Martha Graham in "Spectre – 1914" from Chronicle (1936)

Photograph of Martha Graham in "Spectre – 1914" from Chronicle (1936).

"Late in 1935, I received an invitation to dance with my company at the International Dance Festival that was part of the 1936 Olympic Games to be held in Berlin. It never entered my mind even for a second to say yes. How could I dance in Nazi Germany? I replied: 'I would find it impossible to dance in Germany at the present time. So many artists whom I respect and admire have been persecuted, have been deprived of the right to work for ridiculous and unsatisfactory reasons, that I should consider it impossible to identify myself, by accepting the invitation, with the regime that has made such things possible. In addition, some of my concert group would not be welcomed in Germany. They are Jewish.' " – Martha Graham

Premiere of Chronicle: December 20, 1936 – Guild Theatre, New York City
Choreography by Martha Graham
Costumes by Martha Graham
Music by Wallingford Riegger

Photograph by Ed Mollier