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71-720: Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer, whose style, the Graham technique , reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She was the first dancer to perform at the White House , travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and receive the highest civilian award of the US: the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction . In her lifetime she received honors ranging from

142-479: A "vehement" 1934 review, Lincoln Kirstein wrote: "Her jumps are jolts; her walks, limps and staggers; her runs, blind impulsive gallops; her bends, sways", and called the effect "stark, earth-ridden, gaunt, inward-eyed". In contrast, Graham was strongly promoted by dance critic John Martin , who helped her to win a popular following. Graham was exceptionally flexible, and many of her technique's exaggerated movements can be difficult or painful to execute. Graham

213-421: A contraction. The force of the contraction can be used to move the body through space or change its trajectory. The release may be considered a relatively passive return to a "normal" state, or alternatively an equally active outward propulsion of energy. The contraction is associated with the exhale, and the release with the inhale, although this connection may be merely conceptual. The indexical meaning of

284-470: A daily class for her company, which is still used (with some variations) to teach her technique. The class is organized as follows: Martha Graham founded a school, the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance , which she sold in 1956. After Graham's death, Ron Protas , her sole heir, sued the school for the rights to use Graham's trademarked name and choreography. A federal court awarded

355-423: 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 Dante 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

426-418: A landscape to move in. Without it, I should certainly have been lost." Graham resisted requests for her dances to be recorded because she believed that live performances should only exist on stage as they are experienced. There were a few notable exceptions. For example, in addition to her collaboration with Sunami in the 1920s, she also worked on a limited basis with still photographers Imogen Cunningham in

497-739: A mere form of entertainment. This motivated Graham to strip away the more decorative movements of ballet and of her training at the Denishawn school and focus more on the foundational aspects of movement. In 1925, Graham was employed at the Eastman School of Music where Rouben Mamoulian was head of the School of Drama. Among other performances, together Mamoulian and Graham 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

568-496: A more base aspect of human movement led Graham to create the "contraction and release", for which she would become known. Each movement could separately be used to express either positive or negative, freeing or constricting emotions depending on the placement of the head. The contraction and release were both the basis for Graham's weighted and grounded style, which is in direct opposition to classical ballet techniques that typically aim to create an illusion of weightlessness. To counter

639-512: A pillar of the modern dance revolution. 1938 became a big year for Graham; the Roosevelts invited Graham to dance at the White House , making her the first dancer to perform there. Also, in 1938, Erick Hawkins became the first man to dance with her company. He officially joined her troupe the following year, dancing male lead in a number of Graham's works. They were married in July 1948 after

710-402: A revolutionary effect on modern dance. Graham is now taught in most university dance programs, and remains the "hallmark" style of contemporary concert dance ; its movement vocabulary is familiar to almost all professional contemporary dancers. It strongly influenced several other codified techniques, notably those of Merce Cunningham , Lester Horton , and Paul Taylor . Graham developed

781-586: A short run of 64 performances from January 14, 1929, to March 1929 but was included in Burns Mantle 's The Best Plays of 1928 - 1929 . It was renamed the Avon Theatre in 1929. Strictly Dishonorable , written by Preston Sturges , had the longest run at the Avon of 557 performances from September, 1929 to January, 1931. George Bernard Shaw , Noël Coward and Oscar Wilde had their works staged at both

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852-525: A short silent film by Hugo Riesenfeld that attempted to synchronize a dance routine on film with a live orchestra and an onscreen conductor. Graham left the Denishawn establishment in 1923 in order to become a featured dancer in the Greenwich Village Follies revue for two years. As a result, she felt a strong urge to make dance an art form that was more grounded in the rawness of the human experience and orientalism as opposed to just

923-506: A stylized, cupped position, with the fingers held straight and pulled towards the palm. Arms typically move in response to impetus from the back or shoulders. Arm movements were often left unspecified in Graham's early work, and there is variation between Graham teachers' use of port de bras (carriage of the arms). Graham technique is designed to make its dancers expressive and dramatic. Its movement vocabulary draws connections between

994-680: A woman's point of view. In 1936, Graham created Chronicle , which brought serious issues to the stage in a dramatic manner. Influenced by the Wall Street Crash of 1929 , the Great Depression that followed, and the Spanish Civil War , the dance focused on depression and isolation, reflected in the dark nature of both the set and costumes. The same year, in conjunction with the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin,

1065-399: 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

1136-426: Is a modern dance movement style and pedagogy created by American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham (1894–1991). Graham technique has been called the "cornerstone" of American modern dance, and has been taught worldwide. It is widely regarded as the first codified modern dance technique, and strongly influenced the later techniques of Merce Cunningham , Lester Horton , and Paul Taylor . Graham technique

