Martha Graham was born May 11th, 1894 and later died April 1st, 1991, during her life Graham gained recognition as one of the 20th century’s most important performers and a great artist. She was influenced greatly by her parents; her father was a physician who specialised in human psychology, he seemed to have a bit of a wild streak and liked to play music thus the beginning of Martha’s introduction to the arts. On the other hand, her mother, Jane Beers, was a tenth generation descendent of a Puritan figure and brought Martha up in a very religious environment, strict and uncompromising. Critic Walter Terry summed up Martha’s family background perfectly stating that “Martha turned out to be an even mix of the two parents, a stern indomitable God-fearing Puritan pioneer on one side, and on the other a wild tempestuous, moody, dream-obsessed and quick-to-anger creature of the Black Irish persuasion.”
Graham began a dance revolution, inspiring people to change their perceived ideas of dance and movement for more relevant thematic choices. First with Revolt; a contemporary piece performed in 1927, this creation of Graham’s stunned audiences with its forthright interpretation and expression of human injustice and the demonstration of social values that were crucial in American society. Her innovative style grew from her use of elemental movements such as contraction and release; with the use of the most basic of activities her focus on the human form invigorated the body with electrically raw emotion. The sharp and angular movement included in her technique was an intense parting with the dance style at the time.
Martha was constantly expanding her dance vocabulary finding significant and dramatic ways of moving. Her earthbound walk a...
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...ach move separate and isolated. She did not merely bow her head or hold her hands to her chest to convey sadness or grief she would allow her whole body to sink downwards. She said “when you are very upset you have a sinking feeling inside you. So as a dancer I showed on the outside what was happening on the inside.” Graham considered the upper body as the centre of a dancer’s energy – the site of the lungs, heart and spine – she believed every emotion begins or is discernible first in the torso.
Works Cited
http://missrosen.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/martha-graham-dance-is-the-hidden-language-of-the-soul/
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=LauOC7vYx-gC&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&dq=martha+graham+fragments+1928&source=bl&ots=e2SJ44tYV1&sig=Mp2HcHwMoXrQqmk5EcpfFcyBEA8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3BQVU976CYmUiQetpoHoAQ&ved=0CGwQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=martha%20graham%20fragments%201928&f=false
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Katherine Dunham, born on June 22, 1909 was an African American dancer. Her mother Fanny June Dunham died when she became sick and her father Albert Dunham Sr., left to work as a salesman. Dunham and her older brother Albert Jr., were raised by their loving aunt Lulu on the ghetto side of Chicago. At four years old, Dunham would go to the salon, her aunt’s workplace, and would always remember how much her mother loved music. It was not long before that when Katherine noticed how people would look at her aunt because of the color of her skin. It was why Lulu lost her job and had to move in with other relatives as her aunt could not afford their little apartment anymore. They moved several times with Dunham family members, where Katherine discovered
... social dance. Many people in today’s society enjoy social; dancing. Chapter eleven dance concert, properly planning and establishing a dance concert is of the utmost importance. The partnership with the lighting designer usually takes priority over all other factors. One of the most important issues concerning customers has to do with mobility. The dancer must be able to move comfortably in the costume. The task of producing a dance concert is an overwhelming and tiring one. Chapter twelve dance in education and career in dance, many dance educators present the argument that teaching and learning dance as an art form is obviously absent from the American student education. There has always been and always will be people who have a love, desire, and passion to instruct and learn the art of dance, will ensure an important place for dance in higher education.
Dance is an ever evolving form of art; in much the same way that one can categorize and differentiate between eras and styles of architecture one can also do so with dance. These eras at times have sharp delineations separating them from their antecedents, other times the distinction is far more subtle. Traditional forms of dance were challenged by choreographers attempting to expand the breadth and increase the depth of performance; preeminent among such visionaries was Seattle born dancer and choreographer Mark Morris. Mark Morris' began as one of the millions of hopeful individuals attempting to simply make a career in dance; he not only succeeded but managed to have a lasting effect on the entire landscape of dance.
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Throughout the years, America has pursued the performing arts in a large variety of ways. Theatre plays a dramatic and major role in the arts of our society today, and it takes great effort in all aspects. Musical Theatre, specifically, involves a concentration and strength in dance, acting, and singing. This is the base that Musical Theatre is built upon. For my Senior Project, I helped choreograph multiple scenes in a community musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie”. Choreography is a way of expressing oneself, but it has not always been thought of for that purpose. Agnes de Mille’s expressive talent has drastically affected how people see choreography today. Agnes de Mille’s influence in the world of dance has left a lasting impact in the Performing Arts Department, and her revolutionary works are still known today for their wit, lyricism, emotion, and charm.
