Martha Graham Left Denishawn example essay topic

"How was contemporary movement introduced to Britain in the 1960's? Who were the influences, works and companies that evolved from this movement?" Contemporary movement was introduced to Britain in the 60's with respect to work that had been done in the United States by Martha Graham, working originally out of a tiny Carnegie Hall studio in midtown Manhattan back in 1926. Martha Graham has often been compared to Constantin Stanislavsky (the "father" of contemporary theatre), and his work with the Art Theatre in Moscow. This is, in the main, because both were such revolutionary characters, and extremely passionate about their arts to the point of overwork and illness. Both were also uncompromising individuals who worked their students hard, but only because they were always prepared to go further. Martha Graham became a darling of "Time" magazine, the "face" of American dance, and was hailed as "one of the great new yorkers - the woman of the century", but who was this eponymous lady?

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1894, the daughter of an "alienist" (psychologist) who specialised in movement - an interest he passed on to his eldest daughter, along with the dictum "movement never lies", Miss Graham was not allowed to pursue her love of dance by her Father, and did not officially begin until after his death. In 1908, Martha's family moved to Santa Barbara, California where she finished her secondary schooling. Martha went to a school of dramatics for three years, and then in 1916 began studying at Denishawn. During the seven years after this, she was a student, teacher, and eventually one of the company's best-known performers. She often worked as with Ted Shawn as his partner, and was co-star of "Xochtil", (Shawn's duet about an Indian girl and an Aztec Emperor.

1 n 1923, Martha Graham left Denishawn and joined the Greenwich Village Follies, where she won praise for her ballet. Over the next three years, she found herself drawn into the Greenwich Village art scene, and became interested in Eleanor a Duse, the Moscow Art Theatre, and Max Reinhardt. She left the Follies in 1925 to go independent. She worked as a teacher at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY and the John Murray Anderson School in NYC during this period. Her company debuted in 1928. She used students from Eastman, and performed in New York City.

The Denishawn repertory was very much apparent as an influence, Graham producing and demonstrating exotic solos and the students in a ballet ballad called "The Flute Of Krishna". Graham wore a heavy gold kimono, making patterns with her body against a screen almost like a shadow-play in a picture house. It was considered highly sospisticated. Some said every gesture she made told many stories. Over her life, she would produce more than 180 such ballets. Graham worked with Louis Horst, whom she knew from Denishawn.

Horst had been the musical director and resident accompanies t there, he was also a major figure in the modern dance scene of the 20's to 40's and taught her about musical form and encouraged her to work with contemporary composers rather than constructing dance to older, perhaps archaic eighteenth and nineteenth-century music, as had been previously done. In this way alone, Graham and Horst were revolutionary, but it didn't end there. Graham identified a method of breathing and impulse control she called "contraction and release. This method of muscle control gave her dances and dancers a hard, angular look, one that was a shock to dance audiences. People of the time were used to the smooth, lyrical bodily motions, and Graham was often accused of dancing in an "ugly" way. Martha Graham visited the American Southwest in 1931, where she became interested in making dances based on American history.

In "Primitive Mysteries", the choreographer combined her interest in the religious rites of American Indians with an exploration of other religious rites, including pagan and Catholic ceremonies. This was an unprecedented move, and saw Graham's style becoming truly unique, and very far away from the status quo, plus demonstrating important advances for Graham. First, the choreographic focus is firmly on the group of dancers rather than on the solo dancer, as she had previously directed, pointing to a big change in the way Graham was approaching the way dance is constructed (it's "architecture"). The story, or narrative of the dance is not presented literally, but uses movement to tell the tale.

"Primitive Mysteries" was Graham's first critical masterpiece, and was talked about by critics, artists and audiences around the world. The innovation demonstrated here was a Graham trait that continued to serve up to the day she died, still dancing, in 1991. Graham's "American period" was where she created the solo piece "Frontier" in 1935 and "Appalachian Spring", working with a sculptor, Is amu Noguchi and artist Aaron Copeland. Graham used a simple set designed by the sculptor to evoke the frontier landscape, and her new narrative take to express the determination and strength of the pioneer women.

Martha Graham was a big fan of strong, female, historical role models and used them as an inspiration for many of her works. She was diverse, and eager to find new stimulus for her pieces from any variety of sources. Robert Cohan was born in 1925 in New York. He became artistic director of the London Contemporary Dance Theatre and supported contemporary dance in Britain. A student of Graham, since 1946, he worked closely with Robin Howard, who wanted to get British dance less idealistic and predictable, and together they established the London School of Contemporary Dance in 1967. Cohan passed on Graham's teachings, which he had studied for 10 years, and also adapted it to his style.

Cohan was more interested in narrative and expression, telling a story, than the angular work, and contraction and release of Graham. Cohan taught lots of today's revered dancers such as Sio bahn Davies and Richard Alston, he always encouraged people to "push the envelope" with dance. It is the combination of these individuals that gives us what we see today in British dance, at, for instance Sadler's Wells.