Contemporary Techniques 1

Week Three Martha Graham - training and influences

Aim

 You will be able to describe Martha Graham’s early upbringing and background.  You will be familiar with her training and influences.  You will be able to describe what influenced the development of her technique and inspired her choreographies. Denishawn

Ruth St. Denis, born Ruth Dennis Jan. 20, 1877, Ted Shawn, born Edwin Myers Shawn October 21, Newark, N.J., U.S.—died July 21, 1968 Los 1891, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.—died January 9, Angeles, California 1972, Orlando, Florida

Studied Ballet, Delsarte, social dance and skirt dancing A former divinity student, Shawn was introduced to dance as therapy after an illness. Soon after 1904 – St Denis allegedly saw an image of Isis on beginning his dance career, he met and married a ciggarette packet which sparked her interest in Ruth St. Denis Egyptian and Indian mythology and imagery.

The Denishawn organisation systematically Like Loie Fuller and Isadora Duncan before her, promoted nonballetic dance movement. The she toured Europe 1906-1909 and while there school offered classes in Oriental, Spanish, and gained popularity and acclaim primitive dance; the fundamentals of ballet; their

own innovative techniques; and, later, the In 1914 St. Denis married Ted Shawn, her dance modern-dance techniques that had been partner, and the next year they founded the developed in Europe by Rudolf Laban and Émile Denishawn school and company in Los Angeles. Jaques-Dalcroze. Branches of the school were established in New York City and other American cities.

Denishawn

Among St Denis’ choreographic innovations were “music visualization”—a concept that called for movement equivalents to the timbres, dynamics, and structural shapes of music in addition to its rhythmic base—and a related choreographic form that she called “synchoric orchestra”—a technique, comparable to the eurythmics of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, that assigned one dancer to interpret the rhythms of each instrument of the orchestra.

Although her choreography was not culturally accurate or authentic, it was expressive of the themes that St. Denis perceived in Oriental, Egyptian and other ‘exotic’ culture and highly entertaining to contemporary audiences. St. Denis believed dance to be a spiritual expression, and her choreography reflected this idea.

The company’s repertoire, choreographed by St. Denis and Shawn, ranged from unadorned solos to opulent productions with Japanese, Hindu, Middle Eastern, or American Indian themes. The Denishawn dancers frequently toured the United States and performed in the Orient (1925–26). The organisation disbanded in 1931 after St. Denis and Shawn separated.

Martha Graham

Born May 11, 1894, Allegheny County (Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, U.S.—died April 1, 1991, New York, New York.

Graham’s father, George Graham, was a physician who was particularly interested in the bodily expression of human behaviour. Another influencing factor was that her family were strict Presbyterians.

The family moved in 1909 to settle in Santa Barbara, California, where she discovered the rhythm of the sea and became acquainted with Oriental art, influences that were to be evident in her choreography throughout her career.

Graham’s professional career began at Denishawn, where as a teenager she had been introduced to a repertory and curriculum that was truly innovative at that time. She was entranced by the religious mysticism of St. Denis, but Shawn was her major teacher; he discovered sources of dramatic power within her and then channelled them into an Aztec ballet, Xochitl. The dance was a tremendous success both in vaudeville and in concert performance and made her a Denishawn star.

Graham left Denishawn in 1923 to take a job with the Greenwich Village Follies, where she danced for 2 years. By 1927 she was dancing and choreographing full-time, collaborating with Louis Horst who she had met at Denishawn, and had created the Martha Graham Dance Company.

Martha Graham In 1936 she turned down an invitation from Hitler to perform at the International Arts Festival organized in conjunction with the Olympic Games in Berlin

Martha Graham’s creativity crossed artistic boundaries and embraced every artistic genre. She collaborated with and commissioned work from the leading visual artists, musicians, and designers of her day, including sculptor Isamu Noguchi and fashion designers Halston, Donna Karan, and Calvin Klein, as well as composers Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, William Schuman, Norman Dello Joio, and Gian Carlo Menotti.

Influencing generations of choreographers and dancers including Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, and Twyla Tharp, Graham forever altered the scope of dance. Classical ballet dancers Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, and Mikhail Baryshnikov sought her out to broaden their artistry, and artists of all genres were eager to study and work with Graham—she taught actors including Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Madonna, Liza Minelli, Gregory Peck, Tony Randall, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, and Joanne Woodward to utilize their bodies as expressive instruments.

During her long and illustrious career, Graham created 181 masterpiece dance compositions, which continue to challenge and inspire generations of performers and audiences. In 1986, she was given the Local One Centennial Award for dance by her theater colleagues, awarded only once every 100 years, and 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 and expanded the boundaries of contemporary dance.

Graham’s technique

Based on the Delsartean principles of tension and relaxation: • Contraction & Release • High Release • Spiral • Tilt • Pleadings • Floor work • Hard, angular lines

A few of Martha Graham’s works:

Year Performance Music Notes

1926 Chorale César Franck 1929 Heretic from folklore old Breton song – de Sivry 1930 Lamentation Zoltán Kodály 1931 Primitive Mysteries Louis Horst 1935 Frontier Louis Horst set by Isamu Noguchi 1936 Chronicle Wallingford Riegger lighting by Jean Rosenthal 1940 El Penitente Louis Horst 1940 Letter to the World Hunter Johnson 1944 Appalachian Spring Aaron Copland 1947 Errand into the Maze Gian Carlo Menotti set by Isamu Noguchi and lighting by Jean Rosenthal 1947 Night Journey William Schuman 1948 Diversion of Angels Norman Dello Joio inspired by Wassily Kadinsky 1958 Clytemnestra Halim El-Dabh 1963 Circe Alan Hovhaness 1990 Maple Leaf Rag Scott Joplin costumes by Calvin Klein

Set reading questions

• What does Graham say her technique was based on? pg 46 • What was one of the first familes Graham met in Santa Barbara called? Pg47 • What does Graham say birds symbolise in her ballets? Pg49