Martha Graham is the birth of modern dance. Martha Graham's technique

Martha Graham
Martha Graham photographed by Yusuf Karsh Date of Birth: Date of death: Profession: Citizenship:

USA

Awards:

Biography

Although the Graham family was religious and considered dancing a sin, she was once allowed to go to a concert by famous dancer Ruth St. Denis. In addition, despite the strictness of their views, Martha's parents were not against her college education. Vassar College, where her parents intended her, was known not only for the quality of education, but also for its sports traditions and suffragist sympathies (suffragism is a movement for women to get the right to vote on an equal basis with men). However, after seeing Ruth Saint-Denis perform, Martha wanted to become a dancer. In the year she was allowed to enroll in the School of Expression in Los Angeles; she then attended the Denishawn School, founded by Saint-Denis herself with her partner, Ted Shawn, in Spain.

During the years of Graham's apprenticeship, dance was seen mainly as entertainment - it was an integral part of vaudeville, costume performances, society balls. Only one type of dance had the status of art - ballet, which in America was considered a European thing. In American dance schools, however, students were trained to participate in shows and cabarets, and were treated accordingly. But Martha wanted to be not a cabaret girl, but a real artist. She proudly recalled later in her memoirs that she was the only one in the school who was exempt from the strict supervision that all other girls were subjected to, on the grounds that "Graham is an art." And subsequently all her men looked up to her as an artist and a genius.

In her era, there were rigid stereotypes of masculine and feminine, about, for example, that men are cerebral and women are emotional; men in the dance express themselves in pushing rectilinear movements, and women - in smooth movements that take place along the trajectories of curves. Graham has stated that she "doesn't want to be a tree or a flower or a wave". In her dances, she abandoned the standard view of femininity and strove to make her characters impersonal, conventionally formal, strong and even masculine. In the body of a dancer, according to Graham, the audience should see a person in general - disciplined, capable of high concentration, strong. Many commentators on her work have noted Graham's connection with feminism. On the dust jacket of one of her biographies is a quote taken from an article in the New York Times: "The most militant and most talented feminist, Martha Graham, freed both woman and dance!" Although she herself believed that she did not take part in the emancipation movement, Graham broke the stereotype with her dance: a woman is a weak creature.

listen)) is an American dancer, creator of American modern dance, which appeared as a development of free dance.

Her parents were members of the Presbyterian Church, and as a child, she had to regularly attend her. Subsequently, she recalled what a nightmare it was for a child to go to a gloomy, dark church and sit out completely unemotional, lifeless services there. The dance, which she later discovered, was in complete contrast to the boredom of the church service; it was a celebration, a "miracle" of a moving body.

Although the Graham family was religious and considered dancing a sin, she was once allowed to go to a concert by famous dancer Ruth St. Denis. In addition, despite the strictness of their views, Martha's parents were not against her college education. Vassar College, where her parents intended her, was known not only for the quality of education, but also for its sports traditions and suffragist sympathies (suffragism is a movement for women to get the right to vote on an equal basis with men). However, after seeing Ruth Saint-Denis perform, Martha wanted to become a dancer. In the year she was allowed to enroll in the School of Expression in Los Angeles; she then attended Denishawn School, which Saint-Denis herself founded with her partner, Ted Shawn, in California.

During the years of Graham's apprenticeship, dance was seen mainly as entertainment - it was an integral part of vaudeville, costume performances, society balls. Only one type of dance had the status of art - ballet, which in America was considered a European thing. In American dance schools, however, students were trained to participate in shows and cabarets, and were treated accordingly. But Martha wanted to be not a cabaret girl, but a real artist. She proudly recalled later in her memoirs that she was the only one in the school who was exempted from the strict supervision that all other girls were subjected to, on the grounds that "Graham is an art." And subsequently all her men looked up to her as an artist and genius.

