martha graham - explore 2005

8/9/2019 Martha Graham - Explore 2005

1/18

Martha GrahamDance CompanyStudent Matineeand ResidencyStudent Matinee

Friday, May 6, 2005

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 Noon

Harrison Opera House, No

Residency Dates:

May 2 - 8, 2005

All materials for this SAILS guide have been respectfully produced incollaboration with the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance

2 Annotated Table of Contents4 Introducing Martha Graham5 Residency Details6 The Real Martha Graham8 Martha Graham Technique10 1930s: Step By Step12 WWII: Tis A Gift To Be Simple14 Post-WWII: I Sing The Body Electric16 Capturing Grace: Barbara Morgan17 Setting The Set: Isamu Noguchi18 Calendar of Events


2/18Virginia Arts Festival 2005 2 Martha Graham Dance Company

Complete SAILS are available online in PDF format atwww.virginiaartsfest.com/education_sol.html

A briefintroductionto theactivity

TEACHERSOVERVIEWConnectionsandapproaches tousing thelessons inyour

classroom

URTHER SAILINGisted here are

books and linkso get your classaunched on thewaters of

discovery!

INTRODUCING

MARTHA

MARTHA

GRAHAM

RESIDENCY

DETAILS

THE REAL

MARTHA

GRAHAM

MARTHA

GRAHAM

TECHNIQU

1 2 3 4As with all people ofreal note, she hasbecome more than thesum of her parts; heraccomplishments spanseventy years: Here isthe essence of MarthaGraham.

Students will benefitfrom the concept thatbiographies come inall types, from justthe facts to positiveor negative positions.A discussion of theline drawn betweenacceptable andlibelous writing isalso fruitful.

Here are the details ofthis rich collaborationbetween the VirginiaArts Festival and theacclaimed MarthaGraham DanceCompany.

Listed are the criticaltimes, dates, andplaces to help guideyou through theupcoming MarthaGraham DanceCompany residency,includingopportunities to viewfilms and photographson the subject, and tointeract with companymembers.

Biographies of MarthaGraham fill ourlibraries andbookshelves, largelybecause it isimpossible toencapsulate thisextraordinary womanin a single volume.

This biographicalsketch highlights theaccomplishments ofMartha Graham. . . hertriumphs and tragediesas her life ranalongside the whole ofthe 20th century. Intandem with AaronCopland, Frank LloydWright, AlexanderCalder, Isamu Noguchi,and Samuel Barber,Graham was a centralfigure as they

collectively createdand defined a uniquelyAmerican voice.

The Graham Technfinds meaning in amovement, andreduces dance to tbodys natural funcof breathingthecontraction andrelease.

As classroomextensions, havestudents look foreveryday bodylanguage in Grahamchoreography. Havstudents identifynatural emotionalgesture. (What doefootball player dowhen he makes atouch down? Whatthe body language someone who isdepressed? Elated

Nervous? Angry? e

Boorstin, Daniel J..The Creators AHistory Of Heroes OfThe Imagination.

New York, VintageBooks, 1992.

De Mille, Agnes.Martha The LifeAnd Work Of MarthaGraham. New York,

Random House, 1991.

Franko, Mark.Dancing Modernism/Performing Politics.Bloomington, Indiana

University Press.1995.

Gardner, Howard.Creating Minds AAnatomy OfCreativity New

York, Basic Books,1993.

The TIME Magazine100www.time.com/time/time100/artists/profile/graham.html

Martha Graham DanceCompanywww.marthagrahamdance.org/

PBS Site www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/graham_m.html

Martha and ModerDance www.pitt.ed~gillis/dance/martha.html

Adjacent to several worksheets are

lesson extensions and SOL connections.

Ballet vs. Mode& Martha GrahOnline Lessonat www.vafest.

Roots of ModernDance Article atwww.vafest.com Advanced Class

Article &Taking Class withMartha Information at

www.vafest.com

Martha Graham:20th CenturyWarrior Article at

www.vafest.com


3/18Virginia Arts Festival 2005 3 Martha Graham Dance Company

1930S

STEP-BY-

STEP

TIS A GIFT

TO BE

SIMPLE

I SING THE

BODY

ELECTRIC

SETTING

THE STAGE

CAPTURING

GRACE

5 6 7 8 9Steps in the Streetprovides a glimpseinto Grahams veryreal relation to thesocial, political andmilitary events of theage.

This dance depictsthe dilemmas facingDepression-erapeople, from thestrife of growingmilitarism in Europe,to poverty andstruggle at home.Students can discusspolitics and socialissues in art. Theperiod of the 1930sgives us the uneasylull between WorldWars, the Dust Bowl

and the grindingprogress of theDepression.

Here is somebackground into one ofthe most popularAmerican ballets ofthe 20th century.

Discussed is theGraham-Coplandcollaboration, cast ofcharacters, as well assets and music forAppalachian Spring.Explore theAmericana themesGraham and Coplandrejected for thisballet: Davy Crockett,Pocahontas, the CivilWar, Uncle TomsCabin. Have studentsflesh out other

possible versions ofAppalachian Spring.

The work Errand Intothe Mazeis thevehicle for discoveringan intriguing personalinterpretation of themyth of Theseus andthe Minotaur.

It is the dancers roleto create a physicalexpression of anindividuals internallandscape. Arevealing project forstudents is found indiscussing thedifference between amaze and a labyrinth.Students can createlabyrinths, either onpaper as fingerlabyrinths (let yourfingers do the

walking) or largerdesigns with sidewalkchalk.

Noguchis sets defineand inspire theinterpretations of thedancers, and createthe space with whichthe dancers mustinteract.

Learn about one ofthe 20th centurysmost importantsculptors and his 50+-year collaborationwith Martha Graham.Set design is anobvious discussionpoint, leading toparallels in physicalsettings in literatureand theater. Studentscan design on paperor in miniature theirown sets for the

ballets theyll beseeing.

The leadingphotographer inAmerican moderndance captures thedancers fugitive a

Barbara Morgansphotographs of moddance take center shere, along with thinherent conflictsbetween the static,graphic medium ofphotography and thplastic medium ofdance. Students caexamine the seemicontradiction ofcapturing movemena still photograph, awell as the

development ofphotography from arecords-keeping deto an artistic mediuitself.

Graff, Ellen. SteppingLeft Dance AndPolitics In New YorkCity

, 1928-1942.Durham, DukeUniversity Press,1997.

Graham, Martha.Blood Memory AnAutobiography. NewYork, Doubleday,1991.

Morgan, Barbara. 16Dances InPhotography. New

York, Duell, SloanAnd Pierce, 1941.

Polcari, Stephen.Martha Graham AndAbstractExpressionism.Smithsonian StudiesIn American Art,Winter, 1990.

Stodelle, Ernestine.Deep Song TheDance Story OfMartha Graham

. NewYork, SchirmerBooks, 1984.

Tracy, Robert.Goddess MarthaGrahams DancersRemember

. NewYork, ProsceniumPublishers, 1997.

Tracy, Robert. SpaOf The Mind IsamNoguchis DanceDesigns

. New York,ProsceniumPublishers, 2000

Martha and theNoguchi Museumwww.noguchi.org/graham.html

Martha Biographywww.cmi.univ-mrs.fr/~esouche/dance/Graham2.html

Short Summarywww.sacbee.com/static/archive/news/projects/people_of_century/entertainers/graham.html

Barbara Morganwww.temple.edu/photo/photographers/morgan2/index/morgan.html

Modernitywww.open2.net/modernity/

Becoming A PioneeringWoman & ConductingCopland Articles at

www.vafest.com

The Untold Story ofthe Noguchi Sets atwww.vafest.com


4/18

You will like Martha Graham. You may even come to love her;

not because she is charming and beautiful, though she clearly is.

