Martha Graham
Martha Graham
Martha Grahamwas an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence of Picasso on modern visual arts, the influence of Stravinsky on music, and the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright on architecture...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionChoreographer
Date of Birth11 May 1894
CityPittsburgh, PA
CountryUnited States of America
expression unrest vitality
It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable it is, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.
men essence expression
I feel that the essence of dance is the expression of man--the landscape of his soul. I hope that every dance I do reveals something of myself or some wonderful thing a human can be.
above below blood dare explore extract fail feelings found heaven life seem unknown
Who has not found the Heaven below / Will fail of it above ... His eagerness, his voracity, a blood memory, in the sense that he can extract more from his life than what he has really lived. He must have a will to explore unknown feelings and dare to feel them. This may seem terrifying, but it has to be done because there is no other option.
best kids
I am unbelievably relieved. He is one of the best kids in the world.
american-dancer dance hidden language
Dance is the hidden language of the soul.
body dance expresses human instrument itself life
the instrument by which the dance expresses itself is also the instrument by which life is lived: the human body.
strong memories past
I never thought of myself as being a genius. I don't know what genius is. I think a far better expression is a retriever, a lovely strong golden retriever that brings things back from the past, or retrieves things from our common blood memory
people want alive
I want to make people feel intensely alive. I'd rather have them against me than indifferent.
beautiful jobs interesting
It's not my job to look beautiful. It's my job to look interesting.
dance memories essence
It is difficult to see the great dance effects as they happen, to see them accurately, catch them fast in memory. It is even more difficult to verbalize them for critical discussion. The particular essence of a performance, its human sweep of articulate rhythm in space and in time has no specific terminology to describe it by.
mean dancer trying
I don't try to tell the dancers exactly what a dance means before they do it.
dance emotional discipline
To me, this acquirement of nervous, physical, and emotional concentration is the one element possessed to the highest degree by the truly great dancers of the world. Its acquirement is the result of discipline, of energy in the deep sense. That is why there are so few great dancers.
pity
Pity is a corroding thing.
lying order years
It takes about ten years to make a mature dancer. The training is twofold. There is the study and practice of the craft in order to strengthen the muscular structure of the body. The body is shaped, disciplined, honored, and in time, trusted. The movement become clean, precise, eloquent, truthful. Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul's weather to all who can read it. This might be called the law of the dancer's life, the law which governs its outer aspects