Martha Graham The Day Dance

Martha Graham following Mary Wigman choreographed to the “essentialized” body through using the breath, contractions, human emotion, and so on. Martha Graham believed the pulsation of life came from the breath (6). This breath represented the soul. Graham’s breath is controlled by the contraction and release upon which her choreography was based. Graham also went on to state, “Art is eternal for it reveals the inner landscape of a man” (4). Dancing from the inside of your soul out is what Graham wanted her dancers to do. In own opinion e access our soul through surrendering to the divine power of God, which starts by connecting to our breath. Isadora Duncan danced with a connectedness of her body and soul completely inspired by nature. Graham

Her goal was to move, not dance. She challenged the notions of what a quote on quote “female dancer” was and could do. Dance to her was an exploration, a celebration of life, and religious calling that required an absolute devotion (pg. 11, Freedman). She considered her dancers “acrobats of God”. An example of a dance which symbolized the “essentialized” body was Martha Graham’s Lamentation, choreographed in 1930, which served as an expression of what person’s grief, with Graham as the solo dancer in the piece. The costume, a tube-like stretchy piece of fabric, only allowed her face, hands, and feet to be seen, and, as Graham stated, “The garment that is worn is just a tube of material, but it is as though you were stretching inside your own skin.” In the beginning of the piece, she started out by sitting on a bench with her legs wide spread and arms held tight. Her head was going back and forth as if she was feeling sadness or maybe replaying thoughts in her head. By the way she was holding her hands so tight and close to her body, it symbolized the deep pain within her––the essence of her piece was grief, and she danced it from inside out. Russel Freedman, the author of Martha Graham A Dancers Life, stated, “She did not dance about grief, but sought “the thing itself”- the very embodiment of grief (p. 61).” Graham, dancing with strength and power, was encapsulated with her movement and was completely surrendered

Heretic was choreographed in 1929, this was about a battle between one individual and society (pg. 51, Freedman). Graham stated, “To many people, I was the heretic … I did not dance the way that other people danced… In many ways, I showed onstage what most people came to the theater to avoid (51).” She danced as human with deep heart felt passion. Graham was the lead dancer wearing all white, while the ensemble of dancers wore all black. Martha Graham portrayed strong emotion, but the rest of the ensemble of dancers appeared as emotionless and controlled. The ensemble of dancers depicted society and they were not going to let the lead dancer in white break through. During the time the piece was created women were just gaining equal rights in 1920. This dance symbolizes more than woman’s suffrage. Graham demonstrates the pain she personally experienced from the rejection of society (pg. 51, Freedman). She, however, creates an archetype out of her own experience by placing it within the form of the rebel to the masses. Towards the end of the piece in its original she is lying on the ground, defeated by the people and truly showing the raw human emotion of