70-541: The José Limón National Contemporary Dance Award (Spanish: Premio Nacional de Danza Contemporánea José Limón ) is a Mexican modern and contemporary dance award established in 1988 and named in honor of the dancer and choreographer José Limón . It is granted by the National Council for Culture and the Arts (CONACULTA) and the government of the state of Sinaloa [ es ] . Due to its age and significance, it
140-434: A characteristic trait, and Butoh , Japanese contemporary dancing that developed in the 1950s. It incorporates modern European influences, via the work of pioneers like Isadora Duncan. According to Treva Bedinghaus, "Modern dancers use dancing to express their innermost emotions, often to get closer to their inner-selves. Before attempting to choreograph a routine, the modern dancer decides which emotions to try to convey to
210-423: A dancer made up to look as you did thirty years ago, dancing a ballet you created with someone you were then deeply in love with, your husband? I think that is a circle of hell Dante omitted. [When I stopped dancing] I had lost my will to live. I stayed home alone, ate very little, and drank too much and brooded. My face was ruined, and people say I looked odd, which I agreed with. Finally my system just gave in. I
280-569: A heightened sense of awareness of being grounded to the floor while, at the same time, feeling the energy throughout your entire body, extending it to the audience. Her principal contributions to dance are the focus of the 'center' of the body (as contrast to ballet's emphasis on limbs), coordination between breathing and movement , and a dancer's relationship with the floor. In 1927, newspapers regularly began assigning dance critics, such as Walter Terry, and Edwin Denby , who approached performances from
350-420: A landscape to move in. Without it, I should certainly have been lost." Graham resisted requests for her dances to be recorded because she believed that live performances should only exist on stage as they are experienced. There were a few notable exceptions. For example, in addition to her collaboration with Sunami in the 1920s, she also worked on a limited basis with still photographers Imogen Cunningham in
420-723: A mere form of entertainment. This motivated Graham to strip away the more decorative movements of ballet and of her training at the Denishawn school and focus more on the foundational aspects of movement. In 1925, Graham was employed at the Eastman School of Music where Rouben Mamoulian was head of the School of Drama. Among other performances, together Mamoulian and Graham produced a short two-color film called The Flute of Krishna, featuring Eastman students. Mamoulian left Eastman shortly thereafter and Graham chose to leave also, even though she
490-496: A more base aspect of human movement led Graham to create the "contraction and release", for which she would become known. Each movement could separately be used to express either positive or negative, freeing or constricting emotions depending on the placement of the head. The contraction and release were both the basis for Graham's weighted and grounded style, which is in direct opposition to classical ballet techniques that typically aim to create an illusion of weightlessness. To counter
560-463: A new interest in health and physical fitness. "It was in this atmosphere that a 'new dance' was emerging as much from a rejection of social structures as from a dissatisfaction with ballet." During that same period, "the champions of physical education helped to prepare the way for modern dance, and gymnastic exercises served as technical starting points for young women who longed to dance." Women's colleges began offering "aesthetic dance" courses by
630-556: A pillar of the modern dance revolution. 1938 became a big year for Graham; the Roosevelts invited Graham to dance at the White House , making her the first dancer to perform there. Also, in 1938, Erick Hawkins became the first man to dance with her company. He officially joined her troupe the following year, dancing male lead in a number of Graham's works. They were married in July 1948 after
700-515: A short silent film by Hugo Riesenfeld that attempted to synchronize a dance routine on film with a live orchestra and an onscreen conductor. Graham left the Denishawn establishment in 1923 in order to become a featured dancer in the Greenwich Village Follies revue for two years. As a result, she felt a strong urge to make dance an art form that was more grounded in the rawness of the human experience and orientalism as opposed to just
770-652: A woman's point of view. In 1936, Graham created Chronicle , which brought serious issues to the stage in a dramatic manner. Influenced by the Wall Street Crash of 1929 , the Great Depression that followed, and the Spanish Civil War , the dance focused on depression and isolation, reflected in the dark nature of both the set and costumes. The same year, in conjunction with the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin,
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#1733114357153840-399: A work I thought was only fairly good, after years of neglect for work I thought was fine. I was bewildered and worried that my entire scale of values was untrustworthy. I talked to Martha. I remember the conversation well. It was in a Schrafft's restaurant over a soda. I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be. Martha said to me, very quietly: "There