1207-407: 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

1278-487: Is based on the opposition between contraction and release, a concept based on the breathing cycle which has become a "trademark" of modern dance forms. Its other dominant principle is the "spiraling" of the torso around the axis of the spine. Graham technique is known for its unique dramatic and expressive qualities and distinctive floorwork ; dance critic Anna Kisselgoff described it as "powerful, dynamic, jagged and filled with tension". The phrase "Graham technique"

1349-401: Is considered a "codified technique", like the several schools of classical ballet . There are major differences between Graham and ballet techniques. Graham dancers are trained to highlight their effort and use weight as a dramatic tool, while ballet dancers strive to appear weightless and effortless. Graham technique's use of large torso movements and floorwork represent further breaks from

1420-410: Is the spiral . The basic "spiraling" position consists of rotating the spine approximately 45° around its vertical axis, so that a dancer facing the front of the stage would have their shoulders aligned with the "Via Triumphalis", an imaginary line parallel to a corner-to-corner diagonal of the stage. In a "hip spiral", the movement initiates subtly from the hip and builds to maximum tension by pulling

1491-417: Is the cycle between "contraction" and subsequent "release", which developed as a stylized representation of breathing . Along with the "fall and recovery" dualism of Doris Humphrey 's technique, it is one of the most important concepts in early modern dance. Pull, pull on the contraction. Do not cave in. And the contraction is not a position. It is a movement into something. It is like a pebble thrown into

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1562-424: 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

1633-581: The Key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown . She said, in the 1994 documentary The Dancer Revealed : "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." Founded in 1926 (the same year as Graham's professional dance company),

1704-737: The Legion of Honour by then Minister of culture Jack Lang . Graham was inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame in 1987. In 1990, the Council of Fashion Designers of America awarded Graham with the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award . In 1998, Graham was posthumously named "Dancer of the Century" by Time magazine, and one of

1775-875: The Martha Graham School is the oldest school of dance in the United States. First located in a small studio within Carnegie Hall , the school currently has two different studios in New York City. Graham was born in Allegheny City , later to become part of Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania, in 1894. Her father, George Graham, practiced as what in the Victorian era was known as an " alienist ", a practitioner of an early form of psychiatry . The Grahams were strict Presbyterians . Her father

1846-574: The Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1924. Arnold Schoenberg 's musical composition Pierrot Lunaire was performed for the first time in the western hemisphere at the Klaw on February 4, 1923, with George Gershwin and Carl Ruggles in attendance. On November 28, 1926 Martha Graham and others in her company gave a dance recital at the Klaw, they were accompanied by pianist Louis Horst . Maxwell Anderson 's Gypsy , directed by George Cukor , had

1917-936: The Saratoga Performing Arts Center in June 2008. 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 . Graham's original female dancers consisted of Bessie Schonberg , Evelyn Sabin, Martha Hill , Gertrude Shurr, Anna Sokolow , Nelle Fisher, Dorothy Bird, Bonnie Bird , Sophie Maslow , May O'Donnell , Jane Dudley , Anita Alvarez, Pearl Lang , and Marjorie G. Mazia . A second group included Yuriko , Ethel Butler, Ethel Winter , Jean Erdman , Patricia Birch , Nina Fonaroff, Matt Turney , Mary Hinkson . The group of men dancers

1988-521: The 1930s, and Barbara Morgan in the 1940s. Graham considered Philippe Halsman 's photographs of Dark Meadow 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

2059-613: The German government wanted to include dance in the Art Competitions that took place during the Olympics, an event that previously included architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and literature. Although Joseph Goebbels , Reich Minister of Propaganda, was not appreciative of the modern dance art form and changed Germany's dance from more avant-garde to traditional, he and Adolf Hitler still agreed to invite Graham to represent

2130-713: The Klaw and Avon. It was leased to CBS in 1934 and renamed the CBS Radio Playhouse No. 2. CBS later bought it. In 1953 CBS sold it, the new owners razed it and built a parking deck on the site, which abutted the Imperial Theatre . As the Klaw Theatre: As the Avon Theatre: The International Composers' Guild held their second series of concerts here in 1922–1923. These performances included

2201-612: The New York premiere of Night Journey . He left her troupe in 1951 and they divorced in 1954. On April 1, 1958, the Martha Graham Dance Company premiered the ballet Clytemnestra , based on the ancient Greek legend Clytemnestra and it became a huge success and great accomplishment for Graham. With a score by Egyptian-born composer Halim El-Dabh , this ballet was a large scale work and the only full-length work in Graham's career. Graham choreographed and danced

