Martha Graham

Martha Graham and Bertram Ross in Visionary Recital, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1961

Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 - April 1, 1991), an American dancer and choreographer, is known as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance. "Dancer of the Century" 1998,TIME Magazine

'"A National Treasure" - 1976, President Gerald Ford She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976 by President Gerald Ford (the First Lady Betty Ford had danced with Graham in her youth).

In 1998, TIME magazine listed her as the "Dancer of the Century" and as one of the most important people of the 20th century.

Early Life and influences

She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania and moved to California when she was 14 years old. After seeing Ruth St. Denis perform in 1910, she took an interest in dance. Not until the age of 22 (1916) did she pursue her interest professionally by enrolling at Denishawn. In 1925, Graham became a dance instructor at the Eastman School of Music and Theater in Rochester, New York. She later set out on her own with the support of Louis Horst, an accompanist whom she had got to know while training at Denishawn and who grew to be her musical mentor.

A new era in dance

Photo by Yousuf Karsh, 1948

In 1926, Graham founded her own company, the Martha Graham Dance Company. Her unique movement style — widely recognised for its principle of contraction and release — and imagery reflected the modern art of the times. In the 1930s, Graham taught at Bennington College and New York University where Martha Hill directed the dance departments. In 1951, Graham was a founding member of the dance division of the Juilliard School, also directed by Martha Hill. In 1936, Graham created her defining work, "Chronicle", which signalled the beginning of a new era in contemporary dance. The dance brought serious issues to the stage for the general public in a dramatic manner. Influenced by the Wall Street Crash, the Great Depression and the Spanish Civil War, it focused on depression and isolation, reflected in the dark nature of both the set and costumes.

Graham's dancing life gradually came to a rest starting in the 1950s. In 1927, the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance was established. One of her students was heiress Bethsabée de Rothschild with whom she became close friends. When Rothschild moved to Israel and established the Batsheva Dance Company in 1965, Graham became the company's first director, groomed its first generation of dancers, and made works for it.

In 1948, Graham married Erick Hawkins (a principal dancer in her company). She didn't want to marry, but after eight years of living together, she decided they should.

Her largest-scale work, the evening-length Clytemnestra, was created in 1958 and features a score by the Egyptian-born composer Halim El-Dabh.

Her final dance performances came in the late 1960s, and from then on she focused on choreography. Some critics say that even though there is little physical record of her dancing, it is more memorable than her choreography. Graham continued working until her death from pneumonia in 1991 at the age of 96.

Quotes

According to Agnes de Mille: "The greatest thing she ever said to me was in 1943 ... I was bewildered and worried that my entire scale of values was untrustworthy. ... I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be. Martha said to me, very quietly,"

'"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others"'

from The Life and Work of Martha Graham

"It was [Robert Edmond] Jones who used to say to his classes, Some of you are doomed to be artists. Martha picked up this phrase and used it many times thereafter.

from The Life and Work of Martha Graham

Dances

• 1944 - Appalachian Spring. Music by Aaron Copland.
• 1947 - Night Journey. Music by William Schuman.
• 1948 - Diversion of Angels. Music by Norman Dello Joio.
• 1950 - Judith. Music by William Schuman.
• 1955 - Seraphic Dialogue. Music by Norman Dello Joio.
• 1958 - Clytemnestra. Music by Halim El-Dabh.
• 1960 - Acrobats of God. Music by Carlos Surinach.
• 1960 - Alcestis. Music by Vivian Fine.
• 1961 - One More Gaudy Night. Music by Halim El-Dabh.
• 1962 - A Look at Lightning. Music by Halim El-Dabh.
• 1963 - Circe. Music by Alan Hovhaness.
• 1967 - Cortege of Eagles. Music by Eugene Lester.
• 1969 - The Archaic Hours. Music by Eugene Lester.
• 1973 - Myth of a Voyage. Music by Hovhaness]].
• 1975 - Lucifer. Music by Halim El-Dabh.

Early Dancers

Graham's own final performance was May 25, 1968, in A Time of Snow at the George Abbott Theater, NYC.

So many important dancers appeared in Graham's company that any listing involves editorial decisions that leave out deserving performers. Some lists made by scholars include:

"Graham's original girls were superb - Bessie Schonberg, Evelyn Sabin, Martha Hill, Gertrude Shurr, Anna Sokolov, Nelle Fisher, Dorothy Bird, Bonnie Bird, Sophie Maslow, May O'Donnell, Jane Dudley, Anita Alvarez, Pearl Lang - as were the second group - Yuriko, Ethel Butler, Ethel Winter, Jean Erdman, Patricia Birch, Nina Fonaroff, Matt Turney, Mary Hinkson. And the unforgettable group of men - Erick Hawkins, and after him Merce Cunningham, David Campbell, John Butler, Stuart Hodes, Glen Tetley, Betrtam Ross, Paul Taylor, Mark Ryder, William Carter."

Later Former Dancers

(in no particular order)

Elisa Monte, Takako Asakawa, Christine Dakin, Peggy Lyman, Terese Capucilli, Maxine Sherman, Joyce Herring, Jacqulyn Buglisi.

Dudley Williams, Tim Wengerd, Dan Wagoner, Donlin Foreman, Peter Sparling, Pascal Rioult, Kenneth Topping, Steve Rooks, Larry White.

External links

• Time Magazine: 100 Most Important People of the Century
• PBS:American Masters biography
• Kennedy Centery biography
• Martha Graham at the Internet Movie Database
• MarthaGrahamDance.org - Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance

Further Reading

• Graham, Martha (1991). Blood Memory: An autobiography. NYC: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-26503-4. 
• Freedman, Russell (1998). Martha Graham: A Dancer's Life. NYC: Clarion Books. ISBN 0-395-74655-8. 
• Horosko, Marian (2002). Martha Graham: The Evolution of Her Dance Theory and Training. Gainesville, FL: Univ. Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-2473-0. 
• Morgan, Barbara (1980). Martha Graham: Sixteen Dances in Photographs. Morgan & Morgan. ISBN 0-87100-176-4. 
• Tracy, Robert (1997). Goddess - Martha Graham's Dancers Remember. Pompton Plains, NJ: Limelight Editions. ISBN 0-87910-086-9. 
• Bird, Dorothy and Greenberg, Joyce (2002 reprint). Bird's Eye View: Dancing With Martha Graham and on Broadway. Pittsburgh, PA: Univ. of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-5791-4. 
• Taylor, Paul (1987). Private Domain: An Autobiography. NYC: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-51683-4. 
• Soares, Janet Mansfield (1992). Louis Horst: Musician in a Dancer's World. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-1226-3. 
• Hawkins, Erick (1992). The Body Is a Clear Place and Other Statements on Dance. Hightstown, NJ: Princeton Book Co. ISBN 0-87127-166-4. 

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