910-458: Is Revelations (1960). The legacy of modern dance can be seen in lineage of 20th-century concert dance forms. Although often producing divergent dance forms, many seminal dance artists share a common heritage that can be traced back to free dance. Postmodern dance developed in the 1960s in United States when society questioned truths and ideologies in politics and art . This period
980-407: 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. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It
1050-458: Is considered the country's most important dance award. The José Limón National Dance Award was established in 1988 to recognize the most outstanding figures of modern and contemporary Mexican or foreign dance. It was named in honor of José Limón , a dancer and choreographer born in Culiacán , Sinaloa, considered a groundbreaking innovator in the history of contemporary dance, and one who elevated
1120-440: Is often considered to have emerged as a rejection of, or rebellion against, classical ballet , although historians have suggested that socioeconomic changes in both the United States and Europe helped to initiate shifts in the dance world. In America, increasing industrialization , the rise of a middle class (which had more disposable income and free time), and the decline of Victorian social strictures led to, among other changes,
1190-424: Is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than
1260-568: The Key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown . She said, in the 1994 documentary The Dancer Revealed : "I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable." Founded in 1926 (the same year as Graham's professional dance company),
1330-704: The Legion of Honour by then Minister of culture Jack Lang . Graham was inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame in 1987. In 1990, the Council of Fashion Designers of America awarded Graham with the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award . In 1998, Graham was posthumously named "Dancer of the Century" by Time magazine, and one of
1400-779: The Martha Graham School is the oldest school of dance in the United States. First located in a small studio within Carnegie Hall , the school currently has two different studios in New York City. Graham was born in Allegheny City , later to become part of Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania, in 1894. Her father, George Graham, practiced as what in the Victorian era was known as an " alienist ", a practitioner of an early form of psychiatry . The Grahams were strict Presbyterians . Her father
1470-728: The Pearl Primus Dance Language Institute . Alvin Ailey studied under Lester Horton , Bella Lewitzky , and later Martha Graham. He spent several years working in both concert and theater dance. In 1958, Ailey and a group of young African-American dancers performed as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York . He drew upon his "blood memories" of Texas , the blues, spirituals and gospel as inspiration. His most popular and critically acclaimed work
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#17331143571531540-913: The Saratoga Performing Arts Center in June 2008. The company also performed in 2007 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago , with a program consisting of: Appalachian Spring , Embattled Garden , Errand into the Maze , and American Original . Graham's original female dancers consisted of Bessie Schonberg , Evelyn Sabin, Martha Hill , Gertrude Shurr, Anna Sokolow , Nelle Fisher, Dorothy Bird, Bonnie Bird , Sophie Maslow , May O'Donnell , Jane Dudley , Anita Alvarez, Pearl Lang , and Marjorie G. Mazia . A second group included Yuriko , Ethel Butler, Ethel Winter , Jean Erdman , Patricia Birch , Nina Fonaroff, Matt Turney , Mary Hinkson . The group of men dancers
1610-1026: The Trojan War rages. Upon Agamemnon's return after 10 years, Clytemnestra kills Agamemnon to avenge the murder of Iphigenia. Clytemnestra is then murdered by her son, Orestes , and the audience experiences Clytemnestra in the afterworld. This ballet was deemed a masterpiece of 20th-century American modernism and was so successful it had a limited engagement showing at the 54th Street Theatre on Broadway , conducted by Robert Irving , voice parts sung by Rosalia Maresca and Ronald Holgate . Graham collaborated with many composers including Aaron Copland on Appalachian Spring , Louis Horst , Samuel Barber , William Schuman , Carlos Surinach , Norman Dello Joio , and Gian Carlo Menotti . Graham's mother died in Santa Barbara in 1958. Her oldest friend and musical collaborator Louis Horst died in 1964. She said of Horst: "His sympathy and understanding, but primarily his faith, gave me
1680-513: The 1930s, and Barbara Morgan in the 1940s. Graham considered Philippe Halsman 's photographs of Dark Meadow the most complete photographic record of any of her dances. Halsman also photographed in the 1940s Letter to the World , Cave of the Heart , Night Journey and Every Soul is a Circus . In later years her thinking on the matter evolved and others convinced her to let them recreate some of what
