I've always loved Martha Graham's story and her style. She was a visionary in the choreographic field and a rebel to her core. She took dance and made it speak from the heart and never wanted to let go of the light inside her soul when dancing. Here's some brief facts about this amazing women:
Martha Graham was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1894. Her parents were strict Presbyterians and were somewhat wealthy. She was strongly discouraged from a career in the performing arts.
In 1925 Martha Graham and Robert Mamoulian produced a two color film, featuring Eastman students, entitled The Flute of Krishna. In 1926 she established her own company, The Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance and went on to teach Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp, Merce Cunningham and countless other performers, dancers and actors. To this day she is credited as "The Revolutionary Mother Of Modern Dance."
Her choreography has been compared to Picasso's Painting and James Joyce's literature. Her desire to break away from classical constraints and embracing new "contemporary" movements earned her a place in the dance hall of fame.
Graham says in Blood Memory that she danced at the White House for eight different U.S. presidents. Franklin Roosevelt was the first, in 1937... She married the dancer Erick Hawkins in 1948, after a long love affair. The marriage was short-lived, and they divorced in 1954. It was Graham's only marriage and she had no children.
Graham's legacy lives on in the heart's of her former students and through the reteaching of her choreography and ground-breaking technique.
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