Preview

Martha Graham: The First School Of Modern Dance

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
235 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Martha Graham: The First School Of Modern Dance
Emerging in 1890 when dancers and choreographers revolted from the stiff and structured Ballet technique, modern dance has evolved a lot over the years. Soon after, in 1905, Isadora Duncan established the first school of modern dance in Berlin, Germany. Ruth St. Denis, born Ruth Dennis, offered a performance of Radha, her first dance work, in 1906. She married her dance partner, Ted Shawn, eight years later. Together they founded the Denishawn Dance Company. Two famous names in modern dance, Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey, studied there.

Martha Graham made her dance debut in 1926 New York. Her performance featured 18 barefoot dancers, normal in the modern dance world. Her dance "Appalachian Spring" premiered in 1944. Doris Humphrey spent
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ruth St. Denis's Manifestos: The Dying Swan
    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Ruth St. Denis's Manifestos: The Dying Swan

    In chapter two Pioneer Women, this chapter discusses how the different types of dance such as vaudeville, burlesque and others featured women as the main display of the concert. The reasoning for that is because a convention had assumed that the female…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Jose Limón Research Paper
    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Jose Limón Research Paper

    During his time owning Limón Dance Company, José Limón choreographed some of the most recognisable masterpieces of the time, including his signature piece The Moor’s Pavane (1949) and Ode to the Dance (1954). The Limón Dance Company soon became a ‘landmark of American Dance’ and their dances were considered modern dance…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Key Events in the Life of Leni Riefenstahl
    • 668 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Key Events in the Life of Leni Riefenstahl

    Leni Riefenstahl was born on the 22nd August 1902 in Berlin and in her young life grew a developed skill in classical dancing which led to many of her experiences throughout her life. Riefenstahl’s dancing career began in 1921 and continued until 1925, it was in this time that the expressionist movement was booming in Berlin and Riefenstahl became a central figure of this movement. She persuaded the leading theatre manager and producer, Max Reinhardt to sign her up as a professional dancer. Her dancing career although only lasting 4 years saw her travelling all across Europe, it ended abruptly after she suffered a major setback injuring her knee.…

    • 668 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Katherine Dunham: Matriarch And Queen Mother Of Black Dance
    • 166 Words
    • 1 Page

    Katherine Dunham: Matriarch And Queen Mother Of Black Dance

    Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1909, in Chicago, Illinois. Katherine was an African American Dancer, Choreographer, Educator, and Social Activist. Katherine Dunham had one of the most successful Dance careers in America and Europe Theater of the 20th century. she directed her own Dance company for many years. She has been dubbed “the Matriarch and Queen Mother of Black Dance”. During her heyday in 1940’s and 1950’s era, Dunham was renowned throughout Europe and Latin America and was widely popular in the United States, where the Washington Post called her, “Dancer Katherine the Great”, for almost thirty years Katherine Dunham maintained the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, the company had a successful run on Broadway .Katherine Dunham…

    • 166 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    How Did Louise Fuller Contribute To Dance
    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages

    How Did Louise Fuller Contribute To Dance

    Denis, was an American contemporary dancer, born in Newmark, New Jersey on January 20, 1879, and influence most phases of American dance. Ruth became interest in dance at a young age. She started off preforming with the vaudeville dancers (a light often comedic theatrical piece frequently combining pantomime) and an appearance in three of David Belasco’s productions. Ruth’s inspiration for exploring Asian art and dance came from a cigarette poster that she saw. She began to study Hindu and philosophy she created Radha which she offered to showcase in New York. Her dance, Radha was based on the milkmaid who was married to a Hindu god. Because of her studies and recent dances she was able to create other dances such as The Cobra and The Incense. Ruth St. Denis had major influence on modern dance in America especially though Denishawn (which was the first major organized dance experiment and instruction in the country). She is even called the first lady of modern dance. I think she is known as an important dance choreographer because she took information that she studied and was able to transform it into something of her own. Because of her new dances and studies, Ruth St. Denis has inspired many others and changed the dance word…

    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Contributions Of Pia Bausch To Dance
    • 2144 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Contributions Of Pia Bausch To Dance

    In this essay I will be discussing the choreographer Pina Bausch, focussing on her contributions to the development of dance in the 20th century and discussing events and issues that influenced and effected her work in the late 1900’s. I shall also reflect on how her work is still influencing dancers today in the 21st century.…

    • 2144 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    How Did Katherine Dunham Contribute To Dance
    • 207 Words
    • 1 Page