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2272-605: The Theatre when it opened in 1928. 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. Graham's technique pioneered a principle known as "contraction and release" in modern dance, which was derived from a stylized conception of breathing. Contraction and release : The desire to highlight

2343-476: The United States. However, the United States was not represented in the Art Competitions as Graham refused the invitation by stating: I would find it impossible to dance in Germany at the present time. So many artists whom I respect and admire have been persecuted, have been deprived of the right to work for ridiculous and unsatisfactory reasons, that I should consider it impossible to identify myself, by accepting

2414-409: The balletic tradition. Graham explained that, although she respected the advances made in the course of ballet history, "Ballet ... did not say enough, especially when it came to intense drama, to passion." However, her extended collaboration with ballet-trained Erick Hawkins made her technique more balletic over time. The technique was originally developed on an all-female company, although

2485-470: The company later included men. Graham sometimes criticized her dancers for failing to initiate from the pelvis, or as she sometimes put it, "move from the vagina"; the connection between Graham technique and the female pelvis led one of Graham's male dancers to develop "vagina envy". The pelvic origin of the contraction contributes to the role of sexuality in Graham technique. Feminist dance scholar Dee Reynolds has argued that, because Graham technique

2556-441: The contraction in Graham's choreography is generally that the dancer is overcome with emotion, although the details depend on the specific context. Graham's decision to make movement originate from the core rather than distally echoes the style of Isadora Duncan , but Duncan wrote in her autobiography that movement originates in the solar plexus rather than the low abdomen. The second fundamental concept in Graham technique

2627-414: The dancers clothed unglamorously, the piece centered on the theme of rejection—one that would reoccur in other Graham works down the line. As time went on Graham moved away from the more stark design aesthetic she initially embraced and began incorporating more elaborate sets and scenery to her work. To do this, she collaborated often with Isamu Noguchi —a Japanese American designer—whose eye for set design

2698-515: The evening of May 25, 1968, in 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. Graham's choreographies span 181 compositions. In the years that followed her departure from

2769-841: The female "Icons of the Century" by People . In 2015, she was posthumously inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame . On May 11, 2020, on what would have been Graham's 126th birthday, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts announced it had acquired Graham's archives for its Jerome Robbins Dance Division. The archive consists mainly of paper-based material, photographs and films, including rare footage of Graham dancing in works such as "Appalachian Spring" and "Hérodiade"; her script for "Night Journey"; and her handwritten notes for "American Document". Graham technique Graham technique

2840-466: The female body as an artistic medium. Graham, along with Doris Humphrey , Helen Tamiris , Agnes de Mille , and others, was part of an artistic movement in dance which rejected both the centuries-old tradition of classical ballet and the first-generation rebels of modern dance , such as those who taught at the Denishawn school where Graham studied. The expressive force of Graham technique had

2911-495: The final draft of her autobiography, Blood Memory , which was published posthumously in the fall of 1991. She was cremated, and her ashes were spread over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico . 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 Picasso was to modern visual arts. Her impact has been also compared to

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2982-545: The influence of Stravinsky on music and Frank Lloyd Wright on architecture. In 2013, the dance films by her were selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the registry's owner, the Library of Congress . To celebrate what would have been her 117th birthday on May 11, 2011, Google 's logo for one day was turned into one dedicated to Graham's life and legacy. Graham has been said to be

3053-418: The invitation, with the regime that has made such things possible. In addition, some of my concert group would not be welcomed in Germany. Goebbels himself wrote her a letter assuring her that her Jewish dancers would "receive complete immunity", however, it was not enough for Graham to accept such an invitation. Stimulated by the occurrences of the 1936 Olympic Games, and the propaganda that she heard through

3124-446: The more percussive and staccato movements, Graham eventually added the spiral shape to the vocabulary of her technique to incorporate a sense of fluidity. Following her first concert made up of solos, Graham created Heretic (1929), the first group piece of many that showcased a clear diversion from her days with Denishawn, and served as an insight to her work that would follow in the future. Made up of constricted and sharp movement with

3195-876: The murder of Iphigenia. Clytemnestra is then murdered by her son, Orestes , and the audience experiences Clytemnestra in the afterworld. This ballet was deemed a masterpiece of 20th-century American modernism and was so successful it had a limited engagement showing at the 54th Street Theatre on Broadway , conducted by Robert Irving , voice parts sung by Rosalia Maresca and Ronald Holgate . Graham collaborated with many 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

