The Martha Graham Dance Company has been a leader in the development of contemporary dance since its founding in 1926. Informed by the expansive vision of its pioneering founder, the Company has expanded contemporary dance’s vocabulary with masterpieces such as Appalachian Spring, Lamentation, and Chronicle, rooted in social, political, psychological, and sexual contexts. Always a fertile ground for experimentation, the Martha Graham Dance Company has been an unparalleled resource in nurturing many of the leading choreographers and dancers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Graham’s groundbreaking technique and unmistakable style have earned the Company acclaim from audiences in more than 50 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Today, the Company continues to foster Graham’s spirit of ingenuity. It embraces a new vision that showcases classics by Graham, her contemporaries and their successors alongside newly commissioned works. The Company is actively working to create new platforms for contemporary dance and multiple points of access for audiences.
Eleven page program of Martha Graham and Dance Group. Please click on the image to explore.
Dancer Bessie Schoenberg recalled, "The music Louis (Horst) found for her (Graham), 'Old Breton Song', had the thrust and sparse melodic content she needed; by repeating it several times with intervals of silence, she could restate her theme with the mounting crescendo of a pitched battle."
Martha Graham and Dance Group in Heretic (1929)Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance
Lamentation (1930)
Lamentation is a "dance of sorrow." It is not the sorrow of a specific person, time, or place, but the personification of grief itself.
Martha Graham in LamentationMartha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance
Martha Graham in Lamentation (1930)Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance
Martha Graham Dance Company in Lamentation Variations (2007-09-11/2015)Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance
The "Lamentation Variations" are short works created for the Martha Graham Dance Company inspired by Graham’s iconic solo and choreographed by some of today’s most note-worthy choreographers.
Chronicle (1936)
“This is a time of action, not re-action. The dance is action, not attitude, not an interpretation. There is a change in the artist's attitude toward his material. The modern dancer does not look upon it as an escape, but finds it exciting. There is a miracle in yourself. No dance can be transplanted from one nation to another and retain its purity and integrity. The history of the dance is the social history of the world.” – Martha Graham
Martha Graham and Dance Group in Excerpts of Chronicle (1936)Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance
Excerpts from Chronicle (1936) (1938-04-07)Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance
Martha Graham Dance Company in "Steps in the Street" from Chronicle (1936)Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance
Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, Inc. All Rights Reserved
For more information, please visit us at http://marthagraham.org/
Curation by Oliver Tobin
Works Cited:
Armitage, Merle, and John Martin. Martha Graham. New York: Dance Horizons, 1966. Print.
Cunningham, Imogen, and Richard Lorenz. Imogen Cunningham, 1883-1976. Köln: Taschen, 2001. Print.
Graham, Martha. Blood Memory. New York: Doubleday, 1991. Print.
Mille, Agnes. Martha, The Life and Work of Martha Graham. New York: Random House, 1988. Print.
Morgan, Barbara Brooks. Martha Graham, Sixteen Dances in Photographs. Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Morgan & Morgan, 1980. Print.
Sayler, Oliver M. Revolt in the Arts. New York: Brentano's, 1930. Print.