Not because she speaks and thinks and... most importantlymoves

with an erudite grace, which she clearly does. Not because she is a

seeker of truth no matter whether the truth will devastate or

ennoble her and those around her. And certainly not because she is

one of those creative lodestones to which great men and women

are unalterably attracted. Not even because she broke new ground

in Dance without caring about current fad or propriety or censure.

You will love her because she is the fulcrum of dance and life;the bright point at which the two collide, merge and become

indistinguishable. She held up a mirror, giving us, as humans and

Americans, a true and irrefutable viewof ourselves.

Understanding this explains the forces which bring her into the

lives and works of such disparate souls as Alexander Calder and

Liza Minelli, Woody Allen and Rudolf Nureyev, Moshe Dayan and

Helen Keller. She taught many of these twentieth century icons,

but her teaching was almost an afterthought of the demonstration

of her own life, lived without apology.

And it is no coincidence that Ms. Graham is followed into the

twenty-first century by armadas of artists, droves of dancers. Shedid not need to beckon us forward: In fact, she admonished us to

follow our own individual voices. A dance student once asked her if

she should become a dancer, and Graham answered, If you have to

ask, then you should not. We either are a thing or we are not.

In 1991, Doubleday published Grahams autobiography, Blood

Memory,and of all the things that might be said about this artists

life, it is arguably most important to quote her first lines: I am a

dancer. I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to

learn to dance by practicing dancing or live by practicing living,

the principles are the sameBlood Memory is, after all, the

memory that comes not from the mind or the intellect, but from theblood and bone.

Scholars have a convention when referring to a work of

literature: We speak of a poem or a novel in the present tense; it

doesnt matter that a piece was written five hundred years earlier,

because the work still lives in the present. It is, in a way, a

compliment to the author. Perhaps it is just as fitting to speak of a

person who carries so many of us on her shoulders into the future.

You will like Martha Graham.

I n t r o d u c i n g

M a r t h a G r a h a m

Virginia Arts Festival 2005 4 Martha Graham Dance Company

Online Extension: The Roots ofModern Dance


5/18

1.Student Matinee What toExpectThe Student Matinee performancewill be held at the newlyefurbished Harrison Opera House

n downtown Norfolk, Friday, May6th, 11:00a.m.-12:00 Noon. Workswill include excerpts fromAppalachian Spring,Steps in theStreet from Sketches fromChronicle, and Errand Into the Maze.Sets for all ballets were designed byacclaimed sculptor, Isamu Noguchi.Limited tours of the sets can bearranged. Repertoire flash pointswill be explored in depth within thepages of this SAILS.

2.Barbara Morgan PhotographyExhibition Graham in MotionHoused at the Chrysler Museum ofArt, Norfolk. 25 photos of MarthaGraham, from the collection ofBarbara Morgan will be on display.Morgan is best known for herompelling photographs of modernance and for being the first in

America to work with

photomontage. Produced over theecade known as The Golden Age ofModern Dance (1935-1945), hermages of Martha Graham werentended as metaphors on themmediacy of movement. Specialtudent docent tours of thisxhibition are available.

3.Martha Graham DancesCaptured on Camera Then andNowThe Dress Circle of the HarrisonOpera House will have photographic

images of Graham dancers, pairingthe original dancer who premiereda particular role with the currentMartha Graham Dance Companydancer now performing it.

4.Master Classesare a well-established tradition in musicperformance, dance, and drama, inwhich promising students presenttheir talents to seasonedprofessionals for evaluation, adviceand encouragement. If youre one ofthe lucky few who will have theopportunity to work with a masterdancer from the Martha GrahamDance Company youre in for ahistory lesson into modern dance andcreative movement, ala MGDC. Allclasses will be in the Martha Grahamtechnique.

5.Main Stage Performances will beon Friday, May 6, 8:00 p.m. andSunday, May 8, 2:30 p.m. Checkout the Virginia Arts Festivalwebsite for details atwww.vafest.com Student ticketsare ALWAYS 50% off the regularadult ticket price.

6.Photography Workshop andPanel DiscussionSaturday, May 7, 2005 is MarthaGraham Dance Company OpenHouse at the Chrysler Museum of

Art, Norfolk.10:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m.CapturinDance Digitally - an interactiveworkshop for digital photographeinterested in photographing dancmotion. Martha Graham dancerswill be onstage; photographers wtake pictures that will beimmediately projected anddiscussed. Participants must preregister. Auditors are welcome.1:00 p.m. 2:00 p.m.A DancersLife Panel Discussion, featuringMartha Graham Dance Companyand area dancers. Rob Cross andBill Hennessy will moderate thislively conversation. Followingdiscussion there will be a 2:00 pdocent tour of the Barbara MorgExhibition.

6.Additional ResourcesCheck out Kennedy Center

Cuesheets at http://www.kennedcenter.org/education/cuesheets/single_cuesheet.cfm?asset_id=56This beautiful 8-page resourcebooklet is available to all. If youstill crave more, call the VirginiaArts Festival Education Departmat (757) 282-2817 for the MartGraham Educational Video, featuexcerpts of the ballets youll beseeing, and Martha Grahamintroducing her work.

Here are the details of this rich collaboration between the Virginia ArtsFestival and the acclaimed Martha Graham Dance Company. This 6-dayresidency brings this 20th century artistic tour de force into our schoolsand stages across the region. Below are the critical times, dates, andplaces to help guide you through the upcoming Martha Graham DanceCompany residency, including opportunities to view films andphotographs on the subject, and to interact with company members.

The 2005 Virginia Arts FestivalMartha Graham Dance Company ResidencMay 3-May 8, 2005


Online Extensions: Advanced ClassArticle & Taking Class with Martha


6/18

It is hard to say who the real Martha Grahamwas she intentionally destroyed much of her personalaffects, leaving to posterity the reminiscents of students,friends and collaborators; an autobiography; and adistinctive body of 181 ballets (only 70 extant), pairedwith her now formalized teaching method. Whether ornot Martha Graham actually invented modern dance isfor the historians to debate. She was an innovator andgroundbreaker, and in the course of her life she came toembody her medium.

Born in 1894 in Allegheny, Pa., Graham movedwith her family to California when she was 14. Threeyears later, she attended a Los Angeles recital by thedance pioneer Ruth St. Denis, the first dance performanceof any kind that Graham had ever seen. It so overwhelmedher that in 1916 she joined Denishawn, the school andperforming troupe that St. Denis co-led with her husbandTed Shawn. At 22, dangerously late for an aspiring dancer,Graham had found her destiny. After seven years withDenishawn, Graham moved to New York City and struckout on her own, giving solo recitals and eventuallylaunching her own company in 1926. When she split withDenishawn, she was forbidden to use any Denishawnchoreographies or teaching methods, without paying St.Denis a royalty fee. Born out of necessity and a purely

primal drive to create, she slowly and painstakingly(costing nothing less than everything), began to developher own vocabulary of modern dance.

