Pioneers in Modern Dance ââåmothersã¢ââ and a Few of the 6 art Science Politics 19201930s
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STEVE EMBER: I'k Steve Ember.
BARBARA KLEIN: And I'thousand Barbara Klein with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English language. Today, nosotros explore the life of dancer and choreographer Martha Graham. She created most two hundred trip the light fantastic toe pieces. She is often called the Mother of Modern Trip the light fantastic toe. Her influence on the globe of dance continues today.
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STEVE EMBER: In the beginning of the twentieth century, women similar Isadora Duncan and Ruth Saint Denis wanted to create a new form of dance. Duncan and Saint Denis felt restricted past ballet. Modern dance was created as a defection against ballet.
Martha Graham was one of the most famous dancers and creators of dance, called choreographers. She brought modern trip the light fantastic to a new level of popularity in American culture. She created a new language of motion that expressed powerful emotions.
She started traditions that are still used in modernistic dance today. They include expressive movements of the body to tell a dramatic story, special music, lighting, phase blueprint and costumes.
BARBARA KLEIN: Martha Graham was built-in in the small boondocks of Allegheny, Pennsylvania in 18 ninety-four. Afterward Martha turned fourteen years old, her family moved to Santa Barbara, California. While traveling across the Midwest, Martha enjoyed the wide, open up spaces of nature. She also enjoyed the cute flowers and plants in California. The gratis, expressive movements of modern dance were clearly influenced by the beauty of nature Graham observed.
STEVE EMBER: Earlier in her life, notwithstanding, Martha did not know that she would become a dancer. Her begetter was a doctor and her family was very religious. They were members of the upper class and did not accept dance as an fine art class. Still, in nineteen 10, Martha's father took her to encounter a dance performance by Ruth Saint Denis, i of the first modern dancers in America. Martha was xvi and she decided then that she wanted to go a dancer.
BARBARA KLEIN: Ruth Saint Denis and Isadora Duncan were at the heart of attention in modernistic dance. They established some of the traditions we see today. For example, Duncan was famous for starting the tradition of not wearing trip the light fantastic toe shoes while performing. Saint Denis was famous for creating dances influenced by other cultures. She studied dance from countries such as Mexico and Arab republic of egypt, instead of the European countries where ballet had started. Martha Graham took an immediate interest in this new art form.
STEVE EMBER: Martha's parents, all the same, did non approve of her sudden desire to dance. At this time, people saw American dance as a lower art grade. Graham chose to follow her dream of dancing, fifty-fifty though she was considered also former to begin dancing. She was in her early on twenties when she began studying dance in nineteen sixteen. She attended the school created past Ruth Saint Denis and her husband, Ted Shawn in Los Angeles, California.
At the Denishawn Dance School, Graham worked very difficult to improve her ability to dance. She trained her torso to become strong plenty to meet the difficult demands of trip the light fantastic. She performed with the Denishawn trip the light fantastic company for several years before moving to New York Metropolis. There, Graham performed in shows only she wanted to make greater experiments with trip the light fantastic.
BARBARA KLEIN: Martha Graham started teaching dance at the Eastman Schoolhouse of Music in Rochester, New York. Later she returned to New York City to teach at Carnegie Hall. She began to choreograph, or create the steps of dances. In lodge to express herself freely, she decided to establish her ain trip the light fantastic toe company and school. In nineteen 20-six she started the Martha Graham Middle of Contemporary Trip the light fantastic toe.
She enjoyed having her own company of students to perform her dances. Graham produced a dance called "Heretic" in xix 20-nine. She wore all white and danced against a wall of dancers wearing all black. Graham began to work with music composer Louis Horst. She worked with him until he died in xix threescore-four. Graham once said that, without Horst, she would have felt lost.
STEVE EMBER: In nineteen xxx-six, Graham created "Chronicle," one of her most important dances. "Chronicle" was influenced past current events including the Great Depression and the Spanish Civil State of war. The trip the light fantastic expressed sadness and loneliness. At this fourth dimension, showing strong emotions in trip the light fantastic was very rare. Graham also created dances based on ancient Greek tragic stories and famous female heroines.
At starting time, people did not react well to Graham'south style of dancing. It was very different from European ballet, which was more than commonly accepted. Graham's dances were powerful, with strong and precipitous movements. Some of the movements involved contracting and releasing parts of the torso, using the arms in dramatic movements and falling to the floor. These movements are still used in modernistic trip the light fantastic toe today.
BARBARA KLEIN: In nineteen 30-8, President Franklin Roosevelt'due south married woman, Eleanor Roosevelt, invited Martha Graham to perform at the White Business firm. She created a dance called "American Document." Graham later danced at the White Firm for seven other presidents.
In nineteen 40-four, Martha Graham created "Appalachian Spring," one of her virtually famous dances. Information technology tells the story of a wedding among early American settlers. Aaron Copland composed this music for "Appalachian Spring."
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STEVE EMBER: In 19 fifty-one, Graham was amongst the people who established the dance program at the Juilliard School in New York Urban center. It is still 1 of the best arts schools in the country. Many famous artists take begun their careers by studying there. Graham created her largest trip the light fantastic toe in nineteen l-eight. She named information technology "Clytemnestra," and used music from the Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh.
Graham worked with other famous and influential people in the world of trip the light fantastic. Many of her students became famous dancers and choreographers. She also taught movement to famous people. including singer Madonna, actress Bette Davis and moving picture director Woody Allen.
BARBARA KLEIN: Some of her dances were filmed and made into a DVD chosen "Martha Graham: Dance on Film." This is a collection of three programs Graham made for American public television in the 19 fifties and sixties. "A Dancer's Earth" is an introduction to Graham and her work. She tells most her dances and her dance group shows some of their methods. The DVD also includes films of two of her dances, "Appalachian Spring" and "Nighttime Journey."
STEVE EMBER: Graham connected to dance past the age of seventy. Once again, she was met with criticism from people who came to watch her shows. Younger people knew that Graham was an important influence but they did non understand the meaning behind her dances. Graham began to suffer emotionally. She began to drink too much alcohol.
She later wrote a book well-nigh herself, chosen "Blood Retention." In her book, she wrote that she performed for the final time in 19 70, when she was seventy-six years old. Ii years later Graham stopped drinking alcohol. She went dorsum to her trip the light fantastic toe visitor to choreograph more dances. The concluding dance she completed was called "Maple Leafage Rag," which she finished in xix ninety. Scott Joplin composed the music.
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BARBARA KLEIN: Martha Graham received many awards during her lifetime, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in nineteen seventy-vi. She was the outset dancer to receive the land'due south highest noncombatant laurels. She died in 19 xc-one at the historic period of ninety-six. In nineteen xc-eight, Time magazine listed her equally the "Dancer of the Century" and every bit one of the most important people of the twentieth century. The Martha Graham Trip the light fantastic Company nevertheless performs her dances in New York and around the world.
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STEVE EMBER: This program was written by Elizabeth Stern. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'chiliad Steve Ember.
BARBARA KLEIN: And I'1000 Barbara Klein. You can learn about other interesting Americans at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Bring together united states next week for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.
Source: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/martha-graham-mother-of-modern-dance/1496645.html
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