    How Did Katherine Dunham Contribute To Dance

    The dancer I have chosen is Katherine Dunham. Mrs. Dunham born June 22, 1909, to an African American father and French Canadian mother. She was born in Chicago Illinois. She performed many styles of dance. One style she's famous for is going back to her roots and taking black culture and making it acceptable to all. Other styles she contributed too were folk and ethnic. Choreography. One big contribution Mrs. Dunham contributed was making African American and Caribbean culture beautiful to all. At a time when very, few African American's had a chance at "commercial success" she gave them hope. At this time, dance in America was very vague for the African American women, especially not when accepting your own heritage and culture. She changed…

    • 207 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Mr Bru
    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Mr Bru

    What dance was created in 1958 and was the debut programme of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre.…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Katherine Dunham: Legendary Dancer, Activist
    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Katherine Dunham: Legendary Dancer, Activist

    It is obvious that Katherine Dunham transformed American dance in 1930’s. By studying the foundation and roots of black dance and rituals, she was able to transform them into artistic pieces of choreography. She introduced the use of both ethnic and folk dance and is a prominent founder of the anthropological dance movement. At that time, dance was heavily influenced by Europe, but Dunham was able to create an impact in the dance world by bringing Caribbean and African…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Isadora Duncan Dance Analysis
    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Isadora Duncan Dance Analysis

    During Monday’s class, we focused on Isadora Duncan’s perception of modern dance and dance in general. Her perception of dance was to use it as a mechanism to search our inner souls and find its connectedness with nature (Brown 7). We began an exercise concentrating solely on our breaths. Since Duncan believed in liberation and individuality, breathing is an action that we all individually own and is used as a tool to access our inner thoughts and our souls. During the breathing exercises, I fell into a deep state of meditation, focusing on the subtle inhales and exhales of my breath, and eventually felt invigorated afterwards. With each breath, I felt a release of this uninvited ball of negative energy, which had itself wrapped inside my core,…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    PHL 458 Think Different Exercise
    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages

    PHL 458 Think Different Exercise

    Frank Lloyd Wright: The creator of “organic architecture” which the purpose was to create a harmony between the humans and environment.…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Martha Graham's Accomplishments
    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Martha Graham's Accomplishments

    During Martha Graham’s life, she has made some amazing accomplishments. When she was studying dance is bent the rules of ballet and created modern dance. Martha Graham went to her dream dance school Denishawn School of Dancing and Relative Arts after her father died she enrolled into the school was was doing great. When she was done teaching and being a student after several years Martha opened a dance studio of her own called Martha…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why Dress Codes Shouldn't Be Uniforms
    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Why Dress Codes Shouldn't Be Uniforms

    Working for the most part with Ted Shawn, Martha improved her technique and began dancing professionally. Ted choreographed the dance production "Xochitl" specifically for Graham, who performed the role of an attacked Aztec maiden. The wildly emotional performance garnered her critical acclaim. Martha left Denishawn in 1923 to take a job with the Greenwich Village Follies. Two years later, she left the Follies to broaden her career. She took teaching positions at the Eastman School of Music and Theater in Rochester, New York, and the John Murray Anderson School in New York City to support herself. In 1926, she established the Martha Graham Dance Company. Its incipient programs were stylistically similar to those of her teachers, but she quickly found her artistic voice and began conducting elaborate experiments in dance.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Night Journey Analysis
    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Night Journey Analysis

    Graham mentions in her biography, “There is a vitality, a life force an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique”. (Wikipedia) I find myself fascinated with Ms. Graham’s creations of new ways to interpret art with dance. She doesn’t appear to have limitations with her artwork, her choreography is fantastic, and my eyes cannot keep up with the fast body movements of the dancers. Some of Martha Graham accomplishments are that she was the first dancer to perform at the White House; she received the highest civilian award of the US; the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the key to the City of Paris, the Japan’s Imperial Order of the Precious Crown. Her unique style made her famous, she taught too so many other famous dancers who follow up her…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    L'Histoire de La Danse Classique/History of Ballet
    • 2214 Words
    • 9 Pages

    L'Histoire de La Danse Classique/History of Ballet

    Ballet is a formalized form of dance with its origins in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th and 16th centuries. It quickly spread to the French court of Catherine de ' Medici where it was developed even further. In the 17th century at the time of Louis XIV, ballet was codified. The predominance of French in the vocabulary of ballet reflects this history. It also became a form closely associated with the opera. Ballet then spread from the heart of Europe to other nations. The Royal Danish Ballet and the Imperial Ballet of the Russian Empire were founded in the 1740s and began to flourish, especially after about 1850. In 1907 the Russian ballet in turn moved back to France. Soon ballet spread around the world with the formation of new companies, including London 's The Royal Ballet (1931), the San Francisco Ballet (1933), American Ballet Theatre (1937), The Australian Ballet (1940), the New York City Ballet (1948), the National Ballet of Canada (1951), and the Delhi Ballet (2002).…

    • 2214 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More

Related Topics