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Martha Graham was born in Allegheny City, May 11th 1984. Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer who is referred to as a modern dance pioneer. She danced and choreographed for over seventy years and she had a great influence on modern dance history. In the mid 1910’s Graham began studying dance at Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts, and she stayed there until 1923. At Denishawn she spent more than eight years as both a dancer and teacher/instructor. In 1926, shortly after leaving Denishawn, Graham established her own dance company which focused on teaching her techniques. Graham’s success, both through personal achievements and choreographic influence revolutionized the dance world.
Graham is considered to be one of the greatest dancers that ever lived. During her lifetime she accomplished many things. Her biggest accomplishment was the creation of a new dance style; modern dance. Graham was the first dancer to ever perform at
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It was very different from European ballet which was more commonly accepted. Her unique movements and techniques were unlike other dances seen before and eventually her brilliant ideas and work caught on, becoming increasingly respected over time. Graham’s influence on dance is continuing today and with the help of her assistants, (Ron Protas and Linda Hodes) most of her work and techniques have been maintained. Graham’s dance company still stands today. The company focuses on the Martha Graham Technique and Repertory, and aims to continue its founder’s spirit of innovation by offering training in the evolving art form of modern dance. Graham used contracting and releasing in different parts of the body. These movements are still widely used throughout modern dance today. Dancers all over the world study and perform modern dance. Graham’s unique dance style has been taught worldwide. Choreographers and professional dancers look to her for
Agnes Fay Morgan is known for many things, but most importantly she is honored and praised for her accomplishments within the field of chemistry and biochemistry. Born in 1884, she was the third of four children to an Irish immigrant and was born in Peoria, Illinois. Her family consisted of two boys and two girls, where ironically, both boys didn’t attend college and both females did. Due to Agnes’s exceptional grades and limitless possibilities, she was offered a full college scholarship by a local benefactor and enrolled at Vassar College. She then continued her education by transferring to the University of Chicago where she earned both her BS degree and her MS degree in chemistry. Once obtaining this degree she decided to teach chemistry in Montana and
Katherine Dunham died on May 21, 2006. (Katherine) “As artist, educator, anthropologist, and activist, Katherine Dunham transformed the field of the twentieth-century dance” (Das
According to Katherine, “A creative person has to create. It doesn’t really matter what they create. If such a dance wanted to go out and build the cactus gardens where he could, in Mexico, let him do that, but something that is creative has to go on. (Katherine, Dunham, Dancing a life, 2002)”. It has been said that an idol is someone whom everyone looks up to because of the great things they accomplished throughout their life span. Acknowledged as an African American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, civil activist and writer. Katherine Dunham, not only normally known for the generous acts of kindness but also for the huge impact she had in incorporating different dance styles and creating them into her very own ballet pieces. An influential woman who supported African American culture and believed there shouldn’t be any divisions between people. Not completely another mother of modern dance but a women who greatly influenced modern dance to enhance it in many ways. Katherine is and was famous for her anthropology movement in the world of dance, her creativity and dedication.
Katherine Dunham led a rich and full life not only as a dancer, but as someone who studied the people she loved, wrote extensively, and stood for causes that meant so much to her. Her legacy lives on not only in the great anthropological studies she did or the important political and social stances she took, but in the modern dance of today. Modern dance, or dance in general for that matter, wouldn’t be what it is today without her studies and influence.
Alvin Ailey played a large role in the diversification and cultural storytelling that can be seen in modern dance today. With the founding of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, his dance company stands strong as one of the most respected and prosperous dance companies because of its artistic representation of the beauty that is otherwise known as the African culture. His work absolutely changed the atmosphere of modern dance because he was able to provide the modern dance community with a wider variety of content that had otherwise not been popularized before. Not only did he draw his inspiration from the African culture, but he also amalgamated this with his personal experience growing up as a black child during times of segregation. Alvin was born during the Great Depression to two working class parents in Rogers, Texas.
Trisha Brown is considered to be one of the most pivotal choreographers of the 1960’s as her work and practice shifted away from historically considered “appropriate” movement for choreography. This ideology references the modern era of choreographers, moving away from the aesthetics of Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham who worked with codified techniques, virtuosity and expressionism, whereas Brown saw dance as being of greater importance to the physical and mental process of the performer. Born in Aberdeen, Washington and studying dance at Mills College in California, Brown took improvisational workshops with Anna Halprin, discovering the concept of task orientated work. This knowledge would become central to her later experiments and work. She then shifted her life to New York to study composition with Robert Dunn to further her knowledge of movement and choreography. Physical research that was undertaken in these classes became publically presented programs, eventually leading to the evolvement of Judson Dance Theatre. In the late 1960’s, Brown constructed experiments to play with the dynamics and stability of gravity, using props such as ropes and harnesses to extend the dancers past their physical limitations. These experiments went on to become a working method for the work she created throughout her career and with her company which she founded in the 1970’s.