1750-665: The Central Modern period ( c. 1923–1946), choreographers Martha Graham , Doris Humphrey , Katherine Dunham , Charles Weidman , and Lester Horton sought to develop distinctively American movement styles and vocabularies, and developed clearly defined and recognizable dance training systems. In the Late Modern period ( c. 1946–1957), José Limón , Pearl Primus , Merce Cunningham , Talley Beatty , Erick Hawkins , Anna Sokolow , Anna Halprin , and Paul Taylor introduced clear abstractionism and avant-garde movements, and paved
1820-597: The German government wanted to include dance in the Art Competitions that took place during the Olympics, an event that previously included architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and literature. Although Joseph Goebbels , Reich Minister of Propaganda, was not appreciative of the modern dance art form and changed Germany's dance from more avant-garde to traditional, he and Adolf Hitler still agreed to invite Graham to represent
1890-520: The New York premiere of Night Journey . He left her troupe in 1951 and they divorced in 1954. On April 1, 1958, the Martha Graham Dance Company premiered the ballet Clytemnestra , based on the ancient Greek legend Clytemnestra and it became a huge success and great accomplishment for Graham. With a score by Egyptian-born composer Halim El-Dabh , this ballet was a large scale work and
1960-593: The Theatre when it opened in 1928. One of Graham's students was heiress Bethsabée de Rothschild with whom she became close friends. When Rothschild moved to Israel and established the Batsheva Dance Company in 1965, Graham became the company's first director. Graham's technique pioneered a principle known as "contraction and release" in modern dance, which was derived from a stylized conception of breathing. Contraction and release : The desire to highlight
2030-471: The United States. However, the United States was not represented in the Art Competitions as Graham refused the invitation by stating: I would find it impossible to dance in Germany at the present time. So many artists whom I respect and admire have been persecuted, have been deprived of the right to work for ridiculous and unsatisfactory reasons, that I should consider it impossible to identify myself, by accepting
2100-457: The audience. Many modern dancers choose a subject near and dear to their hearts, such as a lost love or a personal failure. The dancer will choose music that relates to the story they wish to tell, or choose to use no music at all, and then choose a costume to reflect their chosen emotions." This list illustrates some important teacher-student relationships in modern dance. Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991)
2170-694: The beginning of their solvency." African American dance blended modern dance with African and Caribbean movement (flexible torso and spine, articulated pelvis, isolation of the limbs, and polyrhythmic movement). Katherine Dunham trained in ballet, founded Ballet Negre in 1936 and then the Katherine Dunham Dance Company based in Chicago . In 1945, she opened a school in New York, teaching Katherine Dunham Technique , African and Caribbean movement integrated with ballet and modern dance. Taking inspiration from African-based dance where one part of
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2240-435: The body plays against one another, she focused on articulating the torso in her choreography. Pearl Primus drew on African and Caribbean dances to create strong dramatic works characterized by large leaps. She often based her dances on the work of black writers and on racial issues, such as Langston Hughes 's 1944 The Negro Speaks of Rivers , and Lewis Allan's 1945 Strange Fruit (1945). Her dance company developed into
2310-414: The dancers clothed unglamorously, the piece centered on the theme of rejection—one that would reoccur in other Graham works down the line. As time went on Graham moved away from the more stark design aesthetic she initially embraced and began incorporating more elaborate sets and scenery to her work. To do this, she collaborated often with Isamu Noguchi —a Japanese American designer—whose eye for set design
2380-641: The development of European modern and Expressionist dance . Other pioneers included Kurt Jooss ( Ausdruckstanz ) and Harald Kreutzberg . Disturbed by the Great Depression and the rising threat of fascism in Europe, the radical dancers tried to raise consciousness by dramatizing the economic , social , ethnic and political crises of their time. In 1915, Ruth St. Denis founded the Denishawn school and dance company with her husband Ted Shawn . Martha Graham , Doris Humphrey , and Charles Weidman were pupils at
2450-649: The end of the 1880s. Emil Rath , who wrote at length about this emerging art form at the time stated, "Music and rhythmic bodily movement are twin sisters of art, as they have come into existence simultaneously...today we see in the artistic work of Isadora Duncan, Maud Allan, and others the use of a form of dancing which strives to portray in movements what the music master expresses in his compositions—interpretative dancing." In Europe, Mary Wigman in Germany, Francois Delsarte , Émile Jaques-Dalcroze ( Eurhythmics ), and Rudolf Laban developed theories of human movement and expression, and methods of instruction that led to
