Martha Graham Research Paper

Martha Graham is a very inspirational modern dancer. She influenced numerous amounts of people and sent a message through her dancing. Martha Graham was conceived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on May 11, 1894. As a child, her dad inspired her because he was a specialist who utilized physical development to cure anxious disorders. All through her teenage years Martha Graham went to Los Angeles to study dance at a school named Denishawn. In 1926 she built her own dance company in New York and built an imaginative, unfamiliar technique that addressed more unthinkable types of movement and enthusiastic expression. She danced until her 70’s and choreographed until her passing in 1991, she left leaving a very influential impact to dance. Martha

Her most known technique demonstrates and illustrates different cultures. Dunham was born June 22, 1909 and in 1928 she began studying ballet. She then enrolled in school at the University of Chicago as an Anthropology major, her main focus was dance, and she then created her own dance company in 1930. From then she became one of the most well-known dancer, choreographer, social activist and instructor in the world. She had one of the most standout and successful dance careers. Dunham was referred to as the “Matriarch and queen mother of black dance.” While she attended University of Chicago she left for a while to go to the Caribbean to study movement and ethnography. For nearly 30 years she continued to grow and maintain the successful, Katherine Dunham Dance Company, and throughout her life she choreographed more than ninety individual dances. She even created the Dunham Technique which is used to this day. Katherine Dunham gave modern dance a lucid outlook of Caribbean and African manner of movement. Dunham mainly focused on the fall and release method. She believed in using her body as art. Most people said that Dunham was a rebel, she experiences with different tempos, for example some of her dance techniques have different speed but for the most part she has a pattern in her

Ailey began creating dances, he drew upon his "blood memories" of Texas, the blues, spirituals, and gospel as inspiration, which resulted in the creation of his most popular and critically acclaimed work, Revelations.” Alvin Ailey created over 70 choreographies throughout his years on living. He used and combined any of his dance movements that went with the mood of that moment of dancing. He produced a dance style instead of a certain technique. Alvin Ailey once stated “What I like is the line and technical range that classical ballet gives to the body. But I still want to project to the audience the expressiveness that only modern dance offers, especially for the inner kinds of things." He was a different type of teacher, the way he taught his dancers is by having them give a personal approach to his movements. He wanted them to be able to dance to whatever best suits them instead of his standard choreography. That gave the dance movements harmony and expression and he contributed his African American culture and religious aspect in the