To raise funds, she danced at the opening ofRadio City Music Hall, modeled furs and later gave classesin which she taught movement to such actors as BetteDavis and Gregory Peck. But nothing could deflect herfrom what she believed to be her sacred mission: To "chartthe graph of the heart" through movement. "That drivingforce of God that plunges through me is what I live for,"she wrote, and believed every word of it. Others believedtoo, partly because of the hurricane-strength force of herpersonality.

Will the Real

Martha Graham

Please Step

Forward?(1894-1991)

Chronicling the life ofnoteworthy individuals is often

the relatively simple process of

listing their achievements. But

there are those whose lives

have become much more

whose accomplishments must

be viewed from many different

perspectives to be truly

understood and appreciated.

Like a volcanic eruption thatcreates its own weather system,

Martha Graham bursts from her

own life as a figure of almost

mythic proportions.

Whereas ballet

masters composed

in an inherited

language, a

medium readily at

hand, Martha

invented her own

language, new and

extraordinary,

unknown, and

fresh.Agnes de Mill

MarthaGrahaminCaveoftheHeart.PhotobyCrisAlexande

r


What is the differencebetween the legacy ofpersonal affects andreminiscents, anautobiography, and adistinctive body ofwork?

Desribe somethingyouve seen orexperienced that haschanged your lifeforever.

What have you donewhich cost you nothinless than everything?What are some otherexamples of people whwent to these ends toachieve their dreams?

DISCUSSIONQUESTIONS


7/18

Throughout the years, the artistic greats of the centurywere drawn to her. She met and collaborated with sculptor/artists Alexander Calder and Isamu Noguchi; actor/directorJohn Houseman; she commissioned works from the greatcomposers of the day, including Samuel Barber, Gian CarloMenotti and Aaron Copland. Despite her antipathy for

classical ballet, she created roles in her own work forMargot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, and Mikhail Baryshnikov.She taught actors how to use their bodies as an instrumentof expression, including Orson Welles, Tony Randall andJoanne Woodward. Graham also became involved in the political andsocial struggles that punctuated the 20th century, with suchevents as the Crash of 1929, the Dust Bowl Era, the GreatDepression. In the 1930s she danced for democracy duringthe Spanish Civil War, and according to a former memberof the Martha Graham Dance Company, Ellen Graff,declined an invitation to travel to the 1936 Olympics

sponsored by Nazi Germany, explaining

I would find it impossible to dance inGermany at the present time. So many artists

whom I respect and admire have beendeprived of the right to work for ridiculous

and unsatisfactory reasons that I shouldconsider it impossible to identify myself, by

accepting the invitation, with the regime thathas made such things possible. In addition,some of my concert group would not be

welcomed in Germany. [Graff, p.116]

Keep in mind, dance up to this point,was about swans, dancing flowers,

princesses and royalty Martha Graham wanted to

communicate about us. Dance, atthe turn of the 20th century in America wasnot considered a true art form with acapital A. What did grow up on Americansoil was created as light entertainment,

taking place in vaudeville halls or as glitzyextravaganzas. And American dance hall

dancers held little respect in society. Parallelingthis kitchy dancing was also the European

classical ballet tradition being transplanted toAmerica. Martha wanted none of this: Ballet came out

of the royal courts of Europe and Russia. These weredances commissioned by kings and emperors forentertainment, and to reinforce the existing order not topush its boundaries. For Martha Graham, dance became amedium for personal expressionand so much more.

Martha Graham came decisively into her own inthe 1940s, turning out in rapid succession a decade-longseries of potent dance dramas. She continued dancing untilthe age of 74, and choreographed well into her 90s. Bythe time of her death in 1991, Martha Graham had becomethe driving force behind Modern Dance.

Keep in mind, dance

up to this point, was

about swans, dancing

flowers, princesses

and royalty Martha

Graham wanted to

communicate aboutus.

Janet Eilber


What does dancehave in commonwith sculpture?acting?architecture?music?

How does someonedance fordemocracy?

How would youdefend the argumenthat dance is atrue art form?

What is art, afterall?

Who is the drivingforce behind otherglobal activities?Surfing? Hip-hop?Democracy? Worldpeace? War?Computers?Movies?

DISCUSSIONQUESTIONS

Graff, Ellen. STEPPIN

LEFT DANCE AND

POLITICS in NEW YO

CITY,1928-1942. Durh

Duke University Press,

1997. p.116]

JanetEilber(TheChorus)/CaveoftheHeart/PhotoByMaxWaldman,Allrightsreserved

Online Extension: Martha Graham: 20thCentury Warrior Article


8/18

The Martha Graham Techniquewith contributions from Janet Eilber, Ex-Principal Dancer and Master Teacher

of the Graham Technique

It takesaboutten

yearsto

make a

mature

dancer. The

training is

twofold.

First come

the study

and practic

of thecraftThe

comes the

cultivatio

of the

being fro

which

whatever

you have to

say comes.

- Martha Graha

First Martha Graham created her dance. Thepedagogy came later. In 1926, Graham started

what has now become the oldest dance companyin America. Working out of a tiny Carnegie

Hall studio, she began developing a newtype of dance: One that wedded the

tangible to the metaphysical. It wasout of the necessity of having to

teach her dances to herstudents and company

members, that her vocabularywas created known today

as The Martha Graham

Technique. This is a physicalvocabulary one ofmovement one that prior

to her work, didnt existanywhere in dance. She

discovered the link thephysical and thepsychological, and in sodoing, Martha Grahamcreated a completely newtype of theater in America.

In developing her

technique, Martha Grahamexperimented endlesslywith basic humanmovement, beginning with

the most elementalmovements of living - the

contraction and release.Using these principles as the

foundation for her technique, Martha Graham

built a vocabulary of movement that wouldincrease the emotional activity of the dancersbody. Grahams dancing and choreography

exposed the depths of human emotion throughmovements that were sharp, angular, percussive,and direct.


Technically, the

movement can stand byitself. But you must be

able to add something

dramatically the inner

dialog. Terese Capucilli

Martha Grahams technique isbased on a few key paradigms:

1. The body has a natural way ofexpressing itself and The bodynever lies.

2. The way we move reveals whatwe are really thinking andfeeling.

3. Graham took this natural bodylanguage and from it, created atheatrical dance language.

4. Emotion is revealed by thebreath like when we laugh orcry and all Graham movement(like all emotion) emanates fromthe center or your body.

5. The key to movements are thecontraction and release whichare based on the mechanics ofbreathing.

6. The physical and the emotionalare inextricably connected. They

are two halves of a whole. Totruly communicate, a movementmust have both.

7. Grahams technique is a systemof communication its not simplyimpressive technical feats orinteresting designs in space.

Martha Graham Teaching / Photographer unknown


9/18

Here are a few MG terms to get yostarted. These are some of thebuilding blocks, when put together,express whole thoughts.

Cave Turn: Taken from Martha Grahamdance, Cave of the Heart, in which adancer flings her torso down towards hestanding leg and her other leg goesstraight up. Shes turning while upsidedown with one leg in the air inarabesque.

Pleadings:A deep contraction thatempties the energies of the entire body,like in Michelangelos Pieta, with Maryholding Christ in her lap. Christ is in thposition of the pleading contractions.(See Students in a Graham class 1960at top left.)

Bison Jumps: The dancer is horizontal this jump, facing the floor. His back isarched up toward the ceiling in acontraction so powerful that it has pullehis feet up under him, high off theground.

Butterfly Jumps: A series of jumps

traveling with arms stretched up and balike wings and legs kicking up behind.