2520-507: The evening of May 25, 1968, in Time of Snow . But in A Dancer's Life , biographer Russell Freedman lists the year of Graham's final performance as 1969. In her 1991 autobiography, Blood Memory , Graham herself lists her final performance as her 1970 appearance in Cortege of Eagles when she was 76 years old. Graham's choreographies span 181 compositions. In the years that followed her departure from
2590-494: The final draft of her autobiography, Blood Memory , which was published posthumously in the fall of 1991. She was cremated, and her ashes were spread over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico . Graham has been sometimes termed the "Picasso of Dance" in that her importance and influence to modern dance can be considered equivalent to what Pablo Picasso was to modern visual arts. Her impact has been also compared to
2660-452: The first time – academic Alberto Dallal [ es ] received an award as one of the most outstanding dance researchers and historians in Mexico. Modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in
2730-539: The formalism of modern dance, and include elements such as performance art , contact improvisation , release technique , and improvisation. American modern dance can be divided (roughly) into three periods or eras. In the Early Modern period ( c. 1880–1923), characterized by the work of Isadora Duncan, Loie Fuller, Ruth St. Denis , Ted Shawn , and Eleanor King , artistic practice changed radically, but clearly distinct modern dance techniques had not yet emerged. In
2800-532: The influence of Stravinsky on music and Frank Lloyd Wright on architecture. In 2013, the dance films by her were selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the registry's owner, the Library of Congress . To celebrate what would have been her 117th birthday on May 11, 2011, Google 's logo for one day was turned into one dedicated to Graham's life and legacy. Graham has been said to be
2870-420: The invitation, with the regime that has made such things possible. In addition, some of my concert group would not be welcomed in Germany. Goebbels himself wrote her a letter assuring her that her Jewish dancers would "receive complete immunity", however, it was not enough for Graham to accept such an invitation. Stimulated by the occurrences of the 1936 Olympic Games, and the propaganda that she heard through
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2940-620: The late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was considered to have been developed as a rejection of, or rebellion against, classical ballet , and also a way to express social concerns like socioeconomic and cultural factors. In the late 19th century, modern dance artists such as Isadora Duncan , Maud Allan , and Loie Fuller were pioneering new forms and practices in what is now called improvisational or free dance . These dancers disregarded ballet's strict movement vocabulary (the particular, limited set of movements that were considered proper to ballet) and stopped wearing corsets and pointe shoes in
3010-707: The male figure in the field. At its 30th edition, held in 2010, the award's name was changed to the José Limón National Contemporary Dance Award. It is granted by CONACULTA and the government of the state of Sinaloa [ es ] , through the National Dance Coordination of the National Institute of Fine Arts and the Sinaloense Institute of Culture. The distinction, considered the country's most important in
3080-495: The medium, is awarded each year during the José Limón International Contemporary Dance Festival, to people or institutions whose work in modern and contemporary dance constitutes a significant contribution to this art in Mexico. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Limón's birth, six awards were presented in 2008. In addition, a person who was not a dancer or choreographer was recognized for
3150-446: The more percussive and staccato movements, Graham eventually added the spiral shape to the vocabulary of her technique to incorporate a sense of fluidity. Following her first concert made up of solos, Graham created Heretic (1929), the first group piece of many that showcased a clear diversion from her days with Denishawn, and served as an insight to her work that would follow in the future. Made up of constricted and sharp movement with
3220-434: The nonliteral set. As she did often, Graham placed herself in her own piece as the bride of a newly married couple whose optimism for starting a new life together is countered by a grounded pioneer woman and a sermon-giving revivalist. Two of Graham's pieces— Cave of Heart (1946) and Night Journey (1947)—display her interest in not only Greek mythology but also with the psyche of a woman, as both pieces retell Greek myths from
3290-618: The one that brought dance into the 20th century. Due to the work of her assistants, Linda Hodes, Pearl Lang, Diane Gray, Yuriko, and others, much of Graham's work and technique have been preserved. They taped interviews of Graham describing her entire technique and videos of her performances. Glen Tetley told Agnes de Mille , "The wonderful thing about Martha in her good days was her generosity. So many people stole Martha's unique personal vocabulary, consciously or unconsciously, and performed it in concerts. I have never once heard Martha say, 'So-and-so has used my choreography. ' " An entire movement
