Martha Graham

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Martha Graham was born in Allegheny City, later part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1894. Her father was an alienist, an early form of psychiatry, and her mother claimed descent from Myles Standish. The family moved to Santa Maria, California, when she was fourteen. In 1911 she saw her first dance performance, by Ruth St. Denis, and in the mid-1910s began studies at the Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts, staying until 1923. In 1922 she performed in a short silent film by Hugo Riesenfeld. She left Denishawn in 1923 to become a featured dancer in the Greenwich Village Follies revue for two years. In 1925 she worked at the Eastman School of Music with Rouben Mamoulian, producing the short film The Flute of Krishna. In 1926 she established the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance in New York City and debuted her first independent concert on April 18 at the 48th Street Theatre. She later said, 'Everything I did was influenced by Denishawn.'

Reader's Guide

Martha Graham's significance lies in her creation of the Graham technique, which pioneered the principle of 'contraction and release' in modern dance, derived from a stylized conception of breathing. She was the first dancer to perform at the White House, in 1938, and the first to travel abroad as a cultural ambassador. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction, the Key to the City of Paris, and Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown. Her choreographies span 181 compositions, including the full-length ballet Clytemnestra (1958). She refused an invitation to perform at the 1936 Berlin Olympics due to Nazi persecution of artists, despite a letter from Joseph Goebbels assuring immunity for her Jewish dancers. Her work American Document (1938) expressed American ideals in response to fascist propaganda. She collaborated with composers such as Aaron Copland, Louis Horst, and Samuel Barber. Her legacy includes the Batsheva Dance Company in Israel, which she helped found in 1965.

Did You Know?

• Graham's father was an 'alienist,' an early form of psychiatrist.
• She was the first dancer to perform at the White House, in 1938.
• She refused an invitation to dance at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, even after Joseph Goebbels personally assured her Jewish dancers would have 'complete immunity.'
• Her only full-length ballet was Clytemnestra, premiered on April 1, 1958.
• She helped found the Batsheva Dance Company in Israel in 1965 and served as its first director.

Formative Years and the Road to Dance

Martha Graham entered the world on May 11, 1894, in Allegheny City, a community that would later be absorbed into Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her father, George, practiced what was then called alienism—an early branch of psychiatry—and the family belonged to the Presbyterian faith. Her mother, Jane Beers, traced her lineage through Irish, Scots-Irish, and English roots, and even claimed a tenth-generation connection to Myles Standish. Despite the comfort of their household, dancing was never a value the parents actively fostered. The family's relocation to Santa Maria, California, when Martha was fourteen proved pivotal. In 1911, she witnessed Ruth St. Denis perform at the Mason Opera House in Los Angeles, an experience that ignited a lifelong devotion to movement as art. By the mid-1910s she had enrolled at the Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts, the institution St. Denis and Ted Shawn had founded, where she trained until 1923. During those years she also appeared alongside Lillian Powell in a 1922 silent film by Hugo Riesenfeld, an early experiment in synchronizing choreography with a live orchestra and onscreen conductor.

Building an Independent Artistic Identity

After departing Denishawn in 1923, Graham spent two years as a featured dancer in the Greenwich Village Follies revue, a period that sharpened her stage presence without yet defining her own vocabulary. In 1925 she took a position at the Eastman School of Music, where she collaborated with Rouben Mamoulian on a short two-color film titled The Flute of Krishna, featuring Eastman students. When Mamoulian departed, Graham chose to leave as well, despite being asked to remain. The decisive break came in 1926, when she established the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance in a modest studio on New York's Upper East Side. That same year, on April 18, she staged her first fully independent concert at the 48th Street Theatre in Manhattan—a program of eighteen short solos and trios she had choreographed herself. She later acknowledged that everything in that debut still bore the imprint of Denishawn. By November she was performing at the Klaw Theatre, and she had begun a creative partnership with Japanese-American photographer Soichi Sunami. In 1928 she joined the faculty of the newly opened Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, cementing her role as both performer and educator.

Dance as Political Statement

The summer of 1936 brought a defining test of Graham's convictions. The German government, planning Art Competitions around the Berlin Olympic Games, had included dance alongside architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and literature. Despite Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels's preference for traditional over avant-garde forms, both he and Adolf Hitler extended an invitation for Graham to represent the United States. She refused, stating she could not identify with a regime that had persecuted artists she admired and stripped them of the right to work. Goebbels personally penned a letter guaranteeing that her Jewish dancers would receive 'complete immunity,' yet Graham held firm. The experience galvanized her creative output. In 1938 she composed American Document, a patriotic work weaving together Native-American heritage, the history of slavery, and democratic ideals. During the performance, passages from the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and the Emancipation Proclamation were read aloud. For Graham, a dance had to reveal national characteristics or it would lack roots and validity. That same year the Roosevelt family invited her to the White House, making her the first dancer ever to perform there, and Erick Hawkins became the first man to join her company.

Technique, Legacy, and Lasting Influence

The Graham technique, centered on a principle called contraction and release derived from a stylized conception of breathing, became one of the foundational vocabularies of modern dance. Graham danced and taught for more than seventy years, a span that saw her become the first dancer to perform at the White House, the first to travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and the first to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction. Her honors extended internationally, including the Key to the City of Paris and Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown. Her influence radiated through her students: heiress Bethsabée de Rothschild, with whom she formed a close friendship, went on to establish the Batsheva Dance Company in Israel in 1965, and Graham served as its first director. In 1958 the company premiered Clytemnestra, the only full-length ballet of her career, scored by Egyptian-born composer Halim El-Dabh. Graham choreographed and danced the title role, remaining on stage for nearly the entire performance. She married fellow dancer Erick Hawkins in July 1948, following the New York premiere of Night Journey; he left the troupe in 1951 and they divorced in 1954. Martha Graham passed away on April 1, 1991.