Knee Vibrations: The dancer is standingon one leg. A series of contractions andreleases in the torso motivates the otheleg to swing across and open to the fronand then to the back and around to thefront again in a violent figure eightpattern demonstrating great inner turm(it is also used by Medea in Cave of theHeartand by the woman in Errand intothe Maze)


The arms start

from the back

because they wereonce wings.

- Martha Graham

The spine is

your bodys

tree of

life. Andthrough it, a

dancer

communicates;

his body

says whatwords

cannot.- Martha Graham

Contraction and ReleaseThe contraction and release that Martha Graham codified was, in her method, anxtension of the breath of breathing itself. The contraction and release is one wayf categorizing body movement and emotion.

Contractionthe exhalation motivates the torso

A sob, laugh or sigh, this is really just a big exhale,where the body folds in on itself a contraction.These exhales may be short and sharp (like a laughr shout) or long and slow (like a sigh) or full (like aob).

Releasethe body expands and the energy, is released/

rojected out

The inhalation motivates many different types ofeleases depending on what you are trying toommunicate. The bodyfills, expands and projectsnergy. If a contraction is like the recoiling of anake, the release is when the snake strikes.

Students in a Graham class 1960 / photographer unknown

Students in a Graham class / Photo by Finn Peterson

Fons

Martha Graham Teaching / AP News Features Photo Photographer unknown

Online Extensions:Martha GrahamTechnique Lesson & Ballet vs. Moder


10/18

Sketches from Chronicle is a MarthaGraham ballet with a specific political agenda.t occupies a significant niche in world history

the years of a crumbling truce between theworld wars and the loominghreat of Nazi Germany, which

was the host of the 1936Olympics. Graham declined annvitation to perform at theames because of the Germantrocities, and joined otherrtists such as Pablo Picasson condemning the fascistosture of Francisco Francon the Spanish Civil War.

Chronicle is at once a

eaching out to thosembroiled in conflicts, and annward expression of theorrors of those conflicts.

The dance, whichremiered in 1936, originallyontained five sections, threef which survive. Steps In The Street is the

middle work, bookended by Dances beforeCatastrophe and Prelude to Action. Thismiddle movement is considered the darkefore the light. It expresses the nihilistestruction of war and its inevitable isolation.

There are no sets. The lighting is veryculptural, designed to enhance the geometrichoreography on stage.

1930s Step By Step:

A Collaboration with the PeopleThe dance that is a work in progress as the perpetual

prelude to the conflicts of the world.

Seemingly pickingcontrapuntal elemein Rieggers score, tchoreography convthe desperation of t

masses, the pain ofisolation, the lonelinof despair.Stirring Steps Into thePast, New York PostOctober 10, 1989, (exceBy, Clive Barnes

Chronicle does notattempt to show theactualities of war;rather does it, byevoking war's imageset forth the fatefu

prelude to war, portthe devastation ofspirit which it leaveits wake, suggest ananswer. From the original program

notes for Chronicle.

. . . Miss Grahamnever works so muc

with specifics as shdoes with universalSteps in the Streeta portrait of the hucondition, . . . MissGraham was dealinghere with theaftermath of war bualso with the lonelin

that can well up ineveryone, especiallythose alienated fromsociety.Graham Explores Her Earl

Repertory, New York Times

October 9, 1989, (excerpts)

Anna Kisselgoff


The subtitle of Steps is Devastation Homelessness Exile, and as a piece createdin the midst of the Great Depression, is also the

plight of common folk suffering through hunger,poverty, civil and labor strife.The choreography is stark andstriking, with the twelve womenrepresenting those lost in thedevastation of conflict: Theydance in groups. . . but neverreally together . . . with clenchedfists and Grahams signaturemovements angular andpercussive. The music byWallingford Reigger is asexhalatory as the heartbeats of

the victims of military and socialchange. The general structureof the dance is very geometric,with anguish at its core.

Steps In the Street isa perpetual work in progress,and the jury will always be out

on our success or failure in dealing with militaryand social conflict as long as such conflict exists.But here, too, we see the hint of a resolution inthe dance, as the lead dancer literally rises againand again toward a future full of light, a futuretoward which we all walk or dance. After all,the journey of a thousand miles begins with thefirst step.

Martha Graham Dance Company/Spectre - 1914 fromSketches from Chronicle/Fang-Yi Sheu/Photo by Nan Melville

MarthaGraham

DanceCompany/StepsintheStreetfrom

Sketche

s

from

Chronicle/TheCompany/PhotobyAlexandrosGiannakis


11/18


DISCUSSION

QUESTIONS.How can dance further aolitical agenda? How canomeone protest throughance? Painting? Theater?

Music?

.What kinds of movementso you think Martha Grahamsed to capture the ideas of

devastation, homelessness,nd exile?

.Why would it be moremportant, or effective, toeal with universals ratherhan specifics throughance, or another art form?

.Compare the quotationrom the original programotes for Chronicle to

Kisselgoff.s How do they bothddress the same concept?

.This piece washoreographed in the late930s, following WWI and

eading into WWII. Errandnto the Mazewashoreographed after WWII.Steps emphasizes theollective/unions/socialisthoughts and feelings of the

masses leading and speaking.While Steps shows America

solidifying its power in the

world, Errand captures theise of the US as a globalower, where individualismeads to a more self-absorbedttitude. How do the twoances capture theseifferences?

ARTS ACTIVITIES1. Political Art Create a piece of art orperformance piece with a politicalagenda. Choose the political stance first,then plan the main message you want toget across (the universals mentioned inKisselgoffs quotation). Then create yourwork, trying to stay away from literal orrepresentational symbolism but ratherfigurative or metaphorical imagery. One

thing to consider: Grahams choreographypushes the dancers, and therefore theaudience, to take action in an attempt tochange their condition. How can youcapture the same message in your piece ofwork?

2. Exhalatory Art Listen to the musicused in Sketches from Chronicle. Create apiece of artwork which accompanies themusic. Make sure it is percussive. (Whatis percussive art?)

3. Triptych Create a three-section pieceof art (called a triptych) representing thethree concepts in Sketches from Chronicle,devastation, homelessness, and exile.Each section should be separate, but theyshould be displayed together. Keep in mindthese key points about the dance: It isconsidered the dark before the light, thatis, the suffering before the resolution, ordarkness before dawn.

Lesson #11930s: Step By Step

HISTORY/SOCIAL STUDIES Look at other arworks which have a political agenda.Examples could come from art (Picass

Guernica) or theater (BrechtsThreepenny Opera). Discuss the changnationalism and social thought whenSteps was choreographed vs. whenErrand was choreographed.

SOL EXTENSIONSENGLISH Write playbill notes, read dramwith political agendas throughouthistory, from Aristophanes political satto Shakespeares histories and tragedieto todays Wallace Shawn.

SCIENCE What are the physical effects olong-term suffering like the ones captuin this dance (homelessness, hunger,poverty)? How can learning about thephysical damage caused by this sufferin

improve the effectiveness of an artistswork?

VOCABULARYPerpetual PreludeActualities EvokingAgenda TruceLooming AtrocitiesFascist NihilistPercussive AlienatedContrapuntal

MATH Look at the numbers associatedwith a particular state of suffering in ywork, either in Grahams life or your owThis can lead you to understanding thereal impact of this suffering more,increasing your emotional response anmaking you a better audience memberand future artist. For example, how machildren were considered starving durithe Great Depression? Take that numband convert it to more familiar concepgain greater understanding of it: If eacchild were one second, how many hour(or days) would they fill? If each childwere a brick, how far would they stretend-to-end?

