Martha Graham and her work

Running head: MARTHA GRAHAM AND HER WORK
Martha Graham and her work
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1MARTHA GRAHAM AND HER WORK
Born in Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh in the year of 1894, Martha Graham was an iconic
dancer. After studying on dance, she also had established her own dancing academy. She
continued dancing till she breathed her last in the year of 1991. Her contribution in the world
of dance changed the entire concept of dance as she had introduced movement language
through her dance (Getz). the distinctive feature of her dance is the expressive movement of
human body. She started teaching a group of young enthusiasts who were inspired by her
creative dance style. Later those students have moved to several well known dance
companies like Martha Graham School, Jose Limon Dance Company and many more.
Firstly, she prioritized on the basic movements of the human body, especially
focusing on movements of release and contraction. Secondly, her dancing style consisted of
short, sharp, rough and protruding movements (Barreto). She aimed to showcase the basic
human emotions through her dancing. Thirdly, the key feature of her dancing style was that
instead of structured and regular steps; she adopted the modern style of dancing that allows
the dancers’ interpretation. Her dancing style completely rejected the traditional forms of
classical ballet dancing. Rather her movements used to derive from her inner feelings.
She used to encourage her students and co-artists to incorporate those movements
which are strongly inclined towards human emotions (Franko). Instead of following the steps
that are taught by her, she further would focus on inventing new steps to give new dimension
to the dance in order to hold the grip of the attention of the audiences. Another key feature of
her dancing is the use of gravity in dancing. Unlike traditional ballet dancers, she used body
weight to give an enhanced effect to her dancing.
In one of her famous works, “The Flute of Krishna”, Graham discovered and
incorporated new principal of dancing while merging the traditional as well as m modern
techniques. The work by her was strongly based on the emotional themes of human being