Martha Graham was born May 11, 1894 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. Her father George Graham was an "alienist", a practitioner of an early form of psychiatry. He was a third generation American of Irish descent. Mother Jane Beers was second generation American of Irish and Scots-Irish descent. Martha was seen as one of the most influential American dancers and choreographers of her time and of the modern day. She passed away April 1, 1991 in New York.
She danced and choreographed for over seventy years. Graham reached many achievements in her lifetime. For example, she danced at the White House, traveled abroad as a cultural ambassador, and received the highest civilian award of the USA: the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She received honors ranging from the Key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown. Beginning in the mid-1910s, she began her studies at the Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts, until the year of 1923. In 1922 Graham performed an Egyptian dance with Lillian Powell in a Hugo Riesenfeld short silent film that attempted to synchroni...
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
Martha Dandridge was born on June 2, 1731, to Frances Jones Dandridge and Colonel John Dandridge. She was the eldest of seven brothers and sisters to come. Martha was born in New Kent County, Virginia on the Chestnut Grove plantation. She grew up among other plantation families of the Tidewater region of eastern Virginia. Martha did not receive any formal education; however, she did receive the traditional education for young women of her time. This included domestic skills and the arts rather than science and math. The skills that she learned were the skills needed to run a household. Unlike other young women in her time, Martha did learn how to read and write as a child. She had several hobbies too; such as: horseback riding, sewing, and dancing.
Martha Graham is a one of the many 20th century important dancer and she’s also the mother of modern dance. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on May 11 1894. Her teen years she studied dance in Los Angeles. Where she studied was at Denishawn. In 1926 she then had her own dance company in New York City. Martha still was dancing when she was 60 and she also choreographed. In the Autobiography by Victoria Phillips Martha Graham saids this about her Autobiography, “I am not out to make a preach about my life. Some of it has been wonderful and I’ve been very, very fortunate some of it I regret. The things which are, perhaps, too private to ever reveal—one refuses to reveal.” (Phillips 65).
She had worked with Ted Shawn when she was young for several years; Graham improved her technique and began dancing professionally as a solo talented dancer. Then she took a position at the Eastman School of Music, in which she could work independently and later invented her own dancing technique and attitude that contributed to the establishment of her company in 1926. One of her most significant influence towards modern dance was when Graham performed a vocabulary of movement that showcased all aspects of human experience being expressed theoretically through the body (Ellen). She had an ability to show her emotional and spiritual themes in her dance that no other dancer had showed, by using spastic movements, trembling, and falls. For instance, one of the early pieces of the compa...
The Life and Works of Annie Leibovitz Annie Leibovitz is one of the best portrait photographers in this modern age. Her works focus on varied subjects but hover more among celebrity portraits. Apart from these, her photographs depict visual stories that affect the audience's emotions. The diversity and life of her photographs create visual artistic realms that touch the soul. Biography:
Ella was born on April 25, 1917, in Newport News, Virginia. In school, she sang in glee club, but her passion was to rather dance. In the 1920s and early 1930s , jazz began to sweep the nation. In 1932, Fitzgerald’s mother was killed in a car accident. After her mother’s death, the two sisters were shifted among her family members and Ella became a restless, unhappy teen. She usually w...
As stated in Agnes De Mille (1905 ~ 1993), To this day, the remarkable impact she’s made not just on American dance, but in the world of dance are distinctive achievements worthy of constant recognition and a place in major dance and theater history” (Agnes De Mille (1905 ~ 1993), (n.d.). Even after Agnes de Mille death, she wasn’t forgotten: “At the time of her death in October, 1993 at the age of 88, was still an influential and productive leader in the cultural life of our country” (Agnes DeMille Dances – Biography,
Martha Washington was born on June 2,1731. She grew up in New Kent County, Virginia and was the first of eight children born to John Dandridge and Frances Jones. With this many children, there had to be a lot of strict rules which John and Francis expected their children to follow. Education was also valued and Martha was tutored, along with her siblings. After age twelve, martha quit tutoring and began learning the basic house chores. In her free time, Martha would sew, knit, and help her mother cook.
