Martha Graham

Martha Graham was born on May 11,1894 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to parents George and Jennie Graham. She was the eldest of four children: sisters Mary, Geordie, and a brother William. At the turn of the century, Pittsburgh was a heavy producing steel factory city with an atmosphere that was layered in smoke and soot. Martha remembered it as, "spun entirely of evening and dark thread."

In 1908, the Graham family moved to Santa Barbara, California. Martha later recalled: "California was a world of flowers, Oriental people, people with Spanish blood, a life completely different from our life in Pittsburgh. It became a time of light and freedom and curiosity. I was thrilled with it."

On June 13, 1911, Martha Graham attended a concert of dancer Ruth St. Denis at the Mason Opera House in Los Angeles, California. Martha was transfixed and exhilarated by St. Denis's exotic movements. She recalled, "From that moment on, my fate was sealed. I couldn't wait to learn to dance as the goddess did."

At the end of her first year at Denishawn, Martha was recruited to demonstrate basic movements in Ruth's classes. She taught the dance classes for small children and appeared as a member of the Denishawn Company chorus, but wasn’t considered ready to perform the company's repertory. “They thought I was good enough to be a teacher, but not a dancer,” she recalled.

Ted Shawn choreographed this piece, about an Indian Princess, on Graham in which she danced the title role of Xochitl. Ted Shawn played the role of Emperor Tepancaltzin. Martha recalled that during a performance, Shawn dropped her on her head and she passed out for a few seconds. When she came to, Graham bit Shawn on the arm and drew blood. Martha claimed, "I suppose that is when my reputation for having a violent temper began. I was savage at that time."

"I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one's being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes in some area an athlete of God."  – Martha Graham

In 1925, Martha left the Greenwich Village Follies, moved to New York City, rented a studio at Carnegie Hall and began to choreograph what would be the beginnings of her life's work. 

"Movement in the modern dance is the product not of invention but of discovery – discovery of what the body will do, and what it can do in the expression of emotion." – Martha Graham

Graham was propelled into international fame when she starred as the Chosen One in the first American production of Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring). "When you have to do the same movement, do not get bored with yourself, just think of yourself as dancing toward your death. In the The Rite of Spring, when I danced the Chosen One, as I did so many continuous times, and came to the moment of finality, I thought of my rebirth." – Martha Graham

 “Virile gestures are evocative of the only true beauty. Ugliness may be actually beautiful if it cries out with the voice of power." – Martha Graham

“Now, there is a Graham technique, a Graham idiom, a Graham style. There are DeMille movements, gestures, hallmarks. But dance-wrights do not get to the top, at least they do not stay there, on technical tricks or personal mannerisms. One needs to look deeper – behind the innovations and beneath the surface texture – in order to explain the hold on her audience each has achieved and to understand whence it springs.” – George Beiswanger, “New Images in Dance : Martha Graham and Agnes DeMille”

Martha Graham has had a deep and lasting impact on American art and culture. She single-handedly defined contemporary dance as a uniquely American art form, which the nation has in turn shared with the world. Crossing artistic boundaries, she collaborated with and commissioned work from the leading visual artists, musicians, and designers of her day, including sculptor Isamu Noguchi and composers Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and Gian Carlo Menotti.

During her long and illustrious career, Graham created 181 dance compositions. During the Bicentennial she was granted the United States’ highest civilian honor, The Medal of Freedom. In 1998, TIME Magazine named her the “Dancer of the Century.” The first dancer to perform at the White House and to act as a cultural ambassador abroad, she captured the spirit of a nation.