Martha Graham
Encyclopedia
Martha Graham was an American modern dance
r and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso
had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky
had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright
had on architecture.
She danced and choreographed for over seventy years. Graham was the first dancer ever to perform at the White House
, travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and receive the highest civilian award of the USA: the Presidential Medal of Freedom
. In her lifetime she received honors ranging from the Key to the City
of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown
. She said, "I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable."
, which today is part of Pittsburgh
, Pennsylvania, in 1894. Her father George Graham was what in the Victorian era
was known as an "alienist", a practitioner of an early form of psychiatry
. The Grahams were strict Presbyterians. Dr. Graham was a third generation American of Irish descent and her mother Jane Beers was a tenth generation descendant of Puritan
Miles Standish.
In the mid 1910s, she began her studies at the newly created Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts
, founded by Ruth St. Denis
and Ted Shawn
, at which she would stay till 1923.
where Rouben Mamoulian
was head of the School of Drama. Among other performances, together they produced a short two-color film called The Flute of Krishna, featuring Eastman students. Mamoulian left Eastman shortly thereafter and Graham chose to leave also, even though she was asked to stay on.
In 1926, the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance
was established. On April 18 of the same year, at the 48th Street Theatre, Graham debuted with her first independent concert, consisting of eighteen short solos and trios that she had choreographed. She would later say of the concert "Everything I did was influenced by Denishawn."
One of Graham's 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.
In 1936, Graham made her defining work, "Chronicle", which signaled the beginning of a new era in modern 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.
In 1938 Erick Hawkins
was the first man to dance with her company. The following year, he officially joined her troupe, dancing male lead in a number of Graham's works. They were married in 1948. He left her troupe in 1951 and they divorced in 1954.
Her largest-scale work, the evening-length Clytemnestra, was created in 1958, with a score by Egypt
ian-born composer Halim El-Dabh
. She also collaborated with composers including Aaron Copland
on Appalachian Spring
, Louis Horst
, Samuel Barber
, William Schuman
, Carlos Surinach
, Norman Dello Joio
, and Gian Carlo Menotti
. Graham's mother died in Santa Barbara in 1958. Her oldest friend and musical collaborator Louis Horst died in 1964. She said of Horst "His sympathy and understanding, but primarily his faith, gave me a landscape to move in. Without it, I should certainly have been lost."
There were a few notable exceptions to her dances being taped. For example, she worked on a limited basis with still photographers Imogen Cunningham
in the 1930s, and Barbara Morgan
in the 1940s. Graham considered Philippe Halsman
's photographs of "Dark Meadows" the most complete photographic record of any of her dances. Halsman also photographed in the 1940s: "Letter to the World", "Cave of the Heart", "Night Journey" and "Every Soul is a Circus". In later years her thinking on the matter evolved and others convinced her to let them recreate some of what was lost.
Graham started her career at an age that was considered late for a dancer. She was still dancing by the late 1960s and her works from this era included roles for herself which were more acted than danced and relied on the movement of the company dancing around her.
In her biography Martha Agnes de Mille
cites Graham's last performance as the evening of May 25, 1968, in a 'Time of Snow'. But in A Dancer's Life biographer Russell Freedman lists the year of Graham's final performance as 1969. In her 1991 autobiography Blood Memory Graham herself lists her final performance as her 1970 appearance in "Cortege of Eagles" when she was 76 years old.
In the years that followed her departure from the stage Graham sank into a deep depression fueled by views from the wings of young dancers performing many of the dances she had choreographed for herself and her former husband. Graham's health declined precipitously as she abused alcohol to numb her pain. In Blood Memory she wrote:
After a failed suicide attempt
she got hospitalised. Graham not only survived her hospital stay but she rallied. In 1972 she quit drinking, returned to her studio, reorganized her company and went on to choreograph ten new ballets and many revivals. Her last completed ballet was 1990's Maple Leaf Rag.
Graham choreographed until her death in New York City from pneumonia
in 1991, aged 96. She was cremated, and her ashes were spread over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains
in northern New Mexico
.
was to modern visual arts. Her impact has been also compared with the influence Stravinsky
had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright
had on architecture.
To celebrate her 117th birthday on May 11, 2011, Google
celebrated by turning their logo for one day into a logo dedicating the life and legacy of Graham.
in June 2008, a program consisting of: Ruth St. Denis
' The Incense; Graham's reconstruction of Ted Shawn
's Serenata Morisca; Graham's Lamentation; Yuriko
's reconstruction of Graham's Panorama, performed by dancers from Skidmore College
; excerpts from Yuriko's
and Graham's reconstruction of the latter's Chronicle from the Julien Bryan
film; Graham's Errand into the Maze and Maple Leaf Rag. The company also performed in 2007 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
, with a program consisting of: Appalachian Spring, Embattled Garden, Errand into the Maze, and American Original.
:
in 1976 by President Gerald Ford
(the First Lady
Betty Ford
had danced with Graham in her youth). Ford declared her "a national treasure".