SOL ConnectionsSOL ConnectionsSOL ConnectionsSOL ConnectionsSOL Connections

EnglishEnglishEnglishEnglishEnglish: 33333.4-8, 10 44444.4, 5, 7, 9; 55555.5-8; C/T5C/T5C/T5C/T5C/T5.2-4;66666.4, 5, 7, 8, 9; 77777.5, 6, 8-10; 88888.3-5; C/T8C/T8C/T8C/T8C/T8.1-4;99999.3-8; 1010101010.3, 4, 7, 9, 10; 1111111111.3, 7; 1212121212.7History/Social ScienceHistory/Social ScienceHistory/Social ScienceHistory/Social ScienceHistory/Social Science: 33333.8; USIIUSIIUSIIUSIIUSII.1-3, 5, 7, 8;WHIIWHIIWHIIWHIIWHII.10, 15; WGWGWGWGWG.3; VUSVUSVUSVUSVUS.1, 8, 14ScienceScienceScienceScienceScience: 33333.1, 4; 44444.1, 55555.1; 66666.1, 2, 8; LSLSLSLSLS.1, 4;BIOBIOBIOBIOBIO.1, 8, 9MathematicsMathematicsMathematicsMathematicsMathematics: 33333.1-3, 8, 9, 15, 21-23; 44444.1, 2, 5-7,11, 20; 55555.1, 3, 4, 12, 18, 19; 66666.2, 4, 5, 9, 18, 19;77777.4, 5, 17, 18; 88888.1, 3, 12, 13


12/18

Appalachian Springisa dance of place.You choose a piece of

land, part of thehouse goes upThequestioning spirit isthere and the sense

of establishing roots. Martha Graham

Created in the dark days of World War II, Appalachian

Springwas Martha Graham and Aaron Coplands artistic

ontribution to the American war effort. They intentionally set

out to create something uniquely American, reflecting the

American legacy of hope and optimism.

In one of the first instances of government support for

he new American art form, modern dance, the Library of

Congress commissioned Aaron Copland to compose a score for a

new dance by Martha Graham. Their collaboration took place

almost entirely through the mail. Graham

ent Copland scenarios of her vision for

he dance and Copland brought her

words to life in music.

In choosing a theme for

his ballet, Graham andCopland cast a broad net.

One script had a show

boat stage and included

a re-enactment from

Uncle Toms Cabinand

eferences to John

Brown and Harpers

Ferry; in another, the

Husbandman leaves

o fight in the Civil

War; from Davy

Crockett to Pocahontas,every American icon

became fair game. All

hree versions of the script

ad spoken quotations from the

Bible, opening with the Mother

peaking And the Lord God

planted a garden eastward in Eden,

and closing with the line, In the beginning,

God created the Heaven and the Earth

Graham distilled all that they considered into a

ast of four iconic characters and a chorus of four women.

She set the dance in rural 19th century Pennsylvania therontier. The cast includes a young couple on their wedding day,

ettling into their new home, putting down roots and revealing

heir love, fears and hopes for the future. They are joined by an

tinerant Preacher and his four devoted Followers. Though the

poken quotations from the Bible were not in the final work,

hese characters represent Americas complicated relationship to

eligion and our puritanical roots. The final character is the

Pioneering Woman, an embodiment of the American manifest

destiny, who blesses the other characters and urges them into the

uture (based on Marthas own pioneer grandmother She is

very beautiful and very still Martha Graham)

The American experience is evident in all the artistic

elements of Appalachian Spring. Copland folds into his score

American folk music themes, the clip-clop of horse hooves an

the rhythms of daily life. The remarkable set by Isamu

Noguchi is also born out of Grahams scenario -- the

framework of a doorway, the platform of a porch, a Shaker

rocking chair with its exquisite bonelike simplicity, and a

small fence that should signify what a fence means in a new

country -- MG. The lines of the beams of the house evoke th

limitless space of the American frontier. Martha inserts

American folk dance and everyday gestures into her

choreography (curtseys, do se dos, praying, rocking a baby,

even a simple hand shake) a stage technique that was

unheard of at the time.The wonderfully integrated collaboration of these

new American artists created a masterpiece of 20th century

American art that still resonates with our national character

and the American dream. As Graham first described it to

Copland, This is a legend of American living. It is like the

bone structure, the inner frame that holds a people together.

With its simple tale of new life in a new land, the dance

embodied hope a

testimony to

the simple

fineness of the

human spirit.

WW II:

Tis a Gift to be Simple

(1944)



13/18


DISCUSSION

QUESTIONS. Why do you think Grahamnd Copland named the piece

Appalachian Spring? Why ist appropriate?

. What would be theifficulties of collaborating

with someone on a projectke this through the mail?

What are the benefits?

. Why did Graham and

opland, as well as all artists,tart the creative process bycasting a broad net? How ishis process helpful to thertist?

. Why do you think Grahamnd Copland left out thepecific American icons in thenal performance? What didhe piece lose when thesecons were taken out? Whatid it gain?

. Some critics would say thatvery piece of art orterature, despite havingpecific characters, captureshe distilled essence ofasic, or universal,haracters. Do you agree?

Why or why not? Givexamples.

. How does the character ofPioneering Woman captureAmerican manifest destiny?

What other character couldapture this essence?

. What do you think Noguchionsidered when designingis set? Why do you think he

made the choice to keep theet simple and iconic?

. Two things are compared toones in this piece. The firsts Noguchis Shaker rockinghair with its exquisiteonelike simplicity and thether is Grahams descriptionf the dance as like theone structure, the innerrame that holds a peopleogether. What differentualities of bone does eachuotation use? What otherualities of bone could be

sed metaphorically?

ARTS ACTIVITIES1. American Themes Listen to the musicof Appalachian Springand create a pieceof artwork which captures its themes.Listen for the American experiencecaptured in the music listed in the essay,and work that imagery into your piece ofwork.

2. Contemporary Costumes Create acostume for the characters in the piece if itwere to be set in the present day. Thesefour iconic characters and chorus shouldbe representative of todays frontier, soyoull have to determine what this frontieris! (Think beyond the geographic!)

3. Everyday Gestures Martha Grahamused everyday gestures (curtseys, do sedos, praying, rocking a baby, handshakes)

in her dance. Create dance movements fortodays common everyday gestures: Talkingon a phone, typing, greeting a friend,pushing a button, playing a video game,kicking a soccer ball, etc.

Lesson #2World War II: Tis aGift to be Simple

VOCABULARYLegacyCommissionedCollaborationScenarios

DistilledIconicItinerantPuritanicalManifest destinyEmbodiedTestimony

HISTORY/SOCIAL STUDIES Discuss ManifestDestiny and its impact on the Americanway of life. How is this concept stillseen today? How has it changed since ttime of the setting of this piece? Since time of the choreography? Why has itchanged? Why is the frontier still soclosely associated with Americanism?What other frontiers are important toAmericans?

MATH How has the American populatioshifted since the era captured in thispiece? How many people lived in the Uat that time? Compare the populationsdemographics as well: Ethnicity, gendercountry of origin, etc. Would a modernsetting of the piece have different iconcharacters as a result?

