her talent for parody and comedy.

Critical reception

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' dance critic John Martin remarked that ''Insincerities'' was "outstanding...impudent and malignant in its comment on the four commonplace human qualities..." Of a later performance,

The New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

's reviewer wrote that many of Graham's "familiar numbers…have lost nothing of their interest and pertinence," adding that ''Insincerities'' had "grown wittier with repetition." A critic less enthralled with Graham described the piece in ''

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...

'' as "very thin, expressing nothing at all with the studious affectation of profundity." In the same article, the writer said Graham was becoming "an uninteresting artist" as her compositions grew "more modern and cerebral."

References

{{reflist 1929 ballets Ballets by Martha Graham