Martha Graham Research Paper

Influenced primarily by cultural roots and incredibly opportunity, Dunham had the luxury of studying in the West Indies as well as anthropological study of other cultural style dances. The West Indian experience changed forever the focus of Dunham’s life and caused a profound shift in her career. This initial fieldwork began a lifelong involvement with the people and dance of Haiti. And, importantly for the development of modern dance, her fieldwork began her investigations into a vocabulary of movement that would form the core of the Katherine Dunham Technique. Though many of Dunham’s primary influences lies within her multicultural experiences, Mark Turbyfill also seemed to play a large role in her future dance career, giving her private lessons despite his doubt in the opening of her student company (Kaiso! 187). Katherine Dunham has been list as an influence to “everyone from George Balanchine to Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, Bob Fosse and Twyla Tharp. American dance, including ballet, modern dance, Hollywood and Broadway, would not be the same without her” (Aschenbrenner 226).

After giving a brief introduction to her subject, Desmond quickly begins her analysis on the piece Radha choreographed by Ruth St. Denis. She states that St. Denis was one of the mothers of modern dance in America despite how her works are not as well remembered as others including Martha Graham’s. She depicts Radha by describing the dancing quality, patterns in choreography, lighting, set, and costume in detail. Desmond also recounts the social issues that are reflected in the piece including gender roles and race. The author’s main point in writing “Dancing Out the Difference: Cultural Imperialism and Ruth St. Denis’s Radha of 1906” was to introduce St. Denis and share her detailed analysis of St. Denis’ Radha.

Alvin Ailey, a well known second generation American choreographer and activist was born in Rogers, Texas on January 5, 1931. Ailey grew up poor in the small Texas town of Navasota. Although he did not have much growing up, it did not stop his drive to succeed. He became inspired by attending black church services and by the music he heard at the local dance hall. Because of this, Ailey left Texas at the young age of 12 and moved to Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles, Ailey excelled in different subjects such as language and athletics. He became inspired to pursue dancing after seeing the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo perform. In 1949, at the age of 18, he began to study modern dance with Lester Horton and joined Horton’s dance company the following year. Horton became Ailey 's major influence, as he was his mentor that gave him a foundation and technique that allowed him to grow artistically. Even though he developed his own style, he still used Horton’s technique that emphasized a strong fluid torso and ease of movement. In his years to follow, Ailey founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York in 1958. Ailey’s dance company became very popular because of its multi-racial modern dance ensemble. Due to his modern, jazz and ethnic dance styles, and extensive world tours, Alvin Ailey became one of the leading figures in the 20th century modern dance, making modern dance popular all over the world. Ailey is a significant artist to me because he paved the way for

After his return from the war, she continued teaching and danced small roles in Shawn's productions. This is where her career as a dancer began (183).

21st of May, California State University of Long Beach held the CSULB Dance In Concert at Martha B. Knoebel Dance Theater with the collaboration and choreography by the CSULB dance faculty such as Colleen Dunagan, Rebecca Lemme, Sophie Monat, Andrew Vaca, and featuring guest Laurel Jenkins and Doug Varone. From the show, the dances represented through various genre such as contemporary, contemporary ballet, and modern dance. The element of contemporary defines as a collaborative style that includes modern, jazz, ballet, and hip hop. All these styles of dances were shown by connections after each intermission. In particular, I will concentrate mostly about contemporary dance out of all the dances in the concert and talk about the effects on three out of six performances. The performances reflects mostly on how we describe life and nature and partially define life to every aspect of the emotion were being introduced by the dancers.

Born July 6, 1931 Donald McKayle grew up in Harlem, New York City and was raised by his parents Wilhelmina Cohen McKayle and Philip Augustus McKayle. As a young teenager, his English teacher helped spark an interest of African American history along with his neighborhood which was rich with “social dancing, culture and political awareness” (Jacinto, 2012, p. 1). This combination of interest in African American diaspora and influence of environmental surroundings would lead to inspiring and forming McKayle into a renowned dancer, teacher and choreographer. Prior to McKayle’s senior year in high school he saw a performance by Pearl Primus which made him realize he wanted to become a dancer. He went on to audition for the New Dance Group and was chosen as one of seven dancers. As a member of the New Dance Group he trained in a variety of dance genres under Sophie Maslow, Nona Shurman, Mary Anthony, Nina Golovina, and even Pearl Primus. His first choreographic work was with the New Dance Group entitled Saturday’s Child, which was a solo he performed. His time with the New Dance Group gave him a strong technical background and movement vocabulary that he would carry on with him as he joined the Contemporary Dance Group. It was then that he premiered Games, at Charles Weidman’s studio which “launched the young choreographer 's career” (Jacinto, 2012, p.1). This was the first time audiences saw him as a storyteller and social critic whose movement style played off of the human

She studied different types of dance and incorporated them into her own technique. “Called the matriarch of black dance her groundbreaking repertoire combine innovative interpretation of caribbean dances,traditional ballet, African rituals and African American rhythms to create the Dunham technique” (“Katherine Dunham Biography” 2). Dunham technique is continued to be taught at schools and companies all over the world. Her travels to other countries always inspired her choreography. “She is credited for bringing caribbean and African influences to a European-dominated world” (“Katherine Dunham Biography” 2). Dunham’s use of different world influences innovated dance and created more significant choreography. Dunham not only changed how she danced; she created an entirely new

