Who's Who - Martha Graham

Martha Graham (1894-1991) is known to modern dancers as “the mother of us all.” A dancer and choreographer with 181 works across wide-spanning themes of mythology, politics, and literature, she is considered one of the most important artists the U.S. has produced. In landmark works — from 1936’s Chronicle, through Appalachian Spring, Diversion of Angels, Clytemnestra, and up to her whimsical Maple Leaf Rag from 1990 — Graham gave form to the joy and anguish of the human soul.

Graham got her dance start with the Los Angeles troupe of Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. Graham seized the theatrical space as her vehicle for self-expression, whether as a soloist or fronting her own company, where she developed her proprietary dance technique: the “contraction” of the pelvic plate followed by the “release,” which gave propulsion to the spine and the legs.

Renowned choreographers Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, and Twyla Tharp are alumni of Graham’s company or training. Contemporaneous artists were her collaborators including Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber in music, and Isamu Noguchi in set design.

A fiercely original artist and unremitting iconoclast, Graham’s stature as a keystone of American dance history is unassailable. She danced until she was 76, and she choreographed until her final year at the age of 96.