Martha still danced when she was 60 and she also choreographed. In the Autobiography by Victoria Phillips Martha Graham said about her Autobiography, “I am not out to preach about my life. Some of it has been wonderful and I’ve been very, very fortunate, some of it I regret. The things which are, perhaps, too private to ever reveal—one refuses to reveal.”
Her lasting career was not given to her easily, therefore, creating an inspiring story full of hardships and success. Ever since she was a little girl, her dream was to become a successful and famous dancer. In New York City, when she was trying to fulfill her dream, she was unable to find a job in the theatre department. Instead of being discouraged, she decided to make something good come from it. She choreographed her own routines, created her own costumes, and organized solo recitals for audiences to enjoy. This event led her to the biggest adventure in her life that would later impact the world. She was invited to return back to London to pursue her education in the performing arts, so that she could further improve her talents that would make up her entire career.
Merce Cunningham was known as a “leader of the American avant-garde whose constant innovation and artistic collaborations expanded the frontiers not only of dance, but also of contemporary visual and performing arts”. His passion and drive to succeed and push boundaries of dance and technology helped him throughout his career and in the building of his own dance establishment, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. He also worked closely with the composer John Cage, where together they created different, new music. He was one of the most daring choreographers of his time regarding the exploration of technology in dance. He had begun to look into dance film in the 70’s, and further started to choreograph new dances using a computer program named ‘Dance Forms’. He also further created a webcast series where the public were able to view his teaching in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and could essentially sit in on the rehearsals
1.Jack Cole thought that dance wears are fantastic and the dancing itself is like a body architecture. Dancers are body architects. Then he studied how to dance from Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. Cole learned a lot of dancing styles and tried to mix them together. He was known as the father of “theatrical jazz dance”, and he influenced many other dancers afterwards. In his dance, one of the most obvious features is that there was a small group of dancers on the stage rather than a large one. Cole instructed many actors and dancers after he retired from dancing.
Ms. Katherine Dunham is known as one of the most influential African American woman who contributed a lot of her style and inspiration to the dance world. “ Katherine Dunham is a dancer, choreographer and educator she is known as the matriarch of black dance.” (Joanna Dee Das) When Dunham participated in dance she established the African-American dance as an art in its own. Katherine was born the youngest child in Chicago to Albert Millard Dunham and Fanny June. Her cultural background included Indian, French Canadian, English, Malagasy and African ancestry. According to Mandell while growing up Dunham was seen as the average African American girl, until her mother passed away in 1913 leaving her mothers family to care for Katherine and her
Ballet is one of the world's oldest and newest forms of dance. One man that created new audiences for ballet and mastered the dance to its fullest was none other than George Balanchine. He brought the standard ballet to levels no one has ever seen before. In the world of dance, there have been many wonderful and talented choreographers but Balanchine's work affected the dance world so much that he was a legend long before his death. Not only was he legendary worldwide but also his influenced American Ballet. George Balanchine's unique style of dance created the "American style" of Ballet.
The fine art of modern dance is like many other fields in that it is based on the actions and deeds of those who were pioneers in the field. These pioneers helped to mold modern dance into what it is today. Of the many people who are partially responsible for this accomplishment is Isadora Duncan. Duncan, often referred to as the “mother of modern dance,” inspired many other dancers to the extent that the art of dance would not be the same today without her many contributions.
In the beginning of the dance, Graham covers her head to disguise her true identity. During the dance, Graham is wearing a large violet tube-dress that covers her whole body and head. Graham is possibly dancing to a scene she experienced during the Great Depression. Graham has rhythmically movements like a gun shooter. Within the time frame of 0:00 to 0:17, Graham has her arms fully extended in front of her and
At the end of the 19th century, ballet was the most prominent form of dance. However, to Isadora Duncan, "ballet was the old order that needed to be overthrown, an embodied symbol of all that was wrong with oversymbolized 19th century living" (Daly 26). Duncan believed that the over-technical, over-standardization of ballet was not what dance should be about. Her vision of dance was one of emotions, ideas, social betterment, and the complete involvement of the body, mind, and soul (26). With these ideas in mind, she began to create a new form of dance; what she referred to as the "new dance" (23), and what is now known as modern dance. In creating this new dance, she was inspired by composers such as Beethoven, Nietzsche, and Wagner, writers like Walt Whitman, scientists Darwin and Haeckel, her Irish grandmother, and ancient Greek culture, as well as the spirit of America and its people (Duncan 48, 54). It was a combination of these influences that helped her to create the most expressive, soulful dance known today.