Martha Graham's Legacy by Kathy Stemke

dancekam | Aug 26, 2008 | 0

Alone on an empty semicircular platform painted white, her straight black hair fell like silken threads of fringe behind an oval face with chiseled cheekbones, deep set dark eyes, and a strong angular jaw. Set in a frozen intensity, her body was poised for imminent action.

A dissonant sound from an unseen source broke the silence.  Instantly, her coiled body released its pent up force;not in great gentle sweeps of motion, but in sudden percussive shock waves that came from the center of her core.  Hard and precise, with little action in her limbs, the contractions and releases sent vibrations through her body and into the surrounding air.  Cutting, intersecting lines, circles, and angles shot out from her small frame in rapid succession.  Yet the feet of this dancer were cemented to the empty stage.

Called simply,"Dance," Martha Graham's solo mystified its audience when it was first performed in 1929. This kind of restrictive staging and movement, her signature approach to dance, was in keeping with her desire to direct her audience to the percussive gestures of her torso, which were the center of her vital action.

As a dancer, choreographer, actress, costume designer, and inventor of a unique dance technique, Martha Graham has made one of the most important contributions to the evolution of Modern Dance in America. She struck the dance world like a thunderbolt in the beginning of the 20th century, when she combined satire, social comment, comedy, tragedy, joy and sorrow with an intense passion for expression.

In the summer of 1916, a big eyed young women of 22 walked into a Spanish-styled stucco house in Los Angeles and enrolled in Ruth St. Dennis School of Dancing and Related Arts. This unique school assumed the responsibility of developing a student's mind along with their body. It was the only dance school in America to offer a total program of study which included: free style ballet, ethnic dance, history and philosophy of dance, discussions on oriental art and Greek philosophy, music, lighting, makeup, and even costumes. During these early years, Miss Graham developed her unique teaching techniques, and acquired the performing experience that would blossom later in her life.

By 1930, when she formed her own company, she dismissed the classical, fluid, lyrical form of modern dance and replaced it with a sharply angular, sexually charged aesthetic.  Her pieces were more like dance dramas enacted on symbol strewn sets designed by Isamu Norguchi, and accompanied by composers like Copeland and Barber. She met some opposition from her early audiences, who were disturbed by her Freudian exploration of desire, guilt, and rage. "It's not my job to look beautiful," she responded, "Its my job to look interesting."

In 1936, Graham made her defining work, "Chronicle," which 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.

She danced and choreographed for over 70 years, and during that time was the first dancer to perform at the White House, the first dancer to travel overseas as a cultural ambassador, and the first to receive the highest civilian award, the Medal of Freedom. Martha Graham, the mother of modern dance, will be immortalized for her intense emotional performances, unique choreography, and mostly for her homegrown technique. The fierce pelvic contractions, and rugged floor work was passed on through contemporaries like Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, and Mark Morris. The Graham technique is routinely taught in studios the world over, and has been practiced by many dancers including; Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Madonna, and even Betty Ford.

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