Immersion in the 1955 summer session of the Connecticut College School of Dance was a notable experience in my life. The opportunity to reminisce about Doris Humphrey and other seminal figures in residence in New London takes me on a splendid journey into the past. It was the eighth season of the American Dance Festival and the assembled artists/faculty represented the créme de la créme of modern dance. These teachers who inspired and nurtured approximately 160 students included: Louis Horst, assisted by Doris Rudko; Martha Graham with teachers from her company, David Wood and Alice Uchida; Margaret Dietz, a disciple of Mary Wigman; Pauline Koner, assisted by Lucy Venable; José Limón, assisted by Betty Jones; Lucas Hoving with his wife Lavina Nielsen; and the subject of this Centennial Celebration, Doris Humphrey, assisted by Ruth Currier. Other artists such as Pearl Lang and her company were in residence, but did not teach. In addition to these luminaries were composers, musicians, designers and critics. Norman and Ruth Lloyd, Simon Sadoff, Hazel Johnson, George McGeary, Pauline Lawrence, and George Beiswanger, among others, added their gifts to that summer's harvest.

The majority of the faculty not only taught but choreographed, performed, and/or directed work for the American Dance Festival scheduled for 18–20 August. Repertory for five different programs included seven premieres among the eighteen works of that season. Most of the pieces for the festival emanated from the Humphrey/Limón Group. Martha Graham, the other dominant artistic contingent, was not represented. Pearl Lang, long associated with Graham (as a principal soloist) presented her own choreography. The lineup of work by choreographer/performer members of the José Limón and Dance Company included: Limón (two new works); Hoving and Nielsen (two works, one of which was new); Currier (two new works); Koner, Guest Artist with the Limón Company (one new work); and Humphrey (one new work and one revival).