SCIENCE What technology was availablethe end of the 19th century to a youngcouple? What technological skills woulbe necessary to create a set likeNoguchis? What muscles and physicalprincipals play into achieving the leap

captured in the picture with the essay?

SOL EXTENSIONSENGLISH Discuss how the spoken wordchanges a piece of non-verbal art. Forexample, how would having words spohave detracted from this piece? How dthe spoken word enhance other words,such as musicals (as compared to operaHow does the written word effect nonverbal art forms? Have your class creapiece of artwork about a powerful

emotion, such as jealousy, with half youclass having permission to use words athe other half not being able to use woCompare and contrast the effect of eacapproach.


EnglishEnglishEnglishEnglishEnglish: 33333.1, 2, 8; 44444.1, 2, 6, 7; 55555.1-3, 5, 7; 66666.1, 2, 5-8; 77777.1, 3,5, 8; 88888.1, 3, 5; 99999.2, 6; 1010101010.1, 2, 5, 7, 9; 1111111111.1-3, 5, 7; 1212121212.1, 2, 5History/Social ScienceHistory/Social ScienceHistory/Social ScienceHistory/Social ScienceHistory/Social Science: 33333.5, 6, 9; USIUSIUSIUSIUSI.1, 2, 8; USIIUSIIUSIIUSIIUSII.1, 2, 3, 6WHIIWHIIWHIIWHIIWHII.1, 9, 11; WGWGWGWGWG.1, 3, 5, 6, 12;VUSVUSVUSVUSVUS.1, 8, 12;ScienceScienceScienceScienceScience: 33333.2, 10; 44444.1, 2; 55555.1; 66666.1; LSLSLSLSLS.1, 3; PSPSPSPSPS.1, 6, 10; BIOBIOBIOBIOBIO.18; PHPHPHPHPH.1, 4, 5, 6,MathematicsMathematicsMathematicsMathematicsMathematics: 33333.1-3, 8, 9, 15, 21-23; 44444.1, 2, 5-7, 11, 20; 55555.14, 12, 18, 19; 66666.2, 4, 5, 9, 18, 19; 77777.4, 5, 17, 18; 88888.1, 3, 12, 1

Online Extensions:Becoming ThePioneering Woman & Conducting Copland


14/18

A part of Martha Grahams philosophy of dance sprang fromthe early 20th century Jungian exploration of the ego and theunconscious. Graham translatedthis quest for self-knowledgeliterally into the dancersbody. By the dawning ofWorld War II, she describedher work as journeying intomyself. The well of the soulin this philosophy is thehuman body, and the motive of

modern dance is not drawnfrom fairy tales or elaborate sets,but from the inner motivations of thedancer. It is graphic, basic, true.

It is through this (ambition and necessity) that theIt is through this (ambition and necessity) that theIt is through this (ambition and necessity) that theIt is through this (ambition and necessity) that theIt is through this (ambition and necessity) that the

legends of the soul's journey arelegends of the soul's journey arelegends of the soul's journey arelegends of the soul's journey arelegends of the soul's journey are

retold with all theirretold with all theirretold with all theirretold with all theirretold with all their

tragedy andtragedy andtragedy andtragedy andtragedy and

theirtheirtheirtheirtheir

bitternessbitternessbitternessbitternessbitterness

andandandandand

sweetness ofsweetness ofsweetness ofsweetness ofsweetness of

livinglivinglivinglivingliving..." p..." p..." p..." p..." p.4-5.4-5.4-5.4-5.4-5Blood MemoryBlood MemoryBlood MemoryBlood MemoryBlood Memory,,,,,by Marby Marby Marby Marby Martttttha Grha Grha Grha Grha Grahamahamahamahamaham

A seminal work epitomizing Grahams post-World War IIphilosophy of dance is Errand Into the Maze. As with theabstract expressionists of the 1930s and 40s, this workpresents dance as a mode of psychological ritual, andhistorical cultural self-examination. The pounding score waswritten by eccentric genius Gian Carlo Menotti; the set designwas created by master sculptor, Isamu Noguchi. The story isloosely based on the myth of Theseus, who is chargedwith confronting the Minotaur, half bull and halfman, in its home, the maze. In Errand Into the

Maze, Graham contemporizes the myth,fusing Theseus and Ariadne into onecharacter, as she, herself descendsinto the labyrinth to conquerthe Minotaur, and as such,conquers the internalenemy, her own fear.

Post WW II

I Sing the Body Electric:

The Inward Journey of

Martha Graham

Errand Into the Maze(1947)

Art is eternal, for itreveals the innerlandscape, which isthe soul of man. Martha Graham

Errand is a duet, danced by a woman (Ariadne) and a maledancer (The Creature). The stage is spare, with a single set

piece a large V placeddownstage with a long ribbonattached. The V is organic,reminiscent of the ancientstone outcroppings perhapsfound in Zion National Park.Noguchis intent was to

invoke the primal: A humanpelvic bone, meant to be

an extension of the femaleprotagonists own body. In a

sense, this dance is choreographedinside of Ariadne herself. The ribbon

symbolizes both the maze, as well asrepresenting Theseus golden

chord tied around himselfso he could retrace

his steps out ofthe

labyrinth

This is a

dance about personal fears fears of the unknown; facingour fears; denial and repression. The dance opens withAriadne closed into her body her arms are crossed in frontof her, and she is tightly holding onto herself. When the duetbegins with the Creature, she never looks directly at him.She wraps the rope around the set piece, which looks like aV-shaped entryway, to keep the Creature out. But he keepscoming backIt isnt until she looks at him (literallyfacing her fears), wrestles him to the ground, that sheemerges she steps through the V and opens her arms wide

to the outside world.


Noguchis set forErrand Into the Maze

Errand Into the Maze Set design by Isamu Noguchi Photo by Rudolf Burckhardt


15/18


DISCUSSION

QUESTIONS1. What is self-knowledgeo you? How do youourney into yourself?Why is self-knowledgemportant?

2. Why would WWIInspire a journey into

oneself, as an artistooking for inspiration?

3. What does the story ofTheseus and the Minotaurell us about the humanondition, that is,niversal experiences ofumans? What about thetory of Ariadne? Why

would Martha choose toombine these charactersnto one?

4. Why is the pelvic bonemportant imagery, bothor humans and for aemale, specifically?What makes us differentrom other primates?

What unique biologicalrait do females have?)

5. How have you faced aear and wrestled it tohe ground?

ARTS ACTIVITIES1. Costume Design Create costume forThe Creature and Ariadne. Consider thefact that the struggle between these twocharacters is really an internal strugglebetween only Ariadne should theircostumes reflect this symbioticrelationship? Also keep in mind that thecharacters are dancing and need to havetheir bodies free for the open, exuberantmovements characteristic of Grahamchoreography.

2. Bone Still Life Draw a bone usingcharcoal pencil. Use shading to show thecontours of the bone. To make it look likeits made of stone, alter your sketch after itis complete by using an eraser stick to rubout parts of the charcoal in an even butvaried pattern.

3. Playwriting Create a short play usingwords which capture the essence of thisdance. Would it be a one-person or two-person play? What would the Minotaurhave to say to Ariadne? How will Ariadneswords change from the beginning of theplay to the end?

