How Did Martha Graham Contribute To Dance

Influenced primarily by cultural roots and incredibly opportunity, Dunham had the luxury of studying in the West Indies as well as anthropological study of other cultural style dances. The West Indian experience changed forever the focus of Dunham’s life and caused a profound shift in her career. This initial fieldwork began a lifelong involvement with the people and dance of Haiti. And, importantly for the development of modern dance, her fieldwork began her investigations into a vocabulary of movement that would form the core of the Katherine Dunham Technique. Though many of Dunham’s primary influences lies within her multicultural experiences, Mark Turbyfill also seemed to play a large role in her future dance career, giving her private lessons despite his doubt in the opening of her student company (Kaiso! 187). Katherine Dunham has been list as an influence to “everyone from George Balanchine to Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, Bob Fosse and Twyla Tharp. American dance, including ballet, modern dance, Hollywood and Broadway, would not be the same without her” (Aschenbrenner 226).

The world of contemporary dance is one that is constantly developing and pushing the boundaries of what makes dance more than just movement. However, it is questionable that it would be in this diverse state if it was not for a few revolutionary choreographers. Along with Martha Grahame is could be argued that Merce Cunningham was a pioneering, revolutionary choreographer who questioned given standards and procedures creating the diverse contemporary style that we know today. Revolutionary can be defined as something radically new or innovative; outside or beyond established procedure and principles (Dictionary.com, 2017). In order for something to be revolutionary it has to be in relation to something else, this is certainly true for Cunningham’s

Duncan adamantly rejected ballet; she saw it as a form of dance that was rigid and unexpressive. The foundation of ballet consists of five still poses, but Duncan believed that in dance, the dancers body should be a "luminous fluid…a luminous moving cloud" (Duncan 51). She did not think that dance should be comprised of a string of still positions. This was what ballet was to her: rigid, still, unnatural. There was too much focus on technique in ballet. Duncan felt that dance was more than technique; it was about emotions, discovering the soul, and using those powers to compel movement. She saw a strong connection between dance and spirit, and this connection had been lost in ballet (Terry 31).

Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey are known as the founders, or the pioneers of modern dance. They were of the first to begin the modern dance era, after Isadora Duncan. Graham and Humphrey reshaped the way people looked at dance giving it new meaning. During the 1900’s they defined modern dance and gave it clear recognizable movements that distinguish it from many other dances created in the past.

Graham's style of modern dance was never seen in America before. Therefore, the audience had to get accustomed to it (Switzer 108). People often defined modern dance as a contrast to ballet, but Graham's new modern dance style moved away from the strong ballet traditions. Anyone could see that Martha was not afraid of being unique. For example, music was not required in all of her dances. Without the music, the audience would then be able to hear the sounds of the dancer (Microsoft Encarta). In the dances that did have music, Graham expressed herself in metaphors or images (McLanathan and Brown 173). These dances involved posture, role of gravity, and character movements. Graham's style was considered prominent among other performers.

Secondly, Martha’s another strength was revolutionary choreographing skills. Martha Graham marked her peak in the 1930s when she was creating a unique American style of dance. She wanted to “explore some of the forces that have shaped American culture, expressing through dance what is was like to be an American and what America meant to her” (75). Her first piece, Frontier, was a huge success, and she lasted choreographing to the death. Afterwards, Martha created nearly fifty new dances during the 1930s. In addition, Erick Hawkins, the introduction of male dancers, joined Martha’s company in 1938, and gave a huge impact on both Martha’s dance style and personal life. Before Erick appeared in Martha’s life, there was a limitation on her work. However, Martha was able to “explore love, jealousy, ad sexual passion in her dances” (85) such as Every Soul Is a Circus, Letter to the World, and Punch and the Judy. Overall, Martha’s choreographing skills had created a revolution in 1930s.

Born July 6, 1931 Donald McKayle grew up in Harlem, New York City and was raised by his parents Wilhelmina Cohen McKayle and Philip Augustus McKayle. As a young teenager, his English teacher helped spark an interest of African American history along with his neighborhood which was rich with “social dancing, culture and political awareness” (Jacinto, 2012, p. 1). This combination of interest in African American diaspora and influence of environmental surroundings would lead to inspiring and forming McKayle into a renowned dancer, teacher and choreographer. Prior to McKayle’s senior year in high school he saw a performance by Pearl Primus which made him realize he wanted to become a dancer. He went on to audition for the New Dance Group and was chosen as one of seven dancers. As a member of the New Dance Group he trained in a variety of dance genres under Sophie Maslow, Nona Shurman, Mary Anthony, Nina Golovina, and even Pearl Primus. His first choreographic work was with the New Dance Group entitled Saturday’s Child, which was a solo he performed. His time with the New Dance Group gave him a strong technical background and movement vocabulary that he would carry on with him as he joined the Contemporary Dance Group. It was then that he premiered Games, at Charles Weidman’s studio which “launched the young choreographer 's career” (Jacinto, 2012, p.1). This was the first time audiences saw him as a storyteller and social critic whose movement style played off of the human

