Dyer-Bennet School – Aspen

Footage of men and women dancing, drumming, smoking, and hanging out inside a rustic wooden interior space, presumably the Dyer-Bennet School of Minstrely in Aspen, Colorado. Founded in 1947 by folk singer and “minstrel man” Richard Dyer-Bennet (1913-1991 and his wide Melvene, the school offered musical training as well as lessons in physical preparation, relaxation, individual posture correction, improvisational experience, body movement, primitive drumming, visual arts, and storytelling,” according to Paul Jenkin’s book Richard Dyer-Bennet: The Last Minstrel (2010). The footage includes images of students playing drums and dancing in and outdoors and of Richard Dyer-Bennet giving them instructions. This interior footage is followed by footage of men playing croquet outdoors. Woman and men are filmed performing modern dance movements outdoors against the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains. Millie Goldsholl can be seen dancing, playing piano, and drumming at various points in the film. The last shot on the reel is a double exposure / superimposition of nature footage (filmed from inside a train and a car) and a man, woman, and toddler. Dyer-Bennet School – Aspen is one of the earliest titles in the Goldsholl Collection.