Martha Graham's "Chronicle"

The choreographic work I have chosen to explore is “Chronicle.” “Chronicle” exemplifies the use non-literal movements to illustrate contemporary subject matter in modern dance. This work was choreographed by Martha Graham and first performed in 1936. Graham was an early pioneer of Modern Dance. Unlike St. Denis and Duncan, who came from middle-class backgrounds, Graham was from an upper-class Protestant family. When her family moved to California in 1911, she saw a performance by the Denishawn Company and decided she wanted to become a dancer. She first studied with Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, where she found more favor with Shawn that St. Denis. She left Denishawn in the early 1920’s and founded her own company, The Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, a few years later. Graham created using modern dance because that was how she had been trained at Denishawn. Graham’s choreography removed the fluff that came with ballet and early modern dance, and instead created movement that was raw and emotionally powerful. Graham was influenced by the Puritan value of functionalism in that her choreography was intended to reflect that dance should be functional for society. Unlike the dance of St. Denis, Graham created movement that was not derived from foreign or ancient sources. Instead, her movement was based on contemporary subject matter. Graham lived during a time in which America was uncertain what the future would hold. Graham danced through Two World Wars, The Great Depression, The Spanish Civil War, Women’s Suffrage, The Cold War, The Vietnam War, and numerous other events that shook American’s. The emotion that accompanied living in such a tumultuous time is reflected in the raw emotion of Graham’s dance.
The reason I chose “Chronicle” I because I like the seriousness of the piece. I think the mood of this work contrasts the light and whimsical choreography of Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, and Ted Shawn – all of whom were modern dance pioneers who