Graham was inducted into the National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame
in 1987.
In 1998 Graham was named "Dancer of the Century" by Time Magazine, and one of the female "Icons of the Century" by People Magazine. The New York Times called her a "brilliant, young dancer".
, Gertrude Shurr, Anna Sokolow
, 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 group of men – Erick Hawkins
, and after him Merce Cunningham
, David Campbell, John Butler, Robert Cohan, Stuart Hodes, Glen Tetley
, Bertram Ross, Paul Taylor, Mark Ryder, William Carter."
Modern dance
Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...
r and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
had on architecture.
She danced and choreographed for over seventy years. Graham was the first dancer ever to perform at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and receive the highest civilian award of the USA: the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
. In her lifetime she received honors ranging from the Key to the City
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown
Order of the Precious Crown
The Order of the Precious Crown is a Japanese order, established on January 4, 1888 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. Originally the order had five classes, but on April 13, 1896 the sixth, seventh and eighth classes were added....
. She said, "I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable."
Early life
Graham was born in Allegheny CityAllegheny, Pennsylvania
Allegheny City was a Pennsylvania municipality located on the north side of the junction of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, across from downtown Pittsburgh. It was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907...
, which today is part of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Pennsylvania, in 1894. Her father George Graham was what in the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
was known as an "alienist", a practitioner of an early form of psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
. The Grahams were strict Presbyterians. Dr. Graham was a third generation American of Irish descent and her mother Jane Beers was a tenth generation descendant of Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
Miles Standish.
In the mid 1910s, she began her studies at the newly created Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts
Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts
The Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts, founded in 1915 by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn in Los Angeles, California, helped many perfect their dancing talents. Some of the school's more notable pupils include Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, Jack Cole, and silent film star...
, founded by Ruth St. Denis
Ruth St. Denis
Ruth St. Denis was an early modern dance pioneer.-Biography:Ruth St. Denis founded Adelphi University's dance program in 1938 which was one of the first dance departments in an American university...
and Ted Shawn
Ted Shawn
Ted Shawn , originally Edwin Myers Shawn, was one of the first notable male pioneers of American modern dance. Along with creating Denishawn with former wife Ruth St. Denis he is also responsible for the creation of the well known all-male company Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers...
, at which she would stay till 1923.
New era in dance
In 1925, Graham was employed at the Eastman School of MusicEastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
where Rouben Mamoulian
Rouben Mamoulian
Rouben Mamoulian was an Armenian-American film and theatre director.-Biography:Born in Tbilisi, Georgia to an Armenian family, Rouben relocated to England and started directing plays in London in 1922...
was head of the School of Drama. Among other performances, together they produced a short two-color film called The Flute of Krishna, featuring Eastman students. Mamoulian left Eastman shortly thereafter and Graham chose to leave also, even though she was asked to stay on.
In 1926, the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance
Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance
Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance is located in New York City and is the headquarter to the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and the Martha Graham Dance Company, which is the oldest continually performing dance company in the world....
was established. On April 18 of the same year, at the 48th Street Theatre, Graham debuted with her first independent concert, consisting of eighteen short solos and trios that she had choreographed. She would later say of the concert "Everything I did was influenced by Denishawn."
One of Graham's students was heiress Bethsabée de Rothschild
Bethsabée de Rothschild
Baroness Bethsabée de Rothschild Baroness Bethsabée de Rothschild Baroness Bethsabée de Rothschild (name sometimes spelled Batsheva (September 23, 1914, in London - April 20, 1999, in Tel Aviv, Israel) was a philanthropist, a patron of dance, and member of the Rothschild banking family.-Biography:...
with whom she became close friends. When Rothschild moved to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and established the Batsheva Dance Company
Batsheva Dance Company
The Batsheva Dance Company is an internationally acclaimed dance company based in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was founded by Martha Graham and Baroness Batsheva De Rothschild in 1964....
in 1965, Graham became the company's first director.
In 1936, Graham made her defining work, "Chronicle", which signaled the beginning of a new era in modern 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.
In 1938 Erick Hawkins
Erick Hawkins
Frederick Hawkins known as Erick Hawkins was a leading American modern-dance choreographer and dancer...
was the first man to dance with her company. The following year, he officially joined her troupe, dancing male lead in a number of Graham's works. They were married in 1948. He left her troupe in 1951 and they divorced in 1954.
Her largest-scale work, the evening-length Clytemnestra, was created in 1958, with a score by Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian-born composer Halim El-Dabh
Halim El-Dabh
Halim Abdul Messieh El-Dabh is an Egyptian-born American composer, performer, ethnomusicologist, and educator, who has had a career spanning six decades...
. She also collaborated with composers including Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
on Appalachian Spring
Appalachian Spring
Appalachian Spring is a modern score composed by Aaron Copland that premiered in 1944 and has achieved widespread and enduring popularity as an orchestral suite...
