John Martin, arguably the first modern dance critic in America and trail-blazer for the art form's validity in the public sector, first published The Modern Dance in 1933 and claimed it to be "perhaps the first attempt…to analyze the American modern dance." The book is the text of four lectures delivered by Martin at the New School for Social Research in New York City (1931-1932) on the dance form as a philosophic perspective.

Certain common principles underlie the many systems and methods of modern dancing, and these texts endeavor to discover a full explanation of the modern dance. The distinguishing characteristics—what it is made of and how it differs from other types of dance—form the starting point.

Martin discusses the dance form as a philosophic perspective, considering (among other topics) the basic experience of physical movement, the effectiveness of beauty in form, metakinesis, vertical and horizontal rhythms and divergent approaches to art. The content is organized in four parts: Characteristics of the Modern Dance; Form; Technique; The Dance and the Other Arts.