Ruth St. Denis in 1929, performing her dance Tagore Poem, photo by Soichi Sunami. “Miss Ruth” was a modern dance pioneer who, with her partner Ted Shawn, founded the Denishawn School in Los Angeles in 1915. The school taught all types of dance, as well as classes in gesture and Dalcroze eurythmics for silent film actors. Louise Brooks was their most famous Hollywood pupil.