, Louis Horst
Louis Horst
Louis Horst was a choreographer, composer, and pianist...
, Samuel Barber
Samuel Barber
Samuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
, William Schuman
William Schuman
William Howard Schuman was an American composer and music administrator.-Life:Born in Manhattan in New York City to Samuel and Rachel Schuman, Schuman was named after the twenty-seventh U.S. president, William Howard Taft, although his family preferred to call him Bill...
, Carlos Surinach
Carlos Surinach
Carlos Surinach was a Catalan Spanish-born composer and conductor.He was born in Barcelona, where he held conducting posts at the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona and the Gran Teatre del Liceu...
, Norman Dello Joio
Norman Dello Joio
- Life :He was born Nicodemo DeGioio in New York City to Italian immigrants. He began his musical career as organist and choir director at the Star of the Sea Church on City Island in New York at age 14. His father was an organist, pianist, and vocal coach and coached many opera stars from the...
, and Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
. Graham's mother died in Santa Barbara in 1958. Her oldest friend and musical collaborator Louis Horst died in 1964. She said of Horst "His sympathy and understanding, but primarily his faith, gave me a landscape to move in. Without it, I should certainly have been lost."
There were a few notable exceptions to her dances being taped. For example, she worked on a limited basis with still photographers Imogen Cunningham
Imogen Cunningham
Imogen Cunningham was an American photographer known for her photography of botanicals, nudes and industry.-Life and career:...
in the 1930s, and Barbara Morgan
Barbara Morgan (photographer)
Barbara Morgan was an American photographer best known for her work in dance. She was a co-founder of the photography magazine Aperture.- Biography :...
in the 1940s. Graham considered Philippe Halsman
Philippe Halsman
Philippe Halsman was an American portrait photographer.-Life and work:Born to a Jewish family of Morduch Halsman, a dentist, and Ita Grintuch, a grammar school principal, in Riga, Halsman studied electrical engineering in Dresden....
's photographs of "Dark Meadows" the most complete photographic record of any of her dances. Halsman also photographed in the 1940s: "Letter to the World", "Cave of the Heart", "Night Journey" and "Every Soul is a Circus". In later years her thinking on the matter evolved and others convinced her to let them recreate some of what was lost.
In her biography Martha Agnes de Mille
Agnes de Mille
Agnes George de Mille was an American dancer and choreographer.-Early years:Agnes de Mille was born in New York City into a well-connected family of theater professionals. Her father William C. deMille and her uncle Cecil B. DeMille were both Hollywood directors...
cites Graham's last performance as the evening of May 25, 1968, in a 'Time of Snow'. But in A Dancer's Life biographer Russell Freedman lists the year of Graham's final performance as 1969. In her 1991 autobiography Blood Memory Graham herself lists her final performance as her 1970 appearance in "Cortege of Eagles" when she was 76 years old.
In the years that followed her departure from the stage Graham sank into a deep depression fueled by views from the wings of young dancers performing many of the dances she had choreographed for herself and her former husband. Graham's health declined precipitously as she abused alcohol to numb her pain. In Blood Memory she wrote:
It wasn't until years after I had relinquished a ballet that I could bear to watch someone else dance it. I believe in never looking back, never indulging in nostalgia, or reminiscing. Yet how can you avoid it when you look on stage and see a dancer made up to look as you did thirty years ago, dancing a ballet you created with someone you were then deeply in love with, your husband? I think that is a circle of hell DanteDANTEDelivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
omitted.
[When I stopped dancing] I had lost my will to live. I stayed home alone, ate very little, and drank too much and brooded. My face was ruined, and people say I looked odd, which I agreed with. Finally my system just gave in. I was in the hospital for a long time, much of it in a coma.
After a failed suicide attempt
Failed suicide attempt
Failed suicide attempts comprise a large portion of suicide attempts. Some are regarded as not true attempts at all, but rather parasuicide. The usual attempt may be a wish to affect another person by the behaviour. Consequently, it occurs in a social context and may represent a request for help....
she got hospitalised. Graham not only survived her hospital stay but she rallied. In 1972 she quit drinking, returned to her studio, reorganized her company and went on to choreograph ten new ballets and many revivals. Her last completed ballet was 1990's Maple Leaf Rag.
Graham choreographed until her death in New York City from pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
in 1991, aged 96. She was cremated, and her ashes were spread over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains
Sangre de Cristo Mountains
The Sangre de Cristo Mountains are the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States...
in northern New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
.
Influence and legacy
Graham has been sometimes termed the "Picasso of Dance," in that her importance and influence to modern dance can be considered equivalent to what Pablo PicassoPablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
was to modern visual arts. Her impact has been also compared with the influence Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
had on architecture.
To celebrate her 117th birthday on May 11, 2011, Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
celebrated by turning their logo for one day into a logo dedicating the life and legacy of Graham.
