(born Jan. 20, 1877, Newark, N.J., U.S.—died July 21, 1968, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. modern-dance innovator and teacher. She was a vaudeville performer before developing her dramatic dance act based on Asian dance forms.
From 1906 to 1909 she toured in Europe to wide acclaim. In 1915 she and her husband, Ted Shawn, established the Denishawn dance company and school to present a new choreographic style of abstract “music visualization.” The company frequently toured until it disbanded in 1931 when St. Denis and Shawn separated. Her interest in the use of dance in religion led her to found the Society of Spiritual Arts. She continued to perform, teach, and lecture into the 1960s.
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