She studied different types of dance and incorporated them into her own technique. “Called the matriarch of black dance her groundbreaking repertoire combine innovative interpretation of caribbean dances,traditional ballet, African rituals and African American rhythms to create the Dunham technique” (“Katherine Dunham Biography” 2). Dunham technique is continued to be taught at schools and companies all over the world. Her travels to other countries always inspired her choreography. “She is credited for bringing caribbean and African influences to a European-dominated world” (“Katherine Dunham Biography” 2). Dunham’s use of different world influences innovated dance and created more significant choreography. Dunham not only changed how she danced; she created an entirely new

Dancing is a recreational activity that has been enjoyed by millions of people for centuries. There have been countless styles of dance and thousands of memorized steps that have been performed in front of people or even just simply enjoyed alone without and audience. When a handful those thousands of steps come together, it creates a routine. Even though there are countless dancers that are breathtaking when they perform the routine in front of and audience, most dancers cannot be proficient without someone to assemble those countless steps together to create something awe inspiring, beautiful, and entertaining to watch. Dance is a world of constant change due to the want of awe, the need to produce something unique, and the necessity to catch the audience’s attention. Although many people believe some dance styles have not changed for centuries, innovative choreographers flip dance styles upside down with their unique approaches.

One of the greatest dancer/choreographers was Katherine Dunham. Katherine Dunham created many ballet companies schools, used Thinking Flexibly to innovate ways to make sure everyone would be able to learn dance, and illuminated the world by rejecting social injustice.

"American Masters: Martha Graham, About the Dancer." PBS. PBS, 16 Sept. 2005. Web. 17 Nov. 2012. .

Martha Graham (1894-1991) was a professional dancer and choreographer. It is said that Graham invented Modern Dance. She was very talented and even won awards for her hard work including the Medal of Freedom. After viewing short clips of Graham’s style of dance, I am able to see that Graham was not afraid to dance and nor was she afraid of the music. Watching her dance in these clips, I did see freedom and elegance. I was able to see her true personality through her body movements. In comparison to traditional ballet, I would definitely say that Graham’s style is extremely more unconventional as opposed to traditional, “by the book,” conventional ballet. In traditional ballet, everything is planned out to a “t.” Ballet dancers can’t miss a

Dance is an ever evolving form of art; in much the same way that one can categorize and differentiate between eras and styles of architecture one can also do so with dance. These eras at times have sharp delineations separating them from their antecedents, other times the distinction is far more subtle. Traditional forms of dance were challenged by choreographers attempting to expand the breadth and increase the depth of performance; preeminent among such visionaries was Seattle born dancer and choreographer Mark Morris. Mark Morris' began as one of the millions of hopeful individuals attempting to simply make a career in dance; he not only succeeded but managed to have a lasting effect on the entire landscape of dance.

Watching the video “A Dancer’s World” made me want to become a professional dancer. Martha Graham’s dancers showed how delicate, defined, sharp, smooth, and astatic a choreography can be. It illustrated how much hard word and dedication it’s needed, but the results will always be beautiful. Also Martha Graham explained how dancing with a partner can be. She also talked about males as dancers, but in her video she demonstrates how men danced with females using physical contact. The techniques and how the piece turns out to be. Both genders jumped a lot through out each piece of performed and that’s something loved. During a piece, there can be both gender dancing separately doing their own thing. The techniques are used differently by males

“ Dance is the hidden language of the soul” ( Martha Graham). Dance is nonverbal and is often used by many people as a language. All people can tell emotions by dancing even beginner and amateur classes. In the world, there are many kinds of dancing, for instance, jazz, ballet, and samba. Each dance has completely distinct parts because all region`s cultures gave influences to each dance style in the past time such as classical Japanese dance and salsa. Furthermore, many people dance as entertainments and exercises and can trace many cultures by practicing dancing. Dancing is a necessary for people`s lives. The reasons why people dance are working as professional dancers, learning cultures and histories, and dancing with friends.