Martha Graham Dance Company
The Martha Graham Dance Company is the oldest dance company in America, and continues to perform, including at the Saratoga Performing Arts CenterSaratoga Performing Arts Center
The Saratoga Performing Arts Center is an amphitheater in Saratoga Springs, New York, which presents summer festivals of all kinds of music , dance, and opera, as well as a Wine & Food Festival...
in June 2008, a program consisting of: Ruth St. Denis
Ruth St. Denis
Ruth St. Denis was an early modern dance pioneer.-Biography:Ruth St. Denis founded Adelphi University's dance program in 1938 which was one of the first dance departments in an American university...
' The Incense; Graham's reconstruction of Ted Shawn
Ted Shawn
Ted Shawn , originally Edwin Myers Shawn, was one of the first notable male pioneers of American modern dance. Along with creating Denishawn with former wife Ruth St. Denis he is also responsible for the creation of the well known all-male company Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers...
's Serenata Morisca; Graham's Lamentation; Yuriko
Yuriko (dancer)
Yuriko Kikuchi , known to audiences by her stage name Yuriko, is an American dancer and choreographer. She is best known for her work with the Martha Graham Dance Company....
's reconstruction of Graham's Panorama, performed by dancers from Skidmore College
Skidmore College
Skidmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,500 students. The college is located in the town of Saratoga Springs, New York State....
; excerpts from Yuriko's
Yuriko (dancer)
Yuriko Kikuchi , known to audiences by her stage name Yuriko, is an American dancer and choreographer. She is best known for her work with the Martha Graham Dance Company....
and Graham's reconstruction of the latter's Chronicle from the Julien Bryan
Julien Bryan
Julien Hequembourg Bryan was an American photographer, filmmaker and documentarian. He is best known for documenting the daily life in Poland, Soviet Union and Nazi Germany between 1935 and 1939....
film; Graham's Errand into the Maze and Maple Leaf Rag. The company also performed in 2007 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues...
, with a program consisting of: Appalachian Spring, Embattled Garden, Errand into the Maze, and American Original.
Quotations
According to Agnes de MilleAgnes de Mille
Agnes George de Mille was an American dancer and choreographer.-Early years:Agnes de Mille was born in New York City into a well-connected family of theater professionals. Her father William C. deMille and her uncle Cecil B. DeMille were both Hollywood directors...
:
The greatest thing she ever said to me was in 1943 after the opening of Oklahoma!Oklahoma!Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
, when I suddenly had unexpected, flamboyant success for a work I thought was only fairly good, after years of neglect for work I thought was fine. I was bewildered and worried that my entire scale of values was untrustworthy. I talked to Martha. I remember the conversation well. It was in a Schrafft's restaurant over a soda. 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."
Accolades
Graham was awarded the Presidential Medal of FreedomPresidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
in 1976 by President Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
(the First Lady
First Lady
First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime...
Betty Ford
Betty Ford
Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Warren Ford , better known as Betty Ford, was First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977 during the presidency of her husband Gerald Ford...
had danced with Graham in her youth). Ford declared her "a national treasure".
Graham was inducted into the National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame
National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame, in the Saratoga Spa State Park, Saratoga, New York, was established in 1986 and is the only museum in the nation dedicated entirely to dance. It contains photographs, videos, artifacts, costumes and biographies. The museum is located in the former and...
in 1987.
In 1998 Graham was named "Dancer of the Century" by Time Magazine, and one of the female "Icons of the Century" by People Magazine. The New York Times called her a "brilliant, young dancer".
Choreography
| Year | Performance | Music | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1926 | Chorale | César Franck César Franck César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck was a composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life.... |
|
| 1926 | Novelette | Robert Schumann Robert Schumann Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era.... |
|
| 1927 | Lugubre | Alexander Scriabin Alexander Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,... |
|
| 1927 | Revolt | Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born... |
|
| 1927 | Fragilité | Scriabin | |
| 1927 | Scherza | Robert Schumann | |
| 1929 | Figure of a Saint | George Frideric Handel George Frideric Handel George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music... |
|
| 1929 | Resurrection | Tibor Harsanyi Tibor Harsanyi Tibor Harsányi was a Hungarian-born composer and pianist.He studied at the Budapest Conservatory under Zoltán Kodály. He toured as a pianist around Europe and the Pacific, then settled in Holland in 1920, and worked there as a pianist, conductor and composer before relocating to Paris in 1923... |
|
| 1929 | Adolescence | Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child... |
|
| 1929 | Danza | Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality... |
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| 1929 | "Vision of the Apocalypse" | Hermann Reutter | |
| 1929 | Moment Rustica | Francis Poulenc Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music... |
