Graham technique

The Martha Graham Dance Company. The central woman's pose shows the characteristic tension and theatricality of Graham technique.

The Graham technique is a modern dance movement style and pedagogy created by American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham (1894–1991).[1] Graham technique has been called the "cornerstone" of American modern dance, and is taught worldwide.[2] The phrase "Graham technique" was registered as a trademark before Graham's death, and was the subject of a trademark dispute in the early 2000s.[3]

Characteristics

"[W]heeling turns, off-center jumps, terrific falls, bodies spiralling to the floor and then surging upward again…"

Joan Acocella, on Graham's "classic style"[4]

Graham technique is based on "contraction and release" (see below), and uses different parts of the body in opposition to one another, creating spirals for dramatic tension.[5][6] It also incorporates formal exaggerations of "natural" movements.[7]

Graham technique is designed to make its dancers expressive and dramatic. Its movement vocabulary draws connections between the physical and emotional meanings of "power", "control", and "vulnerability".[8] Graham was exceptionally flexible, and many of her technique's exaggerated movements can be difficult or painful, especially for less-flexible dancers.[9] The technique was originally developed on an all-female company.[10]

Graham technique uses the hands in distinctive ways. They are generally meant to be active and purposeful, not decorative.[11] They are often held in a stylized, cupped position, with the fingers held straight and pulled towards the palm.[12][13]

Graham is considered a "codified technique", like the several schools of classical ballet.[14][15] In contrast to ballet's "distal" (outward) limb movements and upright posture, Graham movement iniates from the core and includes large back movements and dancing on the floor.[10] Where ballet dancers strive to appear weightless and move effortlessly, Graham dancers reveal and magnify their effort for dramatic effect. Graham explained, "Ballet…did not say enough, especially when it came to intense drama, to passion."[16]:56

Contraction and release

The fundamental movement of Graham technique is the "contraction" and subsequent "release". In a classic Graham contraction, the spine is curved deeply backward, with the movement originating from the deep pelvic muscles. The spine must grow longer, not shorter, in a contraction.[17] The cycle of contraction and release was developed as a stylized representation of breathing.[18] Along with the "fall and recovery" dualism of Doris Humphrey's technique, it is one of the most important concepts in modern dance.[19][20]

Graham sometimes criticized her dancers for failing to initiate from the pelvis, or (as she put it) "move from the vagina";[21] the connection between Graham technique and the female pelvis led one of Graham's male dancers to develop "vagina envy".[22]

Influence on modern dance

Graham, along with Doris Humphrey, Helen Tamiris, Agnes de Mille, and others, was part of an artistic movement in dance which rejected both the centuries-old tradition of classical ballet and the first-generation rebels of modern dance, such as those who taught at the Denishawn school where Graham studied.[16]:47

The expressive force of Graham technique had a revolutionary effect on modern dance.[10] Graham is now taught in most university dance programs, and remains the "hallmark" style of contemporary concert dance; its movement vocabulary is familiar to almost all professional contemporary dancers.[7][2] It strongly influenced several other codified techniques, notably those of Merce Cunningham, Lester Horton, and Paul Taylor.[23][24][25]

Teaching

Graham developed a daily class for her company, which is still used (with some variations) to teach her technique.[26][27] The class is organized as follows:

Trademark dispute

Martha Graham founded a school, the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, which she sold in 1956. After Graham's death, Ron Protas, her sole heir, sued the school for the rights to use Graham's trademarked name and choreography. A federal court awarded the school the rights to the names "Martha Graham" and "Graham technique" in 2001, and the rights to Graham's choreography in 2002.[28][3]