Lesson #3Post World War II

VOCABULARYJungian Ego

Unconscious MotiveSeminal EpitomizingMode EccentricLabyrinth SpareOrganic OutcroppingsPelvic bone RepressionAbstract expressionistsTheseus and the Minotaur, Ariadne

SOL EXTENSIONSENGLISH Have students read Jung to leabout Grahams inspiration. To exposestudents to abstract expressionism, havthem look at paintings by Pollock, deKooning, and Rothko and write downtheir reactions to works. Explore theMinotaur myth as an allegory. WriteAriadnes internal monologue throughothe dance based on the positions her bo

takes. Create a written outline of thescenes in the dance as you would outlinstory.

MATH Labyrinths are unicursal, that is,they have only one path. A maze has moptions. Explore both using math byhaving students design one of each. Looat examples of beautiful labyrinths and

mazes from throughout history asinspiration, and have students use grappaper to create their own. They can thetrade and experience or solve each othwork.

SCIENCE The Minotaur is half-man, half-bull. What are the biological possibilitieof such a creature? What would have thappen to get such a creature to exist?

HISTORY/SOCIAL STUDIES Have studentsresearch the origins of the Minotaur myHave them compare and contrast theGreek culture and its beliefs with theculture in which Graham choreographethis dance. Research labyrinths: They cabe found all over the world, from Syria

Ireland; the oldest is 3000 years old.


EnglishEnglishEnglishEnglishEnglish: 33333.4-8, 10; 44444.3-5, 7, 9; 55555.4-8;C/T5C/T5C/T5C/T5C/T5.2-4; 66666.37-9; 77777.5, 6, 8-10; 88888.3-6; C/T8C/T8C/T8C/T8C/T8.1-4; 99999.3, 6, 8; 1010101010.3, 71111111111.7, 9; 1212121212.7, 8HistorHistorHistorHistorHistory/Social Sciencey/Social Sciencey/Social Sciencey/Social Sciencey/Social Science: 33333.1, 4-6; USIIUSIIUSIIUSIIUSII.1, 7, 8; WHIWHIWHIWHIWHIWGWGWGWGWG.1, 3, 4, 12;ScienceScienceScienceScienceScience: 33333.1, 4; 44444.1, 55555.1; 66666.1, 2, 8; LSLSLSLSLS.1, 4;BIOBIOBIOBIOBIO.1, 8MathematicsMathematicsMathematicsMathematicsMathematics: 33333.18-20; 44444.14-18; 55555.14-16; 66666.14-1777777.9-13; 88888.8-10; GGGGG.1-9, 11, 12


16/18

Martha Grahams philosophy demanded that all of the theatricalelements on her stage, the music, costumes, sets and lighting wereintegrated into one theme or message. When she first decided tocollaborate with a set designer, she did not want the stage merely

ecorated with a painted backdrop as was the norm. She needed a worldcreated, a place evoked. Fortunately, she collaborated with a young

ptor who said he was fascinated by the challenge to wed the total voidof theater space to form and action. Thus began the half-century-long

IsamIsamIsamIsamIsamu Nou Nou Nou Nou Nogucgucgucgucguchihihihihis vision of space ans vision of space ans vision of space ans vision of space ans vision of space and td td td td the inthe inthe inthe inthe inteeeeegggggrrrrralalalalalmeaning of his sculpture set me on a directionmeaning of his sculpture set me on a directionmeaning of his sculpture set me on a directionmeaning of his sculpture set me on a directionmeaning of his sculpture set me on a direction

wwwwwhichichichichich sustained me th sustained me th sustained me th sustained me th sustained me thrhrhrhrhroughout moughout moughout moughout moughout my cary cary cary cary careereereereereer..... Martha Graham

rrrrrealized tealized tealized tealized tealized that he had that he had that he had that he had that he had the astrhe astrhe astrhe astrhe astringingingingingencyencyencyencyency,,,,,ttttthat ehat ehat ehat ehat evvvvveryteryteryteryterythinghinghinghinghingwas strwas strwas strwas strwas stripped to essentials ripped to essentials ripped to essentials ripped to essentials ripped to essentials ratatatatather ther ther ther ther than beinghan beinghan beinghan beinghan being

decordecordecordecordecorativativativativativeeeee..... EvEvEvEvEveryteryteryteryterything he does means something he does means something he does means something he does means something he does means somethinghinghinghinghing..... ItItItItItis not ais not ais not ais not ais not abstrbstrbstrbstrbstract eact eact eact eact except if yxcept if yxcept if yxcept if yxcept if you tou tou tou tou think of orhink of orhink of orhink of orhink of orangangangangange juice ase juice ase juice ase juice ase juice as

ttttthe ahe ahe ahe ahe abstrbstrbstrbstrbstraction of an oraction of an oraction of an oraction of an oraction of an orangangangangangeeeee..... Martha Graham

In my work I wanted somethingIn my work I wanted somethingIn my work I wanted somethingIn my work I wanted somethingIn my work I wanted something

iririririrrrrrreducibleeducibleeducibleeducibleeducible..... Isamu Noguchi

ArArArArArt should disappeart should disappeart should disappeart should disappeart should disappear..... Isamu Noguchi

He took me to imagHe took me to imagHe took me to imagHe took me to imagHe took me to images tes tes tes tes that Ihat Ihat Ihat Ihat Ihad never contemplatedhad never contemplatedhad never contemplatedhad never contemplatedhad never contemplated

before and gave new life tobefore and gave new life tobefore and gave new life tobefore and gave new life tobefore and gave new life toworks I had created.works I had created.works I had created.works I had created.works I had created.

Martha Graham

Setting the Set theNoguchi Collaboration

A Guggenheim Fellowship took him to Paris to study abstractsculpture as assistant to Constantin Brancusi, and there he met

kindred spirit, Alexander Calder. He spent his life travelingbetween Japan and the United States, and though his abstract

sculptures were met with mixed reviews, his architectural reputation

grew with his creation of fountains, parks and faades. In all his

collaboration between herself and sculptor, architect and designer,Isamu Noguchi. From 1944-1967, Noguchi would be Martha Grahams

closest partner in the realization of her major works. Noguchi had the

same aesthetic goal as Martha utter simplicity of expression. Theyboth relied on the primal essence of shape to motivate their art.

Noguchi, the son of Japanese poet, Yone Noguchi and Irish-Americanwriter, Leonie Gilmour, was born in Los Angeles in 1904. This genetic

uxtaposition between eastern and western thoughts and artistic values,became a central theme in his work.

work, Noguchi believed that art shouldpart of life, that it should have usefulnean essential value whether practical like his public parks or famous paperlamps or symbolic like much of whadesigned for Graham. Noguchi saw thestage as an arena in which abstract forcould create the necessary theatricalillusions. These forms (the sets) couldchange and actually create space. Thisclear, for example, in the ropes that are

part of his set for the solo Frontier andthe house beams inAppalachian Sprinboth give the audience the sensation ogreat distance. Noguchis props and sewere commissioned not to necessarilydelineate specific places, but rather thdeep recesses of the mind and memoryNo more perfect symbiosis could beimagined than that with the empress ofmodern dance. It was a case of twoindependent artists expressing theirinterpretative abilities, and finding a nstatement in the encounter. They

collectively produced a body of workexposing the American psyche in all of manifestations. Their work togethercontinued until, as Graham states,December 1988, on the day that Isamudied.

Martha Graham finds herspiritual ally in set design


MarthaGraham

DanceCompany/Appalachian

Spring

/MarthaGraham

(Bride),Erick

Hawkins(Husbandman),MayODonnell(PioneeringWoman)andCompany.Libraryof

CongressStaffphotograph./R

eproducedfrom

theElizabethSpragueCoolidgeCollection./

MusicDivision,LibraryofCongre

ss.