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| 1929 | Heretic | from folklore | old Breton Breton people The Bretons are an ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain in waves from the 3rd to 6th century into the Armorican peninsula, subsequently named Brittany after them.The... song—de Sivry |
| 1930 | Lamentation | Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is best known internationally as the creator of the Kodály Method.-Life:Born in Kecskemét, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child.... |
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| 1930 | Harlequinade | Ernst Toch Ernst Toch Ernst Toch was a composer of classical music and film scores.- Biography :Toch, born in Leopoldstadt, Vienna, into the family of a humble Jewish leather dealer when the city was at its 19th-century cultural zenith, sought throughout his life to introduce new approaches to music... |
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| 1931 | Primitive Mysteries | Louis Horst Louis Horst Louis Horst was a choreographer, composer, and pianist... |
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| 1931 | Bacchanale | Wallingford Riegger Wallingford Riegger Wallingford Constantine Riegger was a prolific American music composer, well known for orchestral and modern dance music, and film scores... |
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| 1931 | Dolorosa | Heitor Villa-Lobos Heitor Villa-Lobos Heitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known and most significant Latin American composer to date. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works... |
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| 1933 | Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev) Romeo and Juliet is a ballet by Sergei Prokofiev based on William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It is one of the most enduringly popular ballets... |
dance sequences for a Katharine Cornell Katharine Cornell Katharine Cornell was an American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born to American parents and raised in Buffalo, New York.Cornell is known as the greatest American stage actress of the 20th century... production |
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| 1935 | Praeludium | Paul Nordoff Paul Nordoff Paul Nordoff was an American composer and music therapist. His music is generally tonal and neo-Romantic in style.-Career:... |
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| 1935 | Frontier | Louis Horst Louis Horst Louis Horst was a choreographer, composer, and pianist... |
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| 1935 | Course | George Antheil George Antheil George Antheil was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author and inventor. A self-described "Bad Boy of Music", his modernist compositions amazed and appalled listeners in Europe and the US during the 1920s with their cacophonous celebration of mechanical devices.Returning permanently to... |
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| 1936 | Steps in the Street | part of Chronicle | |
| 1936 | Chronicle | Wallingford Riegger | lighting by Jean Rosenthal Jean Rosenthal Jean Rosenthal is considered a pioneer in the field of theatrical lighting design. She was born in New York City to Romanian-Jewish immigrants.... |
| 1936 | Horizons | Louis Horst | |
| 1936 | Salutation | Lehman Engel Lehman Engel Lehman Engel was an American composer and conductor of Broadway musicals, television and film.-Work in theatre, television and films:... |
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| 1937 | Deep Song | Henry Cowell Henry Cowell Henry Cowell was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario. His contribution to the world of music was summed up by Virgil Thomson, writing in the early 1950s:... |
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| 1937 | Opening Dance | Norman Lloyd Norman Lloyd Norman Lloyd is an American actor, producer, and director with a career in entertainment spanning more than seven decades. Lloyd, who currently resides in Los Angeles, has appeared in over sixty films and television shows.... |
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| 1937 | Immediate Tragedy | Henry Cowell | |
| 1937 | American Lyric | Alex North Alex North Alex North was an American composer who wrote the first jazz-based film score and one of the first modernist scores written in Hollywood .... |
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| 1938 | American Document | Ray Green | |
| 1939 | Columbiad | Louis Horst | |
| 1939 | Every Soul is a Circus | Paul Nordoff | |
| 1940 | El Penitente | Louis Horst | |
| 1940 | Letter to the World | Hunter Johnson | |
| 1941 | Punch and the Judy | Robert McBride | |
| 1942 | Land Be Bright | Arthur Kreutz Arthur Kreutz Arthur Kreutz was an American composer. He was famous for the Paul Bunyan Suite and the Dixie Concerto. He also composed the score to Martha Graham's 1942 ballet Land Be Bright.-Notes:... |
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| 1943 | Deaths and Entrances | Hunter Johnson | |
| 1943 | Salem Shore | Paul Nordoff | |
| 1944 | Appalachian Spring Appalachian Spring Appalachian Spring is a modern score composed by Aaron Copland that premiered in 1944 and has achieved widespread and enduring popularity as an orchestral suite... |
Aaron Copland Aaron Copland Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"... |
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| 1944 | Imagined Wing | Darius Milhaud | |
| 1944 | Hérodiade | Paul Hindemith | |
| 1946 | Dark Meadow | Carlos Chávez Carlos Chávez Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six Symphonies, his Symphony No... |
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| 1946 | Cave of the Heart | Samuel Barber Samuel Barber Samuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music... |
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| 1947 | Errand into the Maze | Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular... |