Martha Washington lived a life full of love and sacrifice. She was born as a simple little girl Martha Dandridge to her plantation home in New Kent; she was married at 18 to become Martha Dandridge Custis. Still yet she was widowed at the age of twenty-six with two children and a land of over 17,000 acres to run on her own. Then she met a gentleman by the name of George Washington and Martha became the figure we know today as Martha Dandridge Custis Washington or Martha Washington.
In 1930 Martha Graham formed her own dance company dismissing the classical form of modern dance and and replaced it with sharp, angular and sexually charged aesthetics. Her inspiration usually came from greek mythology, history, art or social commentary. (Martha Graham’s Legacy in Modern Dance History, 2011) Graham’s philosophy was to reveal the mans inner core, "I wanted to begin," she said, "not with characters or ideas but with movement…. 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.” (Martha Graham, n.d.).Martha Graham uses unique and symbolic contemporary to manipulate elements of the contemporary dance. Through her technique it helps to communicate the the mans inner core, one being Jocosta in Night Journey. Night Journey choreographed by Martha Graham in 1894 explores and portrays the strength and struggles of female characters. In Night Journey rather than telling the story of Oedipus, the main male character, as written by Sophocles, Graham focused on the female perspective of Jocasta, mother, Queen and wife of Oedipus.(Dodge, 2007). Graham focuses on Jocasta the main protagonist who finds out that she has married her son, Oedipus. The dance begins at the moment of Jocasta’s suicide as she stand motionless on stage holding a thin rope between her hands. Night Journey becomes even more complex following her memories that haunt her whig inevitably lead her to her death. Martha Graham has skilfully choreographed symbolic representations and motifs to convey Jocasta's emotions of desperation, grief, pain, love and loss while also conveying the impending doom that is to become of Jocasta. She also ...
Contemporary 20th century choreographer Paul Taylor used the components of dance -space, time and energy to explore the struggle of an individual versus the conformity of the masses in his dance Esplanade. In addition, Taylor intertwined the principles of contrast, repetition, and resolution throughout Esplanade to portray the emotion, which accompanied this isolation. This esplanade (a long, open, level area usually by the sea) represented the journey of an independent women’s movement against the societal norm of heterosexual couples within the masses.
“Lamentation” is a famous ballet dance choreographed by the eminent Martha Graham. Martha Graham is one of the first generation contemporary modern dancers known for her abstract movements that communicate emotions and feelings. Lamentation means to mourn or to express one’s deep grief. The dance “Lamentation” expresses Martha Graham’s individual pain and suffering during the Great Depression. During WWII, the nation greatly suffered a great despair of deaths, along with sufferings of no food or funds. Lamentation truly expresses the country’s struggle of despair and a search for hope.
Margaret Walker was born on July 7, 1915 in Birmingham, Alabama to Reverend Sigismund C. Walker and Marion Dozier Walker (Gates and McKay 1619). Her father, a scholarly Methodist minister, passed onto her his passion for literature. Her mother, a music teacher, gifted her with an innate sense of rhythm through music and storytelling. Her parents not only provided a supportive environment throughout her childhood but also emphasized the values of education, religion, and black culture. Much of Walker’s ability to realistically write about African American life can be traced back to her early exposure to her black heritage. Born in Alabama, she was deeply influenced by the Harlem Renaissance and received personal encouragement from Langston Hughes. During the Depression, she worked for the WPA Federal Writers Project and assists Richard Wright, becoming his close friend and later, biographer. In 1942, she was the first African American to win the Yale Younger Poets award for her poem For My People (Gates and McKay 1619). Her publishing career halted for...
Martha Graham was born May 11, 1894 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. Her father George Graham was an "alienist", a practitioner of an early form of psychiatry. He was a third generation American of Irish descent. Mother Jane Beers was second generation American of Irish and Scots-Irish descent. Martha was seen as one of the most influential American dancers and choreographers of her time and of the modern day. She passed away April 1, 1991 in New York.
After the performance Graham begged her parents to let her dance, but her father was a strong Presbyterian and it was against her religion. A few years later he passed away and she immediately began dance training at Denis’s and her husband, Ted Shawn, school. Dancing and instructing for them for a little over 8 years she then left the school to perform with the Greenwich
“By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.” These words fully sum up the essence of Mother Teresa. Having left the world 17 years ago in 1997, her life continues to inspire many. So many lives touched by her. The story of her life inspires an awe of how someone could live such a life starting from her childhood, through adulthood, and ending with her later years and legacy.