3266-434: The nonliteral set. As she did often, Graham placed herself in her own piece as the bride of a newly married couple whose optimism for starting a new life together is countered by a grounded pioneer woman and a sermon-giving revivalist. Two of Graham's pieces— Cave of Heart (1946) and Night Journey (1947)—display her interest in not only Greek mythology but also with the psyche of a woman, as both pieces retell Greek myths from

3337-616: The one that brought dance into the 20th century. Due to the work of her assistants, Linda Hodes, Pearl Lang, Diane Gray, Yuriko, and others, much of Graham's work and technique have been preserved. They taped interviews of Graham describing her entire technique and videos of her performances. Glen Tetley told Agnes de Mille , "The wonderful thing about Martha in her good days was her generosity. So many people stole Martha's unique personal vocabulary, consciously or unconsciously, and performed it in concerts. I have never once heard Martha say, 'So-and-so has used my choreography. ' " An entire movement

3408-404: The opposing shoulder blade away from the initiating hip. Falling is not a literal representation of reality, but instead an embodiment of inner experience; not a reductive language, but a poetic language that derives its meaning from the layering of the physical and psychic. Former Graham dancer Ellen Graff, 2004 Like other early modern choreographers, Graham used floorwork to explore

3479-527: The others." In 2021 actress Mary Beth Peil portrayed Graham in the Netflix series Halston . The Martha Graham Dance Company is the oldest dance company in America, founded in 1926. It has helped develop many famous dancers and choreographers of the 20th and 21st centuries including Erick Hawkins , Anna Sokolow , Merce Cunningham , Lila York , and Paul Taylor . It continues to perform, including at

3550-715: The performance, excerpts from the U.S. Declaration of Independence , Lincoln's Gettysburg Address , and the Emancipation Proclamation were read. These were passages that highlighted the American ideals and represented what made the American people American. For Graham, a dance needed to "reveal certain national characteristics because without these characteristics the dance would have no validity, no roots, no direct relation to life". The beginning of American Document marks modern concepts of performance art joining dance, theater and literature and clearly defining

3621-469: The physical and emotional meanings of "power", "control", and "vulnerability". Movement initiates from the core, incorporating large back movements and dancing on the floor . The technique highlights weight and effort; according to Marian Horosko, "the body had to appear to be pushing through a heavy mass, much like the pressure confronted when walking through water." The technique's "earthbound" and "assertive" character initially drew strong criticism. In

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3692-479: The radio from the Axis Powers , Graham created American Document in 1938. The dance expressed American ideals and democracy as Graham realized that it could empower men and inspire them to fight fascist and Nazi ideologies. American Document ended up as a patriotic statement focusing on rights and injustices of the time, representing the American people including its Native-American heritage and slavery. During

3763-426: The roles of the spectator and the actors/dancers. The narrator/actor starts with "establishing an awareness of the present place and time, which serves not only as a bridge between past and present, but also between individual and collective, particular and general". Together with her unique technique, this sociological and philosophical innovation sets dance as a clear expression of current ideas and places and Graham as

3834-601: The school the rights to the names "Martha Graham" and "Graham technique" in 2001, and the rights to Graham's choreography in 2002. Klaw Theatre As the Klaw Theatre and later the Avon few productions had a very long run. Exceptions were the comedy Meet the Wife running for 232 performances in 1923 with Humphrey Bogart as juvenile lead Gregory Brown and playwright Hatcher Hughes 's melodrama Hell-Bent Fer Heaven running for 122 performances in 1924 and winning

3905-512: The side, or into a split. In almost all falls, the dancer exerts a strong upward force to counteract the force of gravity and suspend the body in space for artistic effect. Graham falls can be used for dramatic effect, making meaning in a choreographic context from manipulating the balance between actively suspending the body and surrendering to gravity. Graham technique uses the hands in distinctive ways. They are generally meant to be active and purposeful, not decorative. They are often held in

3976-532: 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

4047-492: The themes of weight and gravity in new ways; European students were "shocked" when Anna Sokolow introduced them to Graham's "percussive" falling techniques in the 1950s. Graham falls use contractions and manipulate the body's center of gravity , in order to control the timing and direction of a fall. There is a wide range of strictly codified Graham falls, including sitting and traveling falls; falls from elevation; and standing falls, which may be directed forward, backward, to

4118-561: The title role, spending almost the entire duration of the performance on the stage. The ballet was based on the Greek mythology of the same title and tells the story of Queen Clytemnestra who is married to King Agamemnon . Agamemnon sacrifices their daughter, Iphigenia , on a pyre, as an offering to the gods to assure fair winds to Troy, where the Trojan War rages. Upon Agamemnon's return after 10 years, Clytemnestra kills Agamemnon to avenge

