Published by The History Press
Charleston, SC
www.historypress.net
Copyright 2017 by Dagny McKinley
All rights reserved
First published 2017
e-book edition 2017
ISBN 978.1.43966.174.1
Library of Congress Control Number: 20179344932
print edition ISBN 978.1.62585.927.3
Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Art is born of nature.
Charlotte Perry
I hear that mountains are not considered permanently any morejust temporary properties that hump around and nudge and shove each other into new arrangements every million years or so. The Rockies especially are young upstarts.
So glad I passed their way.
Postcard from Portia to Charlotte
This book is dedicated to Rusty DeLucia and T. Ray Faulknerthe second generation of Perry-Mansfield.
To the generations that follow, may you feel the spirit of the wild and the swirling leaves of creativity in your souls as you step foot onto these sacred grounds.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book could not have been written without the help of so many people. A huge thank-you to Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp for giving me access to its archives. Much gratitude to the Steamboat Springs Arts Council and its Give Creativity a Shot Re-Grant Program for awarding me a grant to continue working on this book.
Thank you to the following institutions: Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection, Denver Public Library, History Colorado, New York Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Off the Beaten Path Bookstore, Rollins Academy and Smith College.
Thanks to Lucile Bogue for the extensive interviews she conducted and preserved while working on her book Dancers on Horseback. Additional thanks to Will Carpenter, Chris Compton, Tammy Dyke-Compton, Rusty DeLucia, Nancy Engelken, T. Ray Faulkner, Noel Hefty, Kim Keith, Wendy Kowynia, Joan Lazarus, Karolynn Lestrud, Ann Perry, Ditty Perry, Ken Perry, Leda Reed, Bruce Roach, Jim Steinberg, Lee Tillotson, Kay Uemura, Ingrid Wekerly, Bob Weiss, Holly Williams and Belle Zars.
My love and appreciation to my father for a place to work and all the support in the world, to my sister for the wine and dinners and taking care of me, to Tom Thurston for loving me and to Alma Rose for reminding me every day what joy is.
FOREWORDS
Perry Mansfield is one-of-a-kind, inspirational, spiritual and historical. The pioneers of modern dance helped to grow this program, and it is not an exaggeration to say that dance would not be where it is today without Perry-Mansfield. It is a part of our dance heritagewhere we as dancers come from. There is not another place on earth quite like it. It is life changing. It feeds the soul, rejuvenates the spirit and educates and challenges the artist. Perry-Mansfield is that rare place where you can develop your technique and artistry while you connect with nature, friends and history. Its what life is about!
Perry-Mansfield provides the artist-student with an opportunity to turn potential into skill through concentrated effort, while allowing the freedom to explore and discover. The history of this place seeps into your soul and changes who you are forever. It connects us to our dancing roots. It gives dancers a space where they focus only on themselves and their art form, while simultaneously diving into new friendships that will last a lifetime. At Perry-Mansfield, you escape the rest of the world. With no distractions (no television, no cellphones, no Internet), all you have is youyour mind, heart and soul, to take you on the journey, free to explore, learn and challenge your previous notions and ideas. Immersed in the beautiful mountains of Colorado, you are pushed as an artist to study more than your own craft. The dancers take acting, the actors take dance and all take visual art, as well as creative writing. All of these art forms support one another and work to create a complete artist. And that is our ultimate goal.
Tammy Dyke-Compton and Christopher Compton
Perry-Mansfield is, and shall always be, my home. From that magical moment in the summer of 1955, when I first set my wide, astonished eyes on the Rocky Mountainspeering through the dusty windows of an old diesel passenger train on my way to SteamboatI knew that this is where my soul lives!
Dagny McKinleys history of my beloved home has brought back childhood memories that Ill cherish forever! In fact, I remember remarking, that summer, that the stork had surely made a grave mistake when it dropped me in New York City!
Kingo, Helen, Portia, Perry-Mansfield and Steamboat Springs have shaped and molded who I am today. I am so grateful that Dagnys words have brought those wonderful years back to me so vividly!
Rusty DeLucia
INTRODUCTION
Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp is the oldest continually running performing arts camp in the United States. The camp was founded on the principles that an exploration of the arts in a natural setting would create new inspiration for art as well as allow for collaboration between artistic disciplines while challenging campers physically, artistically and emotionally. Charlotte (Kingo) Perry and Portia Mansfield spent their lives lifting people, encouraging others to follow their dreams no matter how impossible they appeared. They worked tirelessly, pursuing their passions until the day they died. They never looked back on life. They were too busy looking forward.
1887
On November 19, 1887, Portia Mansfield Swett was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Myra Swett and Edward R. Swett. Portias father worked in hotel management, and his career took the family from Chicago to Michigan, Florida and New York City. When Portia was six, her sister, Margery Petite Swett, was born. As children, they explored the woods and wilderness around them, transforming the woods into worlds spawned from their imaginations. As adults, they traveled the world. At an early age, Portia and her family moved to a dark hotel in a poor part of town. To escape the hotel, Portia
From there, her father moved to a position with the Del Prado Hotel in Chicago. This is where Portia gave her first dance performancesto boarders in the lobby, at least until one of the boarders asked her to sit on his lap. From Chicago, the family moved north to Michigans Lake Harbor Hotel and real winters. When she turned twelve, the family headed to Florida. During a train delay, the Swetts saw a circus parade through the window. A young woman jumped on the back of a horse and began dancing. Seeing her, Portia thought, At last! Ive found something I want to be. She declared, Im going to be a dancer on a horse in a circus.