Many commentators on her work have noted Graham's connection with feminism. On the dust jacket of one of her biographies is a quote taken from an article in the New York Times: "The most militant and most talented feminist, Martha Graham, freed both woman and dance!" Although she herself believed that she did not take part in the emancipation movement, Graham broke the stereotype with her dance: a woman is a weak creature.

Literature

Martha Graham. blood memory. New York, 1991.
Don McDonagh. Martha Graham, A Biography. New York, 1973.

Links

I. Sirotkina. Free dance and woman's release -

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

Wigman, Mary
Kung

See what "Graham, Martha" is in other dictionaries:

Graham Martha

Graham Martha- (Graham) (1893, according to other sources, 1894 1991), American dancer, choreographer. In 1929 she organized her own troupe. One of the largest representatives of the modern dance school in the USA. * * * GRAHAM Martha GRAHAM (Graham) Martha (b. 1893, after ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Graham Martha- Graham (Graham) Martha (b. 11. 5. 1893, Pittsburgh), American dancer, choreographer, honorary doctor of art history from Harvard University (1966). In 1918–23 she studied at the school of R. Saint Denis and T. Shawn and worked in their troupe. In 1926≈30 she performed with ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

GRAHAM Martha- (Graham, Martha) (1894 1991), American dancer, teacher and choreographer (author of over 190 productions). She was born in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) on May 22, 1894. In 1916 she entered the Denishawn Dance School (R. Saint Denis T. Shawn) in Los Angeles and through ... ... Collier Encyclopedia

Graham, Martha- M. Graham. Scene from the ballet Majestic Gesture. Iengela. 1935. GRAHAM (Graham) March (1893, according to other sources, 1894 1991), American dancer, choreographer, teacher. One of the brightest representatives of modern dance. Since 1928 she has performed with solo ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Graham, Martha- see Graham, Martha...

Graham (Graham), Martha- (Graham, Martha) (05/21/1894, Allegheny, Pennsylvania 04/01/1991, New York) American dancer, choreographer, dance theorist. Daughter of a psychiatrist. In 1914 she began studying drama and dance at a college in Los Angeles, in 1916 ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Expressionism

Martha Graham- Martha Graham, or rather Graham (Eng. Martha Graham; May 11, 1894, Allegheny April 1, 1991, New York) is an American dancer, the creator of American modern dance, which appeared as a development of free dance. Her parents were parishioners ... ... Wikipedia

Graham M.- Martha Graham Martha Graham, or rather Graham (eng. Martha Graham; May 11, 1894, Allegheny April 1, 1991, New York) was an American dancer, the creator of American modern dance, which appeared as a development of free dance. Her parents were her ... ... Wikipedia

Graham- Graham is an English surname. Another transcription of Graham. Known speakers: Clan Graham is one of the clans of the lowlands of Scotland. Graham, Benjamin (1894-1976) Economist and professional investor ... Wikipedia

This great woman was called "the dancer of the century", and it is impossible to overestimate her contribution to contemporary art. The pride and glory of American culture, which created its own theater, was a multi-talented personality. The brilliant Martha Graham, who believed that dance is a tool that life controls, revealed the essence of a person in movement.

Biography of the dancer

Martha Graham was born in 1894 in Pennsylvania. Her father, a doctor who worked with people who suffered from mental disorders, has a huge influence on her. His patients were engaged in physical exercises, and the psychiatrist declared that the human body expresses all his feelings. This idea is picked up by Marta, who loved dancing. Despite the dissatisfaction of her conservative parents, who believed that this was a sinful occupation, she goes to the performances of famous artists and dreams of shining on stage just like them.

Quite late, at the age of 20, the girl enters a dance school, where she studies various techniques, and later becomes a teacher. One of the teachers saw potential and powerful energy in a plump brunette of small stature. Soon he puts on a dance for the weight-losing girl, which allowed her to showcase all her unusual personality and unique talent.

As Marta herself recalled, she was not taken seriously for a long time. She would come down to the hall at night, when everyone was asleep, and dance to exhaustion, inventing her own moves in total darkness.