sets by Isamu Noguchi Isamu Noguchi was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,... and lighting by Jean Rosenthal |
| 1947 | Night Journey, Martha Graham | William Schuman William Schuman William Howard Schuman was an American composer and music administrator.-Life:Born in Manhattan in New York City to Samuel and Rachel Schuman, Schuman was named after the twenty-seventh U.S. president, William Howard Taft, although his family preferred to call him Bill... |
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| 1948 | Diversion of Angels | Norman Dello Joio Norman Dello Joio - Life :He was born Nicodemo DeGioio in New York City to Italian immigrants. He began his musical career as organist and choir director at the Star of the Sea Church on City Island in New York at age 14. His father was an organist, pianist, and vocal coach and coached many opera stars from the... |
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| 1950 | Judith | William Schuman | |
| 1951 | The Triumph of St. Joan The Triumph of St. Joan The Triumph of St. Joan was originally an opera in three acts by Norman Dello Joio to an English language libretto on the subject of the martyrdom of Joan of Arc by Dello Joio and Joseph Machilis. It was premiered at Sarah Lawrence College on May 9, 1950. Although the opera was received positively,... |
Norman Dello Joio | |
| 1954 | Ardent Song | Alan Hovhaness Alan Hovhaness Alan Hovhaness was an Armenian-American composer.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation... |
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| 1955 | Seraphic Dialogue | Norman Dello Joio | |
| 1958 | Clytemnestra | Halim El-Dabh Halim El-Dabh Halim Abdul Messieh El-Dabh is an Egyptian-born American composer, performer, ethnomusicologist, and educator, who has had a career spanning six decades... |
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| 1958 | Embattled Garden | Carlos Surinach Carlos Surinach Carlos Surinach was a Catalan Spanish-born composer and conductor.He was born in Barcelona, where he held conducting posts at the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona and the Gran Teatre del Liceu... |
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| 1959 | Episodes Episodes (ballet) Episodes is a two-part ballet made by Martha Graham and George Balanchine to Anton von Webern's Symphony, Op. 21; Five Pieces, Op. 10; Concerto, Op. 24; and the Ricercata in Six Voices from Bach's Musical Offering which Webern had arranged in homage to Bach as Balanchine conceived the ballet as... |
Anton Webern Anton Webern Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of... |
commissioned by New York City Ballet New York City Ballet New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company... |
| 1960 | Acrobats of God | Carlos Surinach | |
| 1960 | Alcestis | Vivian Fine Vivian Fine Vivian Fine was an American composer.Over her 70 year career, Vivian Fine became one of America’s most important composers. She wrote virtually without a break for 68 years, producing over 140 works... |
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| 1961 | Visionary Recital | Robert Starer Robert Starer Robert Starer was an Austrian-born American composer and pianist.Robert Starer began studying the piano at age 4 and continued his studies at the Vienna State Academy... |
revised as Samson Agonistes in 1962 |
| 1961 | One More Gaudy Night | Halim El-Dabh | |
| 1962 | Phaedra | Robert Starer | |
| 1962 | A Look at Lightning | Halim El-Dabh | |
| 1962 | Secular Games | Robert Starer | |
| 1962 | Legend of Judith | Mordecai Seter | |
| 1963 | Circe | Alan Hovhaness | |
| 1965 | The Witch of Endor | William Schuman | |
| 1967 | Cortege of Eagles | Eugene Lester | |
| 1968 | A Time of Snow | Norman Dello Joio | |
| 1968 | Plain of Prayer | Eugene Lester | |
| 1968 | The Lady of the House of Sleep | Robert Starer | |
| 1969 | The Archaic Hours | Eugene Lester | |
| 1973 | Mendicants of Evening | David G. Walker David G. Walker David G Walker is a British pianist, singer and composer based in London and sometime Victoria, Australia, known for his distinctive performances of rock and roll classics, original songs and church worship songs.-Biography:... |
revised as Chronique in 1974 |
| 1973 | Myth of a Voyage | Alan Hovhaness | |
| 1974 | Holy Jungle | Robert Starer | |
| 1974 | Jacob's Dream | Mordecai Seter | |
| 1975 | Lucifer | Halim El-Dabh | |
| 1975 | Adorations | Mateo Albéniz Mateo Albéniz Mateo Albéniz, also known as Mateo Antonio Pérez de Albéniz no relation to the better known composer Isaac Albénizwas a Spanish composer and priest.... Domenico Cimarosa Domenico Cimarosa Domenico Cimarosa was an Italian opera composer of the Neapolitan school... John Dowland John Dowland John Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, singer, and lutenist. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" , "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and has... Girolamo Frescobaldi Girolamo Frescobaldi Girolamo Frescobaldi was a musician from Ferrara, one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. A child prodigy, Frescobaldi studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi in Ferrara, but was influenced by a large number of composers, including Ascanio... |
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| 1975 | Point of Crossing | Mordecai Seter | |
| 1975 | The Scarlet Letter | Hunter Johnson | |
| 1977 | O Thou Desire Who Art About to Sing | Meyer Kupferman Meyer Kupferman Meyer Kupferman was a prolific American composer and clarinetist.-Life:Meyer Kupferman was born in New York City. A self taught composer, Kupferman first gained attention in the late 1940s when his early opera "In A Garden" was premiered at the Tanglewood and Edinburgh Festivals. From 1951 to 1993... |
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| 1977 | Shadows | Gian Carlo Menotti | |
