Martha Graham (1894-1991)
All the quotes on this page come from Martha Graham's
Blood Memory (Doubleday). Thanks a lot to Walt Derk who sent me this
wonderful book!
I am absorbed in the magic of movement and light. Movement never
lies. It is the magic
of what I call the outer space of the imagination. There is a great
deal of outer space, distant from our daily lives, where I feel
our imagination wanders sometimes. It will find a planet or it will
not find a planet, and that is what a dancer does.
A short biography and some quotes
Cathryn had made a wonderful page about
the ballets Martha Graham created in the 30s, including
a lot of great photos by Barbara Morgan. Unfortunately,
it doesn't exist any longer.
Some of her ballets
- Chorale (1926- Franck)
- Three Gnossiennes (1926- Satie)
- Three poems of the East (1926- Horst)
- Heretic (1929- folklore)
- Lamentation (1930- Kodaly)
- Harlequinade (1930- Toch)
- Primitive Canticles (1931- Villa-Lobos)
- Primitive Mysteries (1931- Horst)
- Dance Songs (1932- Weisshauss)
- Ekstasis (1933- Engel)
- Frenetic Rhythms (1933)
- Celebration (1934- Horst)
- Transitions (1934- Engel)
- American Provincials (1934- Horst)
- Frontier (1935- Horst)
- Imperial Gesture (1935- Engel)
- Chronicle (1936- Riegger)
- Deep Song (1937- Cowell)
- American Document (1938- Green)
- Every Soul is a Circus (1939- Nordoff)
- Letter to the World (1940-
Johnson)
- El Penitente (1940- Horst)
- Punch and Judy (1941- McBride)
- Death and Entrances (1943- Johnson)
- Herodiade (1944- Hindemith)
- Appalachian Spring (1944-
Copland)
- Cave of the heart (1946- Barber)
- Dark Meadow (1946- Chavez)
- Errand into the Maze (1947-
Menotti)
- Night Journey (1947- Schuman)
- Diversion of Angels
(1948- Dello Joio)
- Judith (1950- Schuman)
- Canticle for innocent comedians (1952- Ribbink)
- Seraphic Dialogue (1955- Dello Joio)
- Embattled Garden (1958- Surinach)
- Clytemnestra (1958- El Dabh)
- Episodes (1959- Webern)
- Acrobats of God (1960- Surinach)
- Alcestis (1960- Fine)
- Phaedra (1962- Starer)
- Secular games (1962- Starer)
- Circe (1963- Hovhaness)
- The Witch of Endor (1965- Schuman)
- Cortege of Eagles (1967- Lester)
- A Time of Snow (1968- Dello Joio)
- The Lady of the House of Sleep (1968- Starer)
- The Archaic Hours (1969- Lester)
- Mendicants of evening (1973- Walker)
- Myth of a Voyage (1973- Hovhaness)
- Holy Jungle (1974- Starer)
- Dream (1974- Seter) for the Batsheva Dance Company
- Lucifer (1975- El Dabh)
- The Scarlet Letter (1975- Johnson)
- Frescoes (1978- Barber)
- Judith (1980- Varèse)
- Acts of Light (1981- Nielsen)
- Andromache's Lament (1982- Barber)
- Phaedra's Dream (1983- Crumb)
- The Rite of Spring (1984- Stravinsky)
- Temptations of the Moon (1986- Bartok)
- Tangled Night (1986- Egge)
- Persephone (1987- Stravinsky)
- Night Chant (1988- Nakaï)
- Maple leaf Rag (1990- Joplin)
References:
These references have been posted to the newsgroup alt.arts.ballet,
or are in Tom Parsons's FAQ.
- Blood Memory (Martha Graham, Pocket Books, 1992;
ISBN 0-671-78217-7.) translated in French as Mémoire de la Danse (Actes Sud).
- The Life and Work of Martha Graham (Agnes de Mille,
New York: Random House/ Vintage, 1991, ISBN 0-679-74176-3)
- Martha Graham: The Evolution of Her Dance Theory and
Training 1926-1991 (Marian Horosko)
- Martha Graham (Daniel Dobbels) (In French)