Customer Reviews

Martha Graham: The Evolution of Her Dance Theory and Training

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Martha Graham did not want to call her dances representative of a particular technique. There should be "no school of movements" she said. But her dances have a signature, a collection of characteristics that distinguishes them from those of other choreographers. And her signature is the finest of the cursive writing of movement. Graham never scribbled: the swirls that her dances executed are Heraclitean kinetic proof of her exemplary penmanship. And for Graham, gravity is not to be defied but to be exploited: falls to the floor are not prohibited, but encouraged.

The ensemble of opinion, the "witnesses to the technique" by those who knew her, danced under her direction, or worked with her is expressed superbly in this book. There is a wide variation in these opinions, but universal agreement on the unique and superb quality of the dances of Martha Graham. Whether one calls it contraction and release, starkness of movement, twists in the torso, movement packed into the instant of action, great body swings, or spiraling around the spine, it is clear that the Graham technique requires discipline as well as the creation of things new. The dancer must depart from the patterns of the past as well as master them. The dancer must indulge herself in what is old and be refreshed in the excitement of originality.

It is remarkable but not at all surprising that Martha Graham lived as long as she did. Dancing extends life. All human cultures have some sort of dance. There are no exceptions. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche could not believe in a god who did not dance. If he had seen the dances of Martha Graham, he no doubt would have imputed deity status to her and her dancers.

THIS BOOK IS A MUST FOR DANCERS OR PEOPLE INTERESTED IN DANCING. IT'S FULL OF INTERESTING PHOTOS. BUY IT TODAY, YOU'LL BE GLAD YOU DID!!!!! MIKE W. J., GA.