| 1978 | The Owl and the Pussycat | Carlos Surinach | |
| 1978 | Ecuatorial | Edgard Varèse Edgard Varèse Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, , whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States.... |
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| 1978 | Flute of Pan | Traditional music. | |
| 1978 or 1979 | Frescoes | Samuel Barber | |
| 1979 | Episodes (ballet) Episodes (ballet) Episodes is a two-part ballet made by Martha Graham and George Balanchine to Anton von Webern's Symphony, Op. 21; Five Pieces, Op. 10; Concerto, Op. 24; and the Ricercata in Six Voices from Bach's Musical Offering which Webern had arranged in homage to Bach as Balanchine conceived the ballet as... |
Anton Webern | reconstructed and reworked |
| 1980 | Judith | Edgard Varèse | |
| 1981 | Acts of Light | Carl Nielsen Carl Nielsen Carl August Nielsen , , widely recognised as Denmark's greatest composer, was also a conductor and a violinist. Brought up by poor but musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he demonstrated his musical abilities at an early age... |
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| 1982 | Dances of the Golden Hall | Andrzej Panufnik Andrzej Panufnik Sir Andrzej Panufnik was a Polish composer, pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He became established as one of the leading Polish composers, and as a conductor he was instrumental in the re-establishment of the Warsaw Philharmonic orchestra after World War II... |
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| 1982 | Andromanche's Lament | Samuel Barber | |
| 1983 | Phaedra's Dream | George Crumb George Crumb George Crumb is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He is noted as an explorer of unusual timbres, alternative forms of notation, and extended instrumental and vocal techniques. Examples include seagull effect for the cello , metallic vibrato for the piano George Crumb (born... |
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| 1984 | The Rite of Spring The Rite of Spring The Rite of Spring, original French title Le sacre du printemps , is a ballet with music by Igor Stravinsky; choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky; and concept, set design and costumes by Nicholas Roerich... |
Igor Stravinsky | |
| 1985 | Song | Romanian folk music Folk music Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers.... |
played on the pan flute Pan flute The pan flute or pan pipe is an ancient musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting usually of five or more pipes of gradually increasing length... by Gheorghe Zamfir Gheorghe Zamfir Gheorghe Zamfir is a Romanian pan flute musician.Zamfir is known for playing an expanded version of the traditional Romanian-style pan flute of 20 pipes to 22, 25, 28 and 30 pipes to increase its range, and obtaining as many as eight overtones from each pipe by changing the embouchure.He is... with Marcel Cellier Marcel Cellier Marcel Cellier is a Swiss organist, ethnomusicologist and music producer, internationally known for his Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares project presenting Bulgarian traditional music and his work with Gheorghe Zamfir.... on the organ |
| 1986 | Temptations of the Moon | Béla Bartók Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer... |
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| 1986 | Tangled Night | Klaus Egge Klaus Egge Klaus Egge was a Norwegian composer and music critic. His music, often called a stream of will, is characterized by polyphony and a strong rhythmical energy.-Music:... |
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| 1987 | Perséphone Perséphone (Stravinsky) Perséphone is a musical work for speaker, solo singers, chorus, dancers and orchestra with music by Igor Stravinsky and a libretto by André Gide.... |
Igor Stravinsky | |
| 1988 | Night Chant | R. Carlos Nakai R. Carlos Nakai Raymond Carlos “R.” Nakai is a Native American flautist of Navajo/Ute heritage.-Biography:Born Ray Carlos Nakai, in Flagstaff, Arizona, he released his first album, Changes, in 1983... |
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| 1990 | Maple Leaf Rag Maple Leaf Rag The "Maple Leaf Rag" is an early ragtime musical composition for piano composed by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's early works, and is one of the most famous of all ragtime pieces, and became the model for ragtime compositions by subsequent composers. As a result Joplin was called the "King... |
Scott Joplin Scott Joplin Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was later dubbed "The King of Ragtime". During his brief career, Joplin wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas... |
costumes by Calvin Klein Calvin Klein Calvin Richard Klein is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc. in 1968. In addition to clothing, Klein has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewelry.... |
| 1991 | The Eyes of the Goddess | unfinished |
Early dancers
"Graham's original girls were superb – Bessie Schonberg, Evelyn Sabin, Martha HillMartha Hill
Martha Hill was one of the most influential American dance instructors in history. She was the first Director of Dance at the Juilliard School, and held that position for almost 35 years.-Biography:...
, Gertrude Shurr, Anna Sokolow
Anna Sokolow
Anna Sokolow was a Jewish American dancer and choreographer.-Training:...
, Nelle Fisher, Dorothy Bird, Bonnie Bird, Sophie Maslow
Sophie Maslow
Sophie Maslow was an American choreographer, modern dancer and teacher, and founding member of New Dance Group. She was a first cousin of the American sculptor Leonard Baskin....
, May O'Donnell
May O'Donnell
May O'Donnell was an American modern dancer and choreographer.Born in Sacramento, California, May O'Donnell studied dance in San Francisco with Estelle Reed and performed in Reed's company before moving to New York City to study with Martha Graham...
