1878 saw American dance pioneer Isadora Duncan rebelling against the normality of traditional ballet technique in order to create her own revolutionary style of dance technique and performance. Jean Morrison Brown, a previous professor of dance at the University of New Hampshire stated about Duncan: “A feminist in the most contemporary sense of the word and a radical whose rebellion, particularly against ballet, was complete and far-reaching …” (Brown, 1998, pg. 7) She believed that dance shouldn’t have rules or definite positions and should be “an expression of the spirit, inspired by nature.” (Brown, 1998, pg.7) She believed that her choreography was best epitomised in ancient Greek civilisation and her costumes displayed clear replica to the historical garments worn during
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She taught in a free-wheeling manner, totally concentrated on the subject one minute, then deciding to change, using the words: ‘That’s boring. Let’s do something else’” (Horosko, 2002) Martha Graham decided an autonomous route was best suited for her. She strayed away by creating her own technique focusing primarily on the opposition of contraction and release with the other dominant principle of spiraling, specifically to the torso around the axis of the spine.
In 1926 Graham established the Martha Graham Dance Company and in 1930 she previewed her most notable work lamentation. The Oxford English Dictionary defines Lamentation as: ‘the passionate expression of grief or sorrow, noun. (Oxford Dictionaries | English, n.d.) With knowledge of this definition a reader is able to already hazard a guess as to what the intention of the piece is. Graham created the piece with the intention to not dance about grief, but to be an embodiment of grief itself.
In 1973 Graham established The Graham School, where her practices and technique were taught in a means to inspire young aspiring dancers who would then use her teachings when in the dance
She taught in a free-wheeling manner, totally concentrated on the subject one minute, then deciding to change, using the words: ‘That’s boring. Let’s do something else’” (Horosko, 2002) Martha Graham decided an autonomous route was best suited for her. She strayed away by creating her own technique focusing primarily on the opposition of contraction and release with the other dominant principle of spiraling, specifically to the torso around the axis of the spine.
In 1926 Graham established the Martha Graham Dance Company and in 1930 she previewed her most notable work lamentation. The Oxford English Dictionary defines Lamentation as: ‘the passionate expression of grief or sorrow, noun. (Oxford Dictionaries | English, n.d.) With knowledge of this definition a reader is able to already hazard a guess as to what the intention of the piece is. Graham created the piece with the intention to not dance about grief, but to be an embodiment of grief itself.
In 1973 Graham established The Graham School, where her practices and technique were taught in a means to inspire young aspiring dancers who would then use her teachings when in the dance