Martha Graham founded her dance company and school while living and working in a tiny studio at Carnegie Hall in downtown Manhattan. In developing her technique, she relentlessly experimented with basic human movements, starting with the most elementary movements of contraction and release. Using these principles as the foundation of her technique, she built a vocabulary of movements that would “increase the emotional activity of the dancer’s body.”
Martha Graham’s dance and choreography revealed the depth of human emotions through decisive, angular, jagged, and direct movements. The world of dance was changed forever by Martha Graham’s vision, which has been and continues to be a source of inspiration for generations of dance and theater artists.
American modern dance celebrates the centenary of its oldest and most renowned school and company this year: the Martha Graham Dance Company, the oldest professional dance school in the United States and the only one focused primarily on Martha Graham’s technique and repertoire.
Classes are taught by instructors who are current or former members of the Martha Graham Dance Company and who trained with Martha Graham herself or with her first-generation students.
Founded in 1926, the company developed, in the name of its creator, the longest-running codified method of American Modern Dance.
TIME magazine named Martha Graham “Dancer of the Century,” and People magazine included her among the female “Icons of the Century.” As a choreographer, she created 181 ballets and a technique that revolutionized dance and theater, irreversibly influencing the language of the body on stage.
At the heart of her work is a relentless exploration of essential human movement, starting with the principles of contraction and release. From these primary elements emerges a vocabulary that makes the emotional activity of the dancer’s body visible: sharp, angular, broken movements capable of traversing the depths of human experience.
Martha Graham and her company expanded the vocabulary of contemporary dance movement and forever changed the scope of this art form, rooting their works in contemporary social, political, psychological, and sexual contexts, deepening their impact and resonance.
Always fertile ground for experimentation, the Martha Graham Dance Company has been an unparalleled resource in nurturing many of the leading choreographers and dancers of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Merce Cunningham, Anna Sokolow, Erick Hawkins, Pearl Lang, Sir Robert Cohan, Donald McKayle, Elisa Monte, Jacquelyn Buglisi, Paul Taylor, and many others.
Graham’s repertoire, consisting of 181 works, has also featured such renowned artists as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Claire Bloom, Margot Fonteyn, Liza Minnelli, Rudolf Nureyev, Maya Plisetskaya, and Kathleen Turner. Her innovative techniques and unmistakable style have earned the Company acclaim from audiences in over 50 countries in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
It is within this living legacy that my collaboration with the Martha Graham School has been active for two years, thanks to my meeting and dialogue with Antonio Fini. At the school, I work on improvisation, choreography, and contemporary dance workshops, supporting dancers in developing their stage presence and body language.
This work focuses on the dramaturgy of the body and the relationship between movement, space, music, and narration. The scene arises from the body: movement does not illustrate, but constructs meaning.
The body becomes a narrative structure, capable of generating meaning in real time.
The strength of the Martha Graham School lies in the continuity between technique and research, entrusted to teachers from the company and external collaborators. It is a meeting place for different personalities, backgrounds, and languages, where what is transmitted is not only technique, but an experience lived between the studio and the stage.
The Martha Graham Dance Company is preparing to move its studios to the Paramount Building on Broadway. Nearly a century after its founding, Martha Graham‘s vision continues to generate movement, thought, and inspiration for new generations of dance and theater artists.
And it is in this ever-evolving legacy that my journey continues, where technique becomes language and the body, once again, becomes home.
