This article examines the development of theatricality in modern dance by comparing two dances: Mary Wigman's Totenmal (1930) and Hanya Holm's Trend (1937). By looking at the interplay between group and solo choreography, lighting design and themes, this paper will show how Holm combined the skills she learned codirecting Totenmal at the Dancers’ Congress in Munich to her work with American dance artists at the Bennington School of the Dance to create her first important work. It will examine why Trend was successful as a collaborative project, as well as show how it diverged ideologically from Wigman's work in the 1930s.

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This chapter considers the controversy surrounding dance reconstruction. It begins by defining terms such as reconstruction, revival, and restaging. The method used in reconstructing Funeral March is explained, as are issues such as the myth of the original, maintaining the authenticity of dances from other eras, and the ethereal nature of all dances, whether remaining in the repertory or lost. Dance reconstruction, when correctly approached, is a vital part of dance history.

This chapter covers the second part of Funeral March, the Lyrical section. For this part of the ballet, we have only partial information, but it creates an outline as to how the dance might have looked. Using the dance vocabulary from other dances that George Balanchine created during this era, the process of filling in the holes in a lost dance to create a stage-worthy dance is explained. Choreographic ideas from the following Balanchine ballets are discussed: Apollo, La Nuit, Étude, Enigma, Valse Triste, and Waltz and Adagio.