The Dancer
Written By Lauragrace Rader
Carol Merrill Flower Layton was a local woman of many talents. From dancing, acting, teaching, and even marksmanship, she could do it all. Carol was born in Rapides Parish in 1899 to parents Charles Mulholland Flower and Caroline Merrill Flower. From a young age, she was excitingly independent and knew how to impress a crowd. On February 24, 1912, the West End Girls’ Gun Club held a celebration for the birthday of George Washington, with Sara Holloman as the host. This celebration of course included a marksmanship competition - it was a Gun Club after all. At just thirteen years old, Carol won first place for her shooting skills. She was quite the socialite, also serving as one of the hosts for the St. James Guild Silver Tea in 1915 at the home of C.N. Adams.
Carol Flower Layton (1899 - 1981)
Upon graduating from the High School of Alexandria, she spent the summer of 1919 in California with her brother, Carlos Flower, in order to further her dance training and give her a head start on entering the industry. During her time in California, Carol attended the Denishawn Academy located in Los Angeles. The Denishawn Academy was founded in 1915 by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. The two were a couple, working together to create the first dance academy in the United States that produced a professional company. Other attendees of this prestigious dance school include Martha Graham, Louise Brooks, Doris Humphrey, and Jack Cole. While they did offer many classes - including lectures, music, and fabric works - the main focus of the Denishawn school was ballet and modern dance.
In alignment with many dance instructors of the time and even today, Denis and Shawn insisted that ballet was the most fundamental aspect of dance, and the strongest building block to learn everything else, though they did offer other dance styles such as Hawaiian, Dalcroze, and Japanese sword dancing. Shawn examined each new student in an audition-style class in order to assess what level of class to assign them to. Classes at Denishawn were also structured the same way each time - this practice is still the standard for today. Jane Sherman, a possible classmate of Carol’s, explained class like this:
"A typical Denishawn class began at the barre; first came stretching, petits and grands battements, a series of plies in the five positions, sixteen measures of grande rondes de jambes, and thirty-two measures of petites rondes de jambes. These might be followed by slow relevés in arabesque, fast changes, entrechats, and exercises to prepare for fouettes. In short, the works! After ballet arm exercises out on the floor, we next worked to perfect our develops en tournant, our attitudes, our renverses, and our grande jetes."
The Town Talk (Alexandria, Louisiana) · Mon, Dec 29, 1919
Carol returned home in September, to begin her own career as a dance teacher in Alexandria. At Rapides Theatre, she choreographed “The Frolic of the Nymphs: Interpretive and Greek Dances,” which was performed on December 30, 1919. She also participated in the show, performing a piece titled “Incense.” Over the next few years, Carol established herself as a local teacher, choreographer, and performer. During this time, she taught another Monroe local, Emy-Lou Biedenharn, who noted her as a beloved teacher.
Carol Flower in The New York Times
In 1921, Carol expanded her horizons to New York City, perhaps one of the most innovative American cities when it comes to dance and performance. Being such a force on the stage, she had extraordinary luck in landing a role leading the Kalua dance in a new musical, “Good Morning Dearie,” which ran at the Globe Theater from November 1, 1921 to August 26, 1922. Her role in this show garnered much attention, both in New York and in her home of Louisiana. The New York Times featured a photo of her in costume, with the apt description of a “Southern Belle on a Broadway Stage.”