Passionate dance modern

She falls in love with an emotional dance that suits her temperament perfectly. Martha Graham, who started working professionally, is adored by the audience who came to admire the passionate performance, and the critics, who positively evaluated her technique.

The fact is that at that time only ballet had the status of art, and dance schools prepared girls to participate in entertainment shows that brought a lot of money. And Martha Graham dreamed of becoming a real artist with a capital letter.

Own troupe

In 1926, she founded her troupe, which at first consisted of only women, and from that moment various experiments began. Graham finds an individual style, and innovative bold ideas appear in each performance. She expresses her vision of the world around her through jerky movements, which at first were rated as "ugly". She puts on patriotic performances, showing what no one has paid attention to before - the life of ordinary Americans. The dancer calls to see in the heroes of her performances a strong person capable of deeds.

Freedom, not convention

Martha Graham, whose work is not so well known in Russia, wanted to be perceived as a real artist, and men would see her as an artist, and not an object of carnal pleasures. She considered the world of ballet conditional and was drawn to modern dance, full of freedom.

The most striking work of that period is considered "Lament", where the dancer froze in an expressive sculpture, showing a woman who is struggling to get out of the role imposed on her by society. Here she does not even dance, but sits on a bench, but the audience could not take their eyes off her. This unusual image becomes the calling card of genius Graham.

Breaking stereotypes

She abandoned the usual view of femininity and always sought to make her characters impersonal or masculine, after which many critics associated her name with the feminist movement. The burning brunette herself never took part in the struggle for emancipation, but with her dances she broke all ideas that a woman is a weak creature. Martha Graham tried her best to show that movement is a means of self-expression of our soul, and dance is its language.

When all the "female" themes were exhausted, and the choreographer did not want to repeat herself, she recruits men into the troupe. One of them will become her husband in the future, and the second will violate established traditions in art. With the arrival of representatives of the stronger sex, the troupe's repertoire was significantly enriched with new stories.

Martha Graham dance technique

The dancer and choreographer has always sought to give the human body freedom when it reproduces an emotional state. In her works, not only light and music are important, but also frozen poses, various gestures, color combinations and bright costumes. All of this creates a memorable performance of immense emotional power. Oddly enough, but the pauses and silence of the characters tell about the depths of human passions, just like the inimitable dance itself. And the audience experienced a real shock at every performance.

Martha, who strives for self-expression, created a special technique based on concentration and breathing. She knows her body perfectly and tries to do everything to present it from an aesthetic point of view. At that time, it was a real breakthrough in choreography, and to this day, Martha Graham's technique is the basis for artists who choose modern.

Unified movement system

The combinations invented by her are subject to meaning, and each gesture symbolizes an emotion. The choreographer structured the movements into a single system. She showed first to America and then to the whole world that dance can be intellectual, and her amazing work inspires the creativity of a new generation of artists.

Many dancers have spent years learning contraction-release, a contraction-release technique she invented that is fundamental to contemporary modern dance.

strong women

In addition to staging talent, Graham has the talent of a performer, playing all the main roles in performances. She finds her inspiration in the myths of Ancient Greece: Phaedra, Ariadne, Medea come to the fore in her performance. Martha pays homage to strong heroines who remain in the shadow of the main characters, showing that the trials that have befallen them require even greater courage.

Diverse personality

The greatest personality in the world of dance art composed more than 180 performances in which she used plots from the myths of Ancient Greece, the Bible, literature and poetry. These are diverse, emotionally filled works, among which it is impossible to single out the brightest.

She staged numbers for Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, who participated in the productions of her theater. The Martha Graham Troupe has gained incredible popularity after touring the Middle East and Europe. It exists to this day and is a great success all over the world. All performances invented by the dancer have not been lost and can still be seen in the theater repertoire.

Contribution to dance art

Family life with a dancer from the troupe lasted only 6 years, and the separation hit her pride very hard. Martha Graham, whose biography is full of various projects, goes into creativity, embodying new dance ideas in performances. When she turned 76, she leaves the stage and works as a choreographer at such a venerable age, staging new performances.