, Jane Dudley
Jane Dudley
For other people named Jane Dudley, see Jane Dudley, Duchess of Northumberland and Lady Jane GreyJane Dudley was an American modern dancer, choreographer, and teacher.-Biography:...
, Anita Alvarez, Pearl Lang
Pearl Lang
Pearl Lang was an American dancer, choreographer and teacher renowned as an interpreter and propagator of the choreography style of Martha Graham, and also for her own longtime dance company, the Pearl Lang Dance Theater....
– as were the second group – Yuriko
Yuriko (dancer)
Yuriko Kikuchi , known to audiences by her stage name Yuriko, is an American dancer and choreographer. She is best known for her work with the Martha Graham Dance Company....
, Ethel Butler, Ethel Winter, Jean Erdman
Jean Erdman
Jean Erdman is a dancer and choreographer of modern dance as well as an avant-garde theater director.-Early years:Erdman was born on February 20, 1916 in Honolulu, Hawaii...
, Patricia Birch
Patricia Birch
Patricia Birch is an American choreographer and director for musical theatre and film.Born in Englewood, New Jersey, Birch began her career as a dancer in Broadway musicals, including Brigadoon, Goldilocks, and West Side Story . She has directed and choreographed music videos for Cyndi Lauper, the...
, Nina Fonaroff, Matt Turney, Mary Hinkson. And the group of men – Erick Hawkins
Erick Hawkins
Frederick Hawkins known as Erick Hawkins was a leading American modern-dance choreographer and dancer...
, and after him Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham
Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance...
, David Campbell, John Butler, Robert Cohan, Stuart Hodes, Glen Tetley
Glen Tetley
Glen Tetley was an American ballet and modern dancer as well as a choreographer who mixed ballet and modern dance to create a new way of looking at dance, and is best known for his piece Pierrot Lunaire.-Biography:Glenford Andrew Tetley, Jr. was born on February 3, 1926 in Cleveland, Ohio...
, Bertram Ross, Paul Taylor, Mark Ryder, William Carter."
See also
- 20th century concert dance20th century concert dance20th century concert dance is the name given to a category of dance forms that include:* Free dance* Modern dance* Expressionist dance* Postmodern dance* Dance improvisation* Contemporary dance* Dance for camera...
- American Dance FestivalAmerican Dance FestivalThe American Dance Festival is a six and four-week school for dance and a six-week summer festival of modern dance performances, currently held at Duke University and the Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, North Carolina....
- Christine DakinChristine DakinChristine Dakin, dancer - teacher - director, a foremost exponent of the Martha Graham repertory and technique, is known for her performances of Ms. Graham's roles and for those created for her by Martha Graham and artists such as Robert Wilson, Twyla Tharp and Martha Clarke...
- List of dance companies
- Postmodern dancePostmodern dancePostmodern dance is a 20th century concert dance form. A reaction to the compositional and presentation constraints of modern dance, postmodern dance hailed the use of everyday movement as valid performance art and advocated novel methods of dance composition....
- Terese CapucilliTerese CapucilliTERESE CAPUCILLITerese Capucilli came into her own as the most powerful dramatic dancer of the decade.Anna Kisselgoff, New York Times 1984She is a performer of prodigious physical prowess and generous personality, of burning passion,...
External links
- Martha Graham at Find a Grave
- An Athlete of God: The Personal Essay of Martha Graham
- PBS:American Masters biography
- Kennedy Center biography
- MarthaGraham.org – Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance
- University of Pittsburgh online text
- MySpace.com/marthagrahamdancecompany – "MySpace site run by dancers of the Martha Graham Dance Company"
- BlackHistoryDaily.com – Martha Graham
- http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70C17FC3E54127B93C5A9178DD85F4D8585F9NY Times review by John MartinJohn Martin (dance critic)John Martin became America’s first major dance critic in 1927. Focusing his efforts on propelling the modern dance movement, he greatly influenced the careers of dancers such as Martha Graham...
, June 7, 1959] of EpisodesEpisodes (ballet)Episodes is a two-part ballet made by Martha Graham and George Balanchine to Anton von Webern's Symphony, Op. 21; Five Pieces, Op. 10; Concerto, Op. 24; and the Ricercata in Six Voices from Bach's Musical Offering which Webern had arranged in homage to Bach as Balanchine conceived the ballet as... - Read about the reconstruction of Clytemnestra at The Clytemnestra Project Site
- Batsheva Dance Company: From Graham to Gaga – Batsheva’sBatsheva Dance CompanyThe Batsheva Dance Company is an internationally acclaimed dance company based in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was founded by Martha Graham and Baroness Batsheva De Rothschild in 1964....
transition from a strongly American-influenced company to the more distinctive troupe it is today. Martha Graham Dance Company - Martha Graham's first recital, dancing barefoot on March 9, 1917, at the Peppers Estate ballroom in Santa Barbara.
- Archival footage of Martha Graham Dance Company performing Night Journey in 1994 at Jacob's Pillow