Brief Biography--Martha Graham

Martha Graham was a pioneer of modern dance, especially American, modern dance.  She was born May 11, 1891 in Pennsylvania, and she died April 1, 1991.

One of her first major life experiences was a cross country trip from Pennsylvania to California.  Which inspired a dance, “Frontier”.  She was inspired by a performance by Ruth St. Denis to join an arts orientated college.  After that, she then joined Denishawn in 1916 and danced there until 1923. In 1925, she started the Martha Graham Dance Company and began to develop her own technique.  She created 181 works--the most well known being "Appalachian Spring", "Frontier", "Lamentation", and "Seraphic Dialogue". She also inspired many students including: Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, and Erik Hawkins to name a few. Graham created 181 dances during her carrier, maintained a company, and a contemporary dance school.  

She was the first dancer to act as a cultural ambassador abroad and to perform in the White House for which she created a piece called “American Document”.   

The themes in her work were often uniquely American.  They question what it is to be American--life and the struggles, and spirit of the country.  Her work was also anthropological—inspired by movements from other cultrues and tribes—as well as having political, psychological, social, and sexual themes.  “Graham’s groundbreaking style grew from her experimentation with the elemental movements of contraction and release. By focusing on the basic activities of the human form, she enlivened the body with raw, electric emotion. The sharp, angular, and direct movements of her technique were a dramatic departure from the predominant style of the time"(History).  She received the Local One Centennial Award (1986) and the Medal of Freedom and Dance Magazine Award (1956).  It is more than just geography that make Martha Graham a distinctly American dancer/choreographer.  Her legacy shows that through her life experience, choreographic themes, awards, style, and personality that she is known as an American-modern-dance super-star.  

 
Refrences:
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988513,00.htmlhttp://www.biography.com/people/martha-graham-9317723
http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/artists/?entity_id=3735
"History." Martha Graham. N.p.. Web. 16 Apr 2014. <http://marthagraham.org/about-us/our-history/>.
http://mgrahamabriefhistory.blogspot.com/2009/05/martha-grahams-awards-for-her-love.html  
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200154832/default.html


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