No one knows how the history of modern dance would have developed without a brilliant woman who passed away at the age of 96. It is no coincidence that all researchers compare it with Nijinsky or Stravinsky, who made a huge contribution to art.

Autobiography in Russian

In May 2017, Martha Graham's autobiography "Blood Memory" was released. The book, which was written in the last year of the dancer's life, contains a lot of interesting information. Here there are reminiscences of the great diva of the stage about no less brilliant partners, reflections on spiritual and creative searches. "Blood memory", according to the talented Graham, means the knowledge that people inherit from previous generations.

With an autobiography, a new series about modern dance, showing feelings through movement, begins.

Graham's remarks

I would like to finish with the revelations of the brilliant choreographer, which were divided into quotes. Martha Graham spoke candidly about dance, which makes it possible to appreciate the triumph of life.

"The body will tell what the words won't tell."
"An artist is time, and everyone else lags behind him."
"The body is a sacred garment, the secret language of the soul."
"Man's arms grow out of his back, because they were originally wings."
"When I was 96, I was asked if I believe in life after death. I know that life, like energy, is continuous, and I'm afraid of oblivion. In the meantime, I'm looking in the face of the present."

GRAHAM, MARCH(Graham, Martha) (1894-1991), American dancer, teacher and choreographer (author of over 190 productions). She was born in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) on May 22, 1894. In 1916 she entered the Denishawn dance school (R. Saint-Denis - T. Shawn) in Los Angeles and a few years later made her debut as part of the Denishawn troupe in a performance at Aztec motifs Xochitl(xochitl, 1920). She performed on a Broadway show for two years. Greenwich Village Falls(1923–1925), then taught at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. In 1930 she founded the Repertory Dance Theater in New York. To his famous production sacred spring I.F. Stravinsky in 1930, she attracted choreographer L.F. Myasin and conductor L. Stokovsky. In 1932, she became the first dancer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship.

In some of Graham's productions, such as dark valley (Dark Meadow, music by Chavez, 1946), dedicated to the theme of reincarnation, the action takes place outside of time and space, there are no human characters. A number of Graham's works have a special task: such is the performance Letter to the world (Letter to the World, music by Hunter Johnson, 1940), which reveals the spiritual world of the American poetess of the 19th century. Emily Dickinson. Graham repeatedly referred to the tragic images of women of the past. Yes, ballet. heart cave (Cave of the Heart, music by S. Barber, 1946) is dedicated to the terrible revenge of Medea, and the ballet Night travel (night journey, music by W. Shumen, 1947) - the terrible fate of Queen Jocasta, the mother of Oedipus. Graham's other significant works include - Legend of Judith(music by Shumen, 1950); remembrance of the American pioneers - pioneers - Spring in the Appalachian Mountains(music by A. Copland, 1944; film version - 1958); and the glorification of the world of dance - Acrobats of God(music by K. Surimakh, 1960).

Graham's first "full-length" work - Clytemnestra(music by Halim El-Dabha, 1958) was the result of a combination of talent and skill. Graham's later productions - Phaedra(music by Robert Starer, 1962) half-awake - half asleep (Part Real – Part Dream, music by Mordechai Seter, 1965), Ancient times (Archaic Hours, music by Eugene Lester, 1969) and Acts of light (Acts of Light, music by Normans Dello Gioio, 1981).

The Martha Graham Troupe gained international fame after touring Europe and the Middle East. The permanent residence of both the troupe and the Graham School was the Martha Graham Contemporary Dance Center in New York. A film was made in 1957 Dancer's world (A Dancer World), where the main ideas of Graham are revealed in a live form and her troupe is beautifully presented. Her book Notebooks by Martha Graham (The Notebooks of Martha Graham, 1973) sheds light on Graham's source of inspiration as a dancer and choreographer. In 1984, Graham received the Legion of Honor. Graham died in New York on April 1, 1991.