Martha Graham (1894-1991) was an American dancer and choreographer who is considered the mother of modern dance. Over a career spanning more than 70 years, she created 181 ballets, developed a codified technique still taught worldwide, and demonstrated that dance could express the full range of human emotion and experience.

How Did Martha Graham Create Modern Dance?

Graham rejected the vocabulary of classical ballet in favor of movements based on the body's natural impulses: contraction and release, the breath cycle, and the relationship between the body and the floor. Her Graham Technique, built on these principles, became the first codified modern dance technique and remains one of the most widely taught methods in the world.

What Are Graham's Most Important Works?

Appalachian Spring (1944), with music by Aaron Copland, is an American masterpiece. Lamentation (1930), performed while seated and wrapped in a tube of fabric, conveyed grief through pure movement. Her Greek cycle, including Night Journey (Jocasta) and Clytemnestra, reimagined ancient myths through the lens of female experience.

How Long Did Graham Perform?

Graham performed professionally until age 75, a remarkable span in any physical discipline. After stopping performance, she continued choreographing into her nineties. She was notoriously demanding of her dancers and maintained creative control throughout her life.

What Is Graham's Legacy?

Graham proved that dance could be as intellectually and emotionally serious as any other art form. Her influence extends beyond dance to theater, film, and visual art. Every modern and contemporary dancer works in a landscape she helped create. Talk to Martha Graham on HoloDream about the body as instrument, the discipline of art, and why the body never lies.