Online Extension: The Untold Story ofthe Noguchi Sets


17/18

It was the realism of early photography that, inpart, drove painters and sculptors into a more abstractarena. But as photography itself became a form of artisticexpression, a few brave souls ventured into newperspectives, allowing their visual interpretation of asubject to enhance the chronicling of the event.

Barbara Brooks Morgan was born in the Kansas

prairie in 1900 and began her art studies as a painter.Shifting into photography, she moved to New York in 1930,eventually creating photographic portfolios of many of the great

emerging modern dancers of the twentiethcentury.

The inspiration for capturing theessence of Martha Grahams work ironicallystemmed from a sense of loss. Morganvisited an exhibition of Isadora Duncanslife and was struck with the fragmentarynature of the works. She was convinced thatbecause of advancements in photographyshe could do better. And because of her

great admiration ofGraham and her sense

of the revolutionary importance ofGrahams place in the history of moderndance, Morgan worked to capture more thana photographic record of the dance,searching in every instance for the essenceand emotion of the visuals.

Barbara Morgans approach tophotography was similar to Martha Grahamsdisciplined and singular dance aesthetic.Martha Graham said, Behind one perfect

leap are hundreds of leaps taken over a period of years.Morgan similarly employed a highly regimented exploration oflight, timing, and spacing as she attempted to seize the essenceof an entire ballet within a single gelatin frame arresting timeto capture the dance at its visual peak. She chose thosecertain gestures that in her eye, came to convey the meaningand form of each dance.

Morgan enjoyed an almost equally long a career asMartha Graham; with Barbara Morgans initial documentation of

Frontier in 1935, dancer and photographer became artistic soulmates up until Grahams death in 1991. It was Morgans vision,beyond the technical, which brought a static form to life beforeour very eyes.

The leadingphotographerin Americanmodern dancecaptures thedancersfugitive art.

CapturingGrace:

BarbaraMorgan, The

Beautiful

Logic

To me, Barbara Morgan,

through her art, reveals

the inner landscape that

is a dancers world. Martha Graham

The only record of a

dancers art lies in

the other arts. Martha Graham

The trivial dance ends

when the performance is

over, but the great dance

haunts the memory.Dance Into Photography, by

Barbara Morgan

Martha Grahams Theater portrays

the vulnerable yet gallant human

soul both in turmoil and serenity.

She sees universal rhythms; and

with her intuitive knowledge casts

them in beautiful logic.

Barbara Morgan

Photography is an art of timing in more ways than timing the

shutterFirst of all, the movement-timing of any living

thing is highly individual. Think of the fiery precisions of

Toscanini and the deceptively casual precision of Fred

AstaireThe workings of the spirit also have cycles of ebb

and flow.

B. Morgan, Kinetic Design in Photography



18/18

april A Midsummer Nights Dream 7:30 p.m. - Chrysler Hall (N)

Virginia International Tattoo7:30 pm - Scope (N)

Virginia International Tattoo7:30 pm - Scope (N)A Midsummer Nights Dream8 pm - Chrysler Hall (N)

A Midsummer Nights Dream 2:30 pm - Chrysler Hall (N)Virginia International Tattoo2:30 pm - Scope (N)

Ballet Veracruz 7:30 pm - Ferguson Center for the Arts (NN)

From the Top 7:30 pm - Harrison Opera House (N)

Tierney Sutton7:30 pm - Granby Theatre (N)

Lunchtime Chamber Music #1 12 Noon - First Lutheran Church (N)Richmond Ballet Giselle8 pm - Harrison Opera House (N)Paul Jacobs - Organ - 8 pm - Christ & St. Lukes Church (N)

Tom Sawyer 1 pm - TCC Roper Performing Arts Center - (N)Tom Sawyer3:30 pm - TCC Roper Performing Arts Center - (N)Garrison Keillor 5:30 pm - Chrysler Hall (N)

Richmond Ballet Giselle2:30 pm - Harrison Opera House (N)Eroica Trio 7:30 pm - Great Bridge Presbyterian Church (C)

Eroica Trio 7:30 pm - Ferguson Center for the Arts (NN)

Imani Winds7:30 pm - Attucks Theatre (N)

John Duffy Composer in Residence 7:30 pm - TCC Roper Performing Arts Center (N)

Elements Quartet 7:30 pm - Granby Theatre (N)Lunchtime Chamber Music #5 12 noon - Thomas Nelson Community College (H)

PANorama Caribbean Music Fest Ocean Front (VB)Lunchtime Chamber Music #2 12 Noon - Trinity Episopal Church (P)Martha Graham Dance Company 8 pm - Harrison Opera House (N)

PANorama Caribbean Music Fest Ocean Front (VB)Imani Winds11 am - Childrens Museum of Virginia (P)Itzhak Perlman8 pm - Chrysler Hall (N)

PANorama Caribbean Music Fest Ocean Front (VB)Martha Graham Dance Company 3 pm - Harrison Opera House (N)Blue Hair - P- P- P- P- Peter Cuttseter Cuttseter Cuttseter Cuttseter Cutts 3 pm - Childrens Museum of Virginia (P)Tokyo String Quartet7:30 pm - St. Pauls Church (P)

Smithsonian Chamber Players 7:30 pm - Chrysler Museum (N)

Evening Chamber Music 7:30 pm - St. Pauls Episcopal Church (N)

Gary Burtons Generations 7:30 pm - Granby Theatre (N)

Lunchtime Chamber Music #3 12 Noon - First Presbyterian Church (VB)Canadian Brass 7:30 pm - Phi Beta Kappa (W)

Virginia Beer Festival 2-6 pm - Town Point Park (N)Canadian Brass 8 pm - Town Center (VB)

Noche Flamenco 7:30 pm - Town Center (VB)

JoAnn Falletta and Friends 7:30 pm - TCC Roper Performing Arts Center (N)

Lunchtime Chamber Music #4 12 Noon - Chrysler Museum Theater (N)Koresh Dance Company 7:30 pm - Kings Fork High School (S)

Chris Smither/Willy Porter 7:30 pm - Granby Theatre (N)

Koresh Dance Company8 pm - Phi Beta Kappa (W)

Broadway Under the Stars 8 pm - Sunken Garden College of Wm & Mary (W)

Festival Finale: Tchaikovsky Spectacular7 pm - Sunken Garden College of Wm & Mary (W)

21

22

23

24

26

27

28

29

30

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

10

11

12

13

14

15

17

18

19

20

21

22

may

Robert W. CrossExecutive Director

Laurie BaefskyEducation Director, Editing and Research

Erica Smith-LleraLessons and Layout, Online Extensions

Douglas ThieleWriter

Janet Eilber

Martha Graham Resources, Project Consultant

Ben MeyerEducation Assistant

Reproduction, including downloadof Burkhardt and Noguchi works isprohibited by copyright laws andinternational conventions without express written permission of ArtisRights Society (ARS), New York.

Photocopying and duplicating foreducational purposes only.

Student Arts Information &Lessons

SAILS TEAM

Worldclass

PROGRAM

upcoming

events

FROM

THE2005

VIRGINIA

A

RTS

FESTIVAL

w

w

w

.

v

a

f

e

s

t.

c

o

m

aGraham

DanceCompany/Phaedra/ChristineDakin/John

Deane

martha graham - explore 2005

Documents