This Month’s Dancer Spotlight: Martha Graham

This month’s spotlight is showcasing a woman who paved the way for a new style and brand of contemporary dance. Not only is she an incredible, nuanced dancer, she also created her own technique and branch of contemporary dance. So here is a little insight into her life and accomplishments. 

Early Life:

Martha Graham was born on the 11th of May in 1894 in Pennsylvania. She later moved to California, and it was here where she attended her first dance performance at the age of 17.  A few years later she started her studies at the newly created Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts.

Career:

Graham left the Denshaw school in 1923 in order to become a featured dancer in the ‘Greenwich Village Follies’ for two years. After this time she felt a need to help make dance more of an art form that was more grounded to raw, human movement and experience rather than let it be a mere form of entertainment. In 1926 the Martha Graham Centre of Contemporary Dance opened in a small studio on the Upper East Side of New York. 

New Era of Dance:

Martha Graham revolutionized modern dance with her unique style, emphasizing raw emotion and sharp movements. She focused on human struggle, mythology, and psychology, creating iconic works like Appalachian Spring and Lamentation. Her contributions made her a key figure in dance history.

Contemporary dance is a broad dance style that many people can connect naturally with. If you feel like this could be you, then take a look at our beginner contemporary classes on our website, and you might just learn some of Graham’s techniques! 

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