Martha Graham
She tore up the rulebook of ballet, inventing a raw, angular dance language of contraction and release that defined American modernism.
1894–1991 (age 97)·American dancer and choreographer·Birthday: May 11·The Lost Generation
Biography
Martha Graham arrived in dance not as a child prodigy but as a determined young woman in her early twenties, stepping into a Los Angeles studio with a physical intensity that would become her signature. Rejecting the floating ethereality of classical ballet, she forged a technique rooted in the spine, treating the body as an instrument of emotional truth. Her dances were not pretty diversions; they were stark, psychological dramas drawn from Greek myth, American frontier life, and deep human conflict. For over half a century, through her company and school, she trained generations of dancers to move with a new kind of power, creating a repertoire of works that established dance as a serious, formidable art of the modern age.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
Martha was born in 1894, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Martha Was Born
The biggest hits of 1894
Martha's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1894Born
President: Grover Cleveland
1899Started school
President: William McKinley
1907Became a teenager
Financial panic grips Wall Street
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1910Could drive
Halley's Comet makes its closest approach
President: William Howard Taft
1912Could vote
Titanic sinks on its maiden voyage
President: William Howard Taft
1915Turned 21
The Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat
President: Woodrow Wilson
1924Turned 30
First Winter Olympics held in Chamonix, France
President: Calvin Coolidge"It Had to Be You" — Isham Jones
1934Turned 40
Gas: $0.19/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Stars Fell on Alabama" — Jack TeagardenBest Picture: It Happened One Night
1944Turned 50
D-Day: Allied forces land at Normandy
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $3,400Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Swinging on a Star" — Bing CrosbyBest Picture: Going My Way
1954Turned 60
Brown v. Board of Education desegregates US schools
Gas: $0.29/galHome: $8,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Little Things Mean a Lot" — Kitty KallenBest Picture: On the Waterfront
1964Turned 70
Civil Rights Act signed; Beatles arrive in America
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $13,450Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"I Want to Hold Your Hand" — The BeatlesBest Picture: My Fair Lady
1974Turned 80
Nixon resigns the presidency
Gas: $0.53/galHome: $22,600Min wage: $2.00/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"The Way We Were" — Barbra StreisandBest Picture: The Godfather Part II
1991Died at 97
Soviet Union dissolves; World Wide Web goes public
Gas: $1.14/galHome: $82,400Min wage: $4.25/hrPresident: George H.W. Bush"(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" — Bryan AdamsBest Picture: The Silence of the Lambs
Key Achievements
- Founded the Martha Graham Dance Company in 1926, which became the oldest American dance company.
- Created the Graham technique, a codified system of movement based on contraction and release.
- Choreographed over 180 works, including seminal pieces like 'Appalachian Spring' with a score by Aaron Copland.
- Was the first dancer to perform at the White House and to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
- Her teaching shaped the careers of countless dancers and choreographers, including Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor.
Did You Know?
She did not begin her formal dance training until she was 22 years old.
She refused to perform after turning 75, yet continued to choreograph into her 90s.
Her father was a physician who specialized in nervous disorders, which influenced her interest in expressive movement.
She was a lifelong friend of the sculptor Isamu Noguchi, who created sets for many of her works.
“The body says what words cannot.”