4189-425: The water, which makes rippling circles when it hits the water. The contraction moves. Martha Graham, 1991 A classic Graham contraction is a movement originating from the deep pelvic muscles . These muscles, along with the abdominal muscles , pull the spine into a concave arc from the coccyx to the nape of the neck, with the pelvis tucked and shoulders forward. The spine grows longer, not shorter, in

4260-413: Was "so large and forceful, thrusting into and conquering space", it allowed Graham and her early all-female company to "redefine femininity as powerful and autonomous." Reynolds also noted that the idea of "moving from the vagina" is similar to late nineteenth-century ideas about " female hysteria ", a supposed sexual disorder sometimes linked to dancing, and Graham's contractions could be seen as reclaiming

4331-406: Was a third-generation American of Irish descent. Graham's mother, Jane Beers, was a second-generation American of Irish, Scots-Irish, and English ancestry, and who claimed to be a tenth-generation descendant of Myles Standish . While her parents provided a comfortable environment in her youth, it was not one that encouraged dancing. The Graham family moved to Santa Barbara, California , when Martha

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4402-548: Was asked to stay on. In 1926, the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance was established, in a small studio on the Upper East Side of New York City. On April 18 of the same year Graham debuted her first independent concert, consisting of 18 short solos and trios that she had choreographed. This performance took place at the 48th Street Theatre in Manhattan . She would later say of the concert: "Everything I did

4473-554: Was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976 by President Gerald Ford (the First Lady Betty Ford had studied under Graham in her youth). Ford declared her "a national treasure". Graham was the first recipient of the Samuel H. Scripps / American Dance Festival Award for lifetime achievement in modern dance in 1981, presented by Betty Ford. In 1984, Graham was awarded the highest French order of merit ,

4544-430: Was complementary to Graham's choreography. Within the many themes which Graham incorporated into her work, there were two that she seemed to adhere to the most—Americana and Greek mythology. One of Graham's most known pieces that incorporates the American life theme is Appalachian Spring (1944). She collaborated with the composer Aaron Copland —who won a Pulitzer Prize for his work on the piece—and Noguchi, who created

4615-408: Was created by her that revolutionized the dance world and created what is known today as modern dance. Now, dancers all over the world study and perform modern dance. Choreographers and professional dancers look to her for inspiration. Agnes de Mille said: The greatest thing [Graham] ever said to me was in 1943 after the opening of Oklahoma! , when I suddenly had unexpected, flamboyant success for

4686-569: Was fourteen years old. In 1911, she attended the first dance performance of her life, watching Ruth St. Denis perform at the Mason Opera House in Los Angeles. In the mid-1910s, Martha Graham 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 until 1923. In 1922, Graham performed one of Shawn's Egyptian dances with Lillian Powell in

4757-465: Was in the hospital for a long time, much of it in a coma. 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. Just before she became sick with pneumonia, she finished

4828-502: Was influenced by Denishawn ." On November 28, 1926, Graham and others in her company gave a dance recital at the Klaw Theatre in New York City. Around the same time she entered an extended collaboration with Japanese-American pictorialist photographer Soichi Sunami , and over the next five years they together created some of the most iconic images of early modern dance. Graham was on the faculty of Neighborhood Playhouse School of

4899-510: Was lost. In 1952 Graham allowed taping of her meeting and cultural exchange with famed deaf-blind author, activist and lecturer Helen Keller , who, after a visit to one of Graham's company rehearsals became a close friend and supporter. Graham was inspired by Keller's joy from and interpretation of dance, utilizing her body to feel the vibration of drums and of feet and movement moving the air around her. In her biography Martha , Agnes de Mille cites Graham's last performance as having occurred on

4970-562: Was made up of Erick Hawkins , Merce Cunningham , David Campbell, John Butler, Robert Cohan , Stuart Hodes , Glen Tetley , Bertram Ross , Paul Taylor , Donald McKayle, Mark Ryder, and William Carter. During her career, Graham was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Choreography three times- one in 1932, one in 1943, and one in 1944. In 1957, Graham was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . She

5041-578: Was registered as a trademark before Graham's death, and was the subject of a trademark dispute in the early 2000s. [W]heeling turns, off-center jumps, terrific falls, bodies spiralling to the floor and then surging upward again ... Joan Acocella , on Graham's "classic style" Graham technique is based on " contraction and release ", and uses different parts of the body in opposition to one another to create spirals for dramatic tension. It also incorporates formal exaggerations of "natural" movements. The fundamental movement of Graham technique

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