The fine art of modern dance is like many other fields in that it is based on the actions and deeds of those who were pioneers in the field. These pioneers helped to mold modern dance into what it is today. Of the many people who are partially responsible for this accomplishment is Isadora Duncan. Duncan, often referred to as the “mother of modern dance,” inspired many other dancers to the extent that the art of dance would not be the same today without her many contributions.
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born April 25, 1917 (“Ella Fitzgerald”). The location was Newport News, Virginia. She was born to be the daughter of Temperance “Tempie” and William Fitzgerald (“This Day in History”). As a child, Ella and her mother moved to Yonkers, New York to live with her mother’s new husband after William Fitzgerald’s death. She grew up there for most of her childhood. Although today Ella is known as the “Queen of Jazz, ” she lived a normal childhood. When she was younger, she collected signatures from famous people. She is also known as the “Master of Scat Singing” (“Ella Fitzgerald Was Known as The Master of Scat Singing”). Although this is true, Ella’s original dream was to be a dancer.
The start of American Modern dance began in the 20th century as dancers began to pull away from traditional forms of choreographed dance like ballet. One of the founders of this rapidly modernizing dance movement was Isadora Duncan. Isadora Duncan seeked to create dances that were free with out the rigorous or confined movements of ballet. As a result Isadora Duncan formed a dance style that was reflective of her free spirit. She looked for inspiration in classical Greek arts, social dances and nature. In a speech entitled The Dance of the Future she stated that the future of dance would be similar to the dance of the ancient Greek, natural and free. Consequently she developed a dance style based on improvisation and interpretation. Her dance movements consisted of running, rising, falling and skipping all movements that became the foundation of her dance style.
Isadora Duncan was born in 1878 in San Francisco, CA. Her mother believed it was exceedingly important to surround Isadora and her siblings with art, music, Shakespeare, and poetry. This was Isadora's awakening to the arts (Terry 9). She trained in ballet as a young girl and was exposed to Delsartean principles that influenced her greatly later in life (12). In 1896, Isadora and her mother traveled to Chicago to further Isadora’s budding career. While there, she met Augustin Daly who then took her to New York and gave her roles in theater productions such as A Midsummer Night's Dream where she was first recognized by the press (25). While in New York she trained with ball...
Cunningham was born on April 16, 1919, in Centralia, Washington. At the age of twelve, Cunningham became interested in dance and started informal instruction. Upon graduation from high school, Cunningham began his formal dance instruction at the Cornish School of Fine and Applied Arts. After two years at the Cornish School, he studied at Mills College and at Bennington College; this is where he was invited to join Martha Graham?s dance company in 1939. Graham was an incredible dancer who also choreographed during her career. While dancing for Graham, Cunningham began to make a name for himself in the dancing community. It was with Graham?s encouragement that Cunningham started to choreograph on his own. His decision to start choreographing can be looked at as one of the most important decisions in the history of dance.
The new dancers wanted their movements to be authentic and to tell a story. An example of this is Isadora Duncan, a dancer and choreographer of the 20th century, when “in 1904 [she] established a school in Grunewald, Germany (and others in France and Russia), in which pupils were trained through gymnastic exercises and encouraged to express themselves through movement” (Kassing). Duncan inspired dancers to unravel themselves in their own movements, and to use the music and nature as a muse: “My art is an effort to
Her lasting career was not given to her easily, therefore, creating an inspiring story full of hardships and success. Ever since she was a little girl, her dream was to become a successful and famous dancer. In New York City, when she was trying to fulfill her dream, she was unable to find a job in the theatre department. Instead of being discouraged, she decided to make something good come from it. She choreographed her own routines, created her own costumes, and organized solo recitals for audiences to enjoy. This event led her to the biggest adventure in her life that would later impact the world. She was invited to return back to London to pursue her education in the performing arts, so that she could further improve her talents that would make up her entire career.