Martha Graham

Martha Graham

Generation after generation, in different countries of the world there has always been different styles of body expression. Dance is a special form of art which movement of the body creates. One of the most delicate types of dance, which evokes emotion, is ballet. For Martha Graham, ballet was not only a dance: it was a way to express a fear or happiness with gestures created by the body. Graham was recognized as having made revolutionary changes in dance: in form, subject matter, in the analysis and examination of her themes. She was an influential American dancer, teacher, and choreographer of modern dance. Graham gave modern dance a new depth and forceful expression of emotion.

Dr. Graham's technique is very unique. She identified a method of breathing and impulse control. Her movement originated in the tension of a contracted muscle, and continued in the flow of energy released from the body as the muscle relaxed. As explained in the biography, The Life and Works of Martha Graham, the spasm of the diaphragm is used to spark gesture. Agnes De Mille writes " In the Graham technique, the arms and legs moved as a result of this spasm of percussive force, like a cough, mush as the thong of a whip moves because of the crack of the handle." (De Mill 98) Another feature of Graham's technique was that all falls were done on the left side because, as she said, "the weight of the heart is on he left." (Martha 147). All of Martha Graham's techniques are in part what gave her, her success.

As it has always been, practice makes perfection. If, it is constant, it can shape the personality of either physically or mentally, in helping new ideas to emerge. For Martha Graham, practice was very significant i...

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... jagged forms, which was said to be a symbol the interior landscape of anguish and grief. Lamentation's was recognized as her Martha's first masterpiece.

Martha gave her last performance at the age of seventy-two years old in 1968. The same year she collapsed and was taken to the hospital under care of a doctor. She was then told that her illness was terminal. Martha had Cirrhosis of the liver. Little did she know that she was dying of alcoholism. Miss Graham passed away in 1991 at the age of ninety-six. Her influences to dance will forever go on. Martha offered a unique style to modern dance. It is evident throughout

Martha's career that she was a different individual. She became successful because of her devotion to practice, her uniqueness, and her forceful technique. Martha Graham will always live on.