|
Biography
American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham was a revolutionary
artist of modern dance in the early 20th century. Born in
Allegheny, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in May 1894, her
family moved to California when she was 10. She was inspired at
that early age to become a dancer when she saw Ruth St. Denis
perform her exotic "Epytia" modern dance in 1914. After much study,
Graham brought a different dynamics and interpretation to modern
dance, one of sharp angles and natural motion. Graham's father was
an "alienist," a term used at the turn of the century describe a
physician who specialized in human psychology. Dr. Graham was
interested in the way people used their bodies, and that interest
was passed on to his eldest daughter. Martha frequently repeated
her father's maxim of "Movement never lies." Her abstract approach
to dance and her minimal use of costumes and set decorations was
disconcerting to audiences accustomed to the lovely fluid movements
of modern dance introduced earlier by the likes of Isadora Duncan
(many critics accused Graham of making dance "ugly"). What Graham
wanted to evoke with her style of dance was a heightened awareness
of life. She eventually developed a strong following and won over
the critics. Her dance themes were inspired by America's past,
biblical stories, historical figures, classical mythology,
primitive rituals, and surprisingly, psychoanalyst Carl Jung's
writings, Emily Dickinson's poems, Georgia O'Keefe's paintings, and
Zen Buddhism. She danced with such a passion that her presence on
stage was electrifying. Graham founded the Dance Repertory Theater
in New York in 1930. She was the first dancer to receive a
Guggenheim fellowship in 1932. From 1931 to 1935, Graham toured the
United States in the production "Electra." She was fascinated by
different cultures, and her interest in Native Americans of the
southwest United States was first embodied in the production
"Primitive Mysteries." In 1937, she danced for Pres. Franklin D.
Roosevelt at the White House. Her most famous dance, "Appalachian
Spring," was first performed in 1944. Graham gave her last stage
performance in 1968, at age 74. In all, she produced 181 original
ballets. A year before her death in 1990, she choreographed, at age
95, Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag"; the show featured costumes by
Calvin Klein.
Biography courtesy of the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com).
|
Martha Graham