Graham was the oldest of four siblings on a dairy farm in Charlotte, North Carolina. He grew up during the Great Depression learning many life lessons and used them throughout his life. In 1934, when Billy Graham was 15, he accepted Christ. After that, he decided to go to college to study theology. After Graham graduated from high

Mrs. Farrell’s book is quite technical when it comes to the lengthy descriptions of the dances she rehearses and performs; from a dancer’s view these varied conclusions of the types of movements she was dancing is quite astonishing. In fact, it adds a whole new level to the imagination that can come alive in a person’s thoughts when they read an expressive book. Although the technical explanations will excited, astound, and reveal how much passion and deep meaning ballet had in Suzanne Farrell’s life, but a reader, who may not be involved in the arts will be unfamiliar with the ballet and musical terms in

Lester Horton has been named, as one of the many founders of modern dance, whose style continues to be used in present day choreography. Although Hortons’ early technique was impacted by his interest in various cultures; his style eventually shifted towards a more theatrical technique. Horton used his versatile dance background and interests to develop the sub genre under modern dance, more formally known as choreodramas. His technique seen in earlier pieces and choreodramas such as “The Beloved” and “Salome” were effective in displaying the purpose of Horton’s style. Horton integrated his background in dance, props, costumes, and choreography to emphasize contemporary ideas and display the new genre of choreodramas.

According to the website Biography, “Mexican-born dancer and choreographer José Limón is recognized as an important figure in the American modern dance movement of the 1930s-1960s” (Biography). Jose Limon is one of the Ballet dancer sand choreographers in the 1930s. Even though he is considered to be a Ballet dancer, Limon is well-known for performing and choreographing a great amount of Modern Dance piece. Jose Limon is significant to me because he is the first Modern Dance choreographer I know, and his representative work “the Moor’s Pavane” impressed me the most due to the plots and the expressive movements in this piece. After watching the video “the Moor’s Pavane,” it raised my interest on Jose Limon; it also motivated me to do a deeper research on the information about Modern Dance. Jose Limon, one of the pioneers of Modern Dance, his Limon Technique has brought a significant contribution to the field of Modern Dance in the 20th century.

For the next four years Graham would teach at several different dance schools until founding her own dance company in 1926; The Martha Graham Dance Company. According to Marthagraham.org, "The Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance has the distinction of being the longest continuously operating school of dance in America and is a charter member of the accrediting organization, the National Association of Schools of Dance. " When she first founded the dance company it was based of the technique and style of her teachers. But as she grew into her new role she found her voice and started experimenting with the limits of

He is seen today as one of the most enduring forces in modern dance choreography, having pioneered for decades. One of his most well-known works Gloria has been performed, with adaptation, since 1981. He has also had the distinction of performing to the playing of world renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma on numerous occasions, with Ma remarking that “Mark always manages to put the perfect movement to even my extemporaneous flourishes.” His work on preparing for the funeral of Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and his international performances have made him recognizable around the globe. Having choreographed and or conducted (along with other recognizable choreographers) special performances for dignitaries such as 3 sitting US presidents, the Emperor of Japan, the Queen of England and a Premier of the Soviet Union has enlarged his admirers to superstar levels.

There is freedom of movement, expression, costume, space, and music. Modern choreographers strive to use all of these unique aspects of dance to spark the core of the audience’s soul to connect them to the piece. Martha Graham, who is considered the mother of modern dance, accomplishes this concept in her piece “Lamentation”. “Lamentation” was first performed on January 8, 1930 at New York’s Maxine Elliott’s Theater. Martha Graham performed the piece at the premiere. The piece consisted of a solo dancer, a bench, and constricting, muted, purple, fabric tube as a costume.The simplicity of the fabric tube enhanced her dance by pushing the audience to focus on her movement. The tube appears to act as the dancer’s “skin” and as the dancer moves, pushing and pulling the fabric, she gives the idea she is so stricken with grief, grief she can’t explain, she is stuck and crawling in her own skin. In 1932, Record (Philadelphia) gave a review of the piece saying, “When Miss Graham in her ‘Lamentation’ depicts the dumb agony of grief she does not droop like a flower or attitudinize like Patience on a monument, she is grief from the first stricken bewildered gropings of her head and torso to the last moment when she averts her covered head with a finality that is pitiful and terrible”

Mary Wigman had influence over Germany for modern dance as she began working with Rudolph Laban and she created a dance school in Dresden for students to learn something new which was in fact a creative experience that is an expression of emotional impulses. She wanted her dancers to be conscious of the impulses that lay within themselves and how to express them. Her movements wanted to create a cathartic function to dance in ancient societies and will be remembered for their tragic, dark character and introspective dances that reveal vibrant, vital and passionate inner states of being. It was in fact the rise of the Nazi political party in Germany in the 1920s ended the German modern dance movement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Wigman Wikipedia 14th December 2017