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ Aggiss, Liz (1999). Bullock, Alan; Trombley, Stephen, eds. The Norton Dictionary of Modern Thought. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 371. ISBN 9780393046960.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "TIME 100: Martha Graham". Time. August 6, 1998. Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dunning`, Jennifer (24 August 2002). "Martha Graham Center Wins Rights to the Dances". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  4. ↑ Acocella, Joan (2008). 28 Artists & 2 Saints. Knopf Doubleday. p. 296. ISBN 9780307389275.
  5. ↑ Bannerman, Henrietta (1999). "An Overview of the Development of Martha Graham's Movement System (1926–1991)". Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research: 9–46.
  6. ↑ Legg, Joshua (19 March 2009). "Graham Technique". DanceSpirit Magazine. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Smith-Autard, Jacqueline M. (2010). Dance Composition. A&C Black. ISBN 9781408115640.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Hart-Johnson, Diana (1997). "A Graham Technique Class". Journal for the Anthropological Study of Human Movement 9 (4): 193–214. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  9. ↑ Parviainen, Jaana (1998). Bodies Moving and Moved (Thesis). Tampere University Press. p. 99. Retrieved 12 Mar 2015.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Gould, Karen (2004). Goethals, George R.; Sorensen, Georgia; Burns, James MacGregor, eds. Encyclopedia of leadership 1. SAGE Publications. p. 594. ISBN 9780761925972.
  11. ↑ Daly, Ann (2002). Critical Gestures: Writings on Dance and Culture. Wesleyan University Pres. p. 158. ISBN 9780819565662.
  12. ↑ Guest, Ann Hutchinson (2013). Your Move. Routledge. p. 89. ISBN 9781135800055. (with illustration of Graham-contracted hand)
  13. ↑ Franklin, Eric N. (2012). Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery. Human Kinetics. p. 333. ISBN 9780736067898.
  14. ↑ Thomas, Helen (2003). The Body, Dance and Cultural Theory. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 112. ISBN 9781137487773.
  15. ↑ Van Dyke, Jan (1992). Modern dance in a postmodern world. National Dance Association. p. 115. ISBN 9780883145258.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Freedman, Russell (1998). Martha Graham: A Dancer's Life. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780395746554.
  17. ↑ Macel, Emily (July 2009). "Interview with Terese Capucilli". Dance Magazine. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  18. ↑ LaMothe, Kimerer L. (2006). Nietzsche's Dancers: Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, and the Revaluation of Christian Values. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 172. ISBN 9781403977267.
  19. ↑ Julia L. Foulkes (1 November 2003). Modern Bodies: Dance and American Modernism from Martha Graham to Alvin Ailey: Dance and American Modernism from Martha Graham to Alvin Ailey. Univ of North Carolina Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-8078-6202-5.
  20. ↑ Debra Craine; Judith Mackrell (19 August 2010). The Oxford Dictionary of Dance. Oxford University Press. p. 196. ISBN 0-19-956344-6.
  21. ↑ Scherr, Apollinaire (4 November 2001). "DANCE; Making a Career With One Eye on a Gender Gap". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  22. ↑ Bannerman, Henrietta (2010). "Martha Graham's House of the Pelvic Truth: The Figuration of Sexual Identities and Female Empowerment". Dance Research Journal 42 (1): 30–45. doi:10.1017/S0149767700000814. Retrieved 12 March 2015. "The contraction as described above encloses the vagina and the womb.…a male dancer claimed to have "vagina envy"' no doubt because he was unable to obey that particular female-centered instruction.…Vagina envy may have represented the male dancer’s desire for the type of pelvic flexibility that lends itself best to Graham's style."
  23. ↑ McFee, Graham (2003). Understanding Dance. Routledge. ISBN 9781134899463.
  24. ↑ Perces, Marjorie B.; Forsythe, Ana Marie; Bell, Cheryl (1992). The Dance Technique of Lester Horton. Princeton Book Company. p. 7. ISBN 9780871271648.
  25. ↑ Harss, Marina (12 September 2012). "A Form of Order: On Paul Taylor". The Nation. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  26. ↑ Butterworth, Jo (2011). Dance Studies: The Basics. Routledge. ISBN 9781136584060.
  27. ↑ Traiger, Lisa (6 March 2008). "Common Ground: 5 Modern Techniques for the 21st Century". Dance Studio Life. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  28. ↑ Dunning, Jennifer (8 August 2001). "Federal Judge Allows Martha Graham Center to Use Her Name and Methods". The New York TImes. Retrieved 13 March 2015.

Bibliography