3360-524: The only full-length work in Graham's career. Graham choreographed and danced the title role, spending almost the entire duration of the performance on the stage. The ballet was based on the Greek mythology of the same title and tells the story of Queen Clytemnestra who is married to King Agamemnon . Agamemnon sacrifices their daughter, Iphigenia , on a pyre, as an offering to the gods to assure fair winds to Troy, where
3430-520: The others." In 2021 actress Mary Beth Peil portrayed Graham in the Netflix series Halston . The Martha Graham Dance Company is the oldest dance company in America, founded in 1926. It has helped develop many famous dancers and choreographers of the 20th and 21st centuries including Erick Hawkins , Anna Sokolow , Merce Cunningham , Lila York , and Paul Taylor . It continues to perform, including at
3500-700: The performance, excerpts from the U.S. Declaration of Independence , Lincoln's Gettysburg Address , and the Emancipation Proclamation were read. These were passages that highlighted the American ideals and represented what made the American people American. For Graham, a dance needed to "reveal certain national characteristics because without these characteristics the dance would have no validity, no roots, no direct relation to life". The beginning of American Document marks modern concepts of performance art joining dance, theater and literature and clearly defining
3570-473: The radio from the Axis Powers , Graham created American Document in 1938. The dance expressed American ideals and democracy as Graham realized that it could empower men and inspire them to fight fascist and Nazi ideologies. American Document ended up as a patriotic statement focusing on rights and injustices of the time, representing the American people including its Native-American heritage and slavery. During
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#17331143571533640-427: The roles of the spectator and the actors/dancers. The narrator/actor starts with "establishing an awareness of the present place and time, which serves not only as a bridge between past and present, but also between individual and collective, particular and general". Together with her unique technique, this sociological and philosophical innovation sets dance as a clear expression of current ideas and places and Graham as
3710-738: The school and members of the dance company. Seeking a wider and more accepting audience for their work, Duncan, Fuller, and Ruth St. Denis toured Europe . Martha Graham is often regarded as the founding mother of modern 20th-century concert dance . Graham viewed ballet as too one-sided: European , imperialistic , and un-American. She became a student at the Denishawn school in 1916 and then moved to New York City in 1923, where she performed in musical comedies , music halls , and worked on her own choreography . Graham developed her own dance technique , Graham technique , that hinged on concepts of contraction and release. In Graham's teachings, she wanted her students to "Feel". To "Feel", means having
3780-427: The search for greater freedom of movement. Throughout the 20th century, sociopolitical concerns, major historical events, and the development of other art forms contributed to the continued development of modern dance in the United States and Europe. Moving into the 1960s, new ideas about dance began to emerge as a response to earlier dance forms and to social changes. Eventually, postmodern dance artists would reject
3850-532: The stage, Graham sank into a deep depression fueled by views from the wings of young dancers performing many of the dances she had choreographed for herself and her former husband. Graham's health declined precipitously as she abused alcohol to numb her pain. In Blood Memory she wrote, It wasn't until years after I had relinquished a ballet that I could bear to watch someone else dance it. I believe in never looking back, never indulging in nostalgia, or reminiscing. Yet how can you avoid it when you look on stage and see
3920-572: The viewpoint of a movement specialist rather than as a reviewer of music or drama. Educators accepted modern dance into college and university curricula, first as a part of physical education, then as performing art. Many college teachers were trained at the Bennington Summer School of the Dance, established at Bennington College in 1934. Of the Bennington program, Agnes de Mille wrote, "...there
3990-476: The way for postmodern dance . Modern dance has evolved with each subsequent generation of participating artists. Artistic content has morphed and shifted from one choreographer to another, as have styles and techniques. Artists such as Graham and Horton developed techniques in the Central Modern Period that are still taught worldwide and numerous other types of modern dance exist today. Modern dance
4060-443: Was a fine commingling of all kinds of artists, musicians, and designers, and secondly, because all those responsible for booking the college concert series across the continent were assembled there. ... free from the limiting strictures of the three big monopolistic managements, who pressed for preference of their European clients. As a consequence, for the first time American dancers were hired to tour America nationwide, and this marked
