The Life of Ruth St. DenisIn 1879, on a small farm in New Jersey, Ruth Dennis was born. She was the daughter of Ruth Emma Dennis, an extremely independent, determined and educated woman. His mother was a highly qualified doctor. At a very young age, Saint-Denis was encouraged to study dance. Her training included forms of social dancing and skirt dancing, lessons from Maria Bonfante, and the Delsarte.St technique. Denis's professional career began in 1892. In New York, she worked as a skirt dancer in museums and vaudeville houses. "Dime museums featured "leg dancers" in brief dance numbers. "# In this type of atmosphere, St. Denis was worked to the bone and forced to Perform your routine at least ten times a day. However, in 1898, David Belasco noticed young Ruth during one of her vaudeville performances. Belasco was a very successful and well-known Broadway producer and director. He hired Ruth to perform as a dancer in his company. He was also the one who gave him the stage name "St. Denis". Ruth St. Denis's popularity exploded in the United States and Europe as she toured with her production of "Zaza." During her tour, she was introduced to many influential artists, such as Japanese dancer Sado Yacco and English actress Sarah Bernhardt.St. Denis' creativity really started to flow after meeting these artists. She became extremely interested in Eastern cultures, such as those of Japan, India, and Egypt, and their dance and theater forms. Bernhardt's overly dramatic acting style also had a great influence on Saint-Denis. Ruth loved how the tragic fate of Bernhardt's characters always took center stage. After 1900, "St. Denis began to formulate his own theory of dance and theater based on the techniques of his early training, his readings on philosophy, Scientology, the history of ancient cultures" and the work of artists like Yacco and Bernhardt. A few years later, while touring with Belasco, she saw an advertisement for Egyptian cigarettes. The advertisement was simply an image of the Egyptian goddess Isis. Nevertheless, this simple image sparked Saint-Denis's imagination and she immediately began reading about Egypt. His interest in India soon followed.