Biography

Alexa Jones

5/7/11

3/4

Martha Graham Biography

“Martha Graham’s impact on dance was staggering and often compared to that of Picasso’s on painting, Stravinsky’s on music, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s on architecture.” (www.pbs.org) On May 11, 1894 in a town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Martha was born into the Graham family, lead by Jane, and George. She was second in line of their three girls. Sometimes the middle child can get slightly overlooked; however, that most likely wasn't the case here. She led a very successful life. It started in her teen years with her love of dance, and carried her up from creating her own dance school, to the impact she has had on millions of people and dancers around the world, even after she passed in 1991.

As a young girl, Martha wasn't sure what she wanted to do with her life. When she was ten years old, however, her parents moved their family to California for better living conditions. She truly knew where he destiny lay when her father took her to see Ruth Denis perform at the Mason Opera House in LA when she was in her mid-teen years. She expresses her passion for dance by saying this, “That night my fate was sealed. The curtain parted. The audience was still. Miss Ruth was doing a program that included her famous solos - The Cobras, Radha, and Nautch.” (www.cmi.com) After Martha graduated from a junior college, she began to take classes at a studio run by Ruth Denis and her husband Ted Shawn, Denishawn studio. The time came after eight years of classes at Denishawn, that she left the studio to perform on her own. “Great dancers are not great because of their technique, They are great because of their passion.” (www.brainyquote.com) That was one of Martha Grahams favorite sayings; it is one hundred percent true. You do not have to have six years of ballet classes to be able to perform; the least anyone needs is the guts to get up on stage and completely wing it. Who knows; that might even be the easiest since there is no pressure to be perfect.

Martha Graham Dance Company was founded in 1926 by Martha Graham herself. It is one of the oldest dance troupes in America, and is still located on E 63^rd St. NY, NY. While there, she was a teacher, a choreographer, and a performer, on top of owning the whole place. “I wanted to begin my company not with characters or ideas, but with movements. I wanted significant movement. I did not want it to be beautiful or fluid. I wanted it to be fraught with inner meaning, with excitement and surge.” (www.about.com) Around 1935, Martha brought a new instructor into her dance family. Erick Hawkins taught a few classes and appeared onstage with her in many great numbers. The couple were amazing onstage and off. They started dating and got married in 1948, but their marriage was short lived. The two ended up getting a divorce after only six years of marriage. By then, Hawkins left her company to start his own; that only caused Martha to thrust herself into her work even more. “Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It's a miracle, and the dance is a celebration of that miracle. “ (www.noteablebiographies.com) It is true. Without dance, how would people be able to tell stories; whether they are sad and filled with emotion, or joyous and celebratory, every story deserves to be told.

People thought the impact that Graham had on the US thirty to forty years ago was big; they would be blown away by the progress made by dancers and their studios since then. Martha Graham would be proud. Back in the day, everyone had heard of Martha Graham Dance Company, and knew that some soon to be famous people attended the school of arts at one point or another. Alvin Ailey graduated top of his class, and Madonna attended the school in the early eighties. “I had the privilege of meeting Martha Graham and speaking with her on several occasions shortly before her death. She absolutely lived up to all of my expectations with her wit, intelligence, and nerve-rocking imperiousness. I even felt a sort of camaraderie (companionship) with her pioneering spirit and rebellious creative energy. But what really stayed with me was my first impression.” (www.allaboutmadonna.com) She also received many awards for her great efforts to spread the knowledge of modern dance; those include the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Today Martha Graham is still an inspiration for dancers all over the world; it doesn't matter if they are just taking a summer class, or if they have been a member at their studio for nine years. Also some of today's generations celebrities that we look up to have been a student at Martha Graham Dance Company. "Appalachian Spring" and “Lamentation” are some of the more famous ballet scores that she danced the lead role in; people still see the shows today, but surely whoever dances the lead now, can’t possibly meet the bar that Martha set all those years ago. She made the use of mobile scenery, symbolic props, and speech with dancing very popular today by using each of them in all of her intriguing shows; both the ones she preformed in and the ones she choreographed are creative in different ways. ”The body says what words cannot.” (www.wikipedia.org) That is how Martha, and many other dancers would describe the way their body moves as they are dancing. Words may tell a person what you are feeling; that person however, may feel it more by seeing ones body language and facial expressions. Modern dance is just what it sounds. Modern. No precise arm or foot position, just your body and your feelings. Martha Graham helped show the world that nothing is perfect, not even a dance.

Martha Graham is greatly respected for her passion of dance, great technique and preforming skills. After she found out what she was born to do, she did it. Living her life to the fullest by founding her own company, giving one breathtaking performance after another, and living in the hearts and souls of people today, even when she is no longer here. “She is universally understood to be the twentieth century’s most important dancer, and the mother of modern dance.” (www.pbs.org) Martha Graham passed in her sleep from cardiac arrest when she was ninety-seven, but her memories live on.