The purpose of this paper is to inquire the origin of modern dance, and its evolution specific in light of modern dance teaching before 1940s, right before the beginning of the World War Ⅱ. It tracks back to the teaching methods of Francois Delsarte (1811-1871) and Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950) and then introduces their influences on new dance form in Germany and the United States. Both German and American heritages and developments will be brought out separately, and also the interaction between these two countries will be pointed out. The main representatives include Rudolf Laban (1879-1958), Mary Wigman (1886-1973), Kurt Jooss (1901-1979) in Germany, Isadora Duncan (1877-1927), Ruth St. Denis (1879-1968), Ted Shawn (1891-1972), Martha Graham (1894-1991), and Doris Humphrey (1895-1958) in the United States. In addition, as German modern dance declined with the defeat of war, American modern dance climbed another high peak and modern dance was brought into the higher education in 1930s. This resulted in the burgeoning of modern dance as a subject in educational system. Margaret H'Doubler (1889-1982) and Martha Hill (1901-1995) were key persons in that period of time, and their contributions will be stressed. Through what the modern dance has experienced in the past, it is expected that we are able to re-think about the essence of modern dance teaching while facing a new century, and re-create possible developments following those pioneers' steps of experimentation bravely.