4130-410: Was a third-generation American of Irish descent. Graham's mother, Jane Beers, was a second-generation American of Irish, Scots-Irish, and English ancestry, and who claimed to be a tenth-generation descendant of Myles Standish . While her parents provided a comfortable environment in her youth, it was not one that encouraged dancing. The Graham family moved to Santa Barbara, California , when Martha
4200-596: Was an American modern dancer and choreographer, whose style, the Graham technique , reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She was the first dancer to perform at the White House , travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and receive the highest civilian award of the US: the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction . In her lifetime she received honors ranging from
4270-599: Was asked to stay on. In 1926, the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance was established, in a small studio on the Upper East Side of New York City. On April 18 of the same year Graham debuted her first independent concert, consisting of 18 short solos and trios that she had choreographed. This performance took place at the 48th Street Theatre in Manhattan . She would later say of the concert: "Everything I did
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#17331143571534340-544: Was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976 by President Gerald Ford (the First Lady Betty Ford had studied under Graham in her youth). Ford declared her "a national treasure". Graham was the first recipient of the Samuel H. Scripps / American Dance Festival Award for lifetime achievement in modern dance in 1981, presented by Betty Ford. In 1984, Graham was awarded the highest French order of merit ,
4410-430: Was complementary to Graham's choreography. Within the many themes which Graham incorporated into her work, there were two that she seemed to adhere to the most—Americana and Greek mythology. One of Graham's most known pieces that incorporates the American life theme is Appalachian Spring (1944). She collaborated with the composer Aaron Copland —who won a Pulitzer Prize for his work on the piece—and Noguchi, who created
4480-409: Was created by her that revolutionized the dance world and created what is known today as modern dance. Now, dancers all over the world study and perform modern dance. Choreographers and professional dancers look to her for inspiration. Agnes de Mille said: The greatest thing [Graham] ever said to me was in 1943 after the opening of Oklahoma! , when I suddenly had unexpected, flamboyant success for
4550-558: Was fourteen years old. In 1911, she attended the first dance performance of her life, watching Ruth St. Denis perform at the Mason Opera House in Los Angeles. In the mid-1910s, Martha Graham began her studies at the newly created Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts , founded by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn , at which she would stay until 1923. In 1922, Graham performed one of Shawn's Egyptian dances with Lillian Powell in
4620-467: Was in the hospital for a long time, much of it in a coma. Graham not only survived her hospital stay, but she rallied. In 1972, she quit drinking, returned to her studio, reorganized her company, and went on to choreograph ten new ballets and many revivals. Her last completed ballet was 1990's Maple Leaf Rag . Graham choreographed until her death in New York City from pneumonia in 1991, aged 96. Just before she became sick with pneumonia, she finished
4690-498: Was influenced by Denishawn ." On November 28, 1926, Graham and others in her company gave a dance recital at the Klaw Theatre in New York City. Around the same time she entered an extended collaboration with Japanese-American pictorialist photographer Soichi Sunami , and over the next five years they together created some of the most iconic images of early modern dance. Graham was on the faculty of Neighborhood Playhouse School of
4760-511: Was lost. In 1952 Graham allowed taping of her meeting and cultural exchange with famed deaf-blind author, activist and lecturer Helen Keller , who, after a visit to one of Graham's company rehearsals became a close friend and supporter. Graham was inspired by Keller's joy from and interpretation of dance, utilizing her body to feel the vibration of drums and of feet and movement moving the air around her. In her biography Martha , Agnes de Mille cites Graham's last performance as having occurred on
4830-552: Was made up of Erick Hawkins , Merce Cunningham , David Campbell, John Butler, Robert Cohan , Stuart Hodes , Glen Tetley , Bertram Ross , Paul Taylor , Donald McKayle, Mark Ryder, and William Carter. During her career, Graham was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Choreography three times- one in 1932, one in 1943, and one in 1944. In 1957, Graham was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . She
4900-455: Was marked by social and cultural experimentation in the arts. Choreographers no longer created specific 'schools' or 'styles'. The influences from different periods of dance became more vague and fragmented. Contemporary dance emerged in the 1950s as the dance form that is combining the modern dance elements and the classical ballet elements. It can use elements from non-Western dance cultures, such as African dancing with bent knees as
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