The Martha Graham Movement

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Martha Graham was, and still is, respected by many women in the dance community. During the time period when women were fighting for the right to vote in the United States, Martha Graham was beginning to study dance. Martha Graham is an American dancer, choreographer, and a teacher. Martha Graham is considered one of the major figures of modern dance. Some of Martha Graham’s most famous quotes are “dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body,” “great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion,” and “the body says what words cannot.” Martha Graham expanded the boundaries of dance and created a language based upon the expressive capacity of the human body. People who trained with Martha …show more content…
Without Martha, the dance community would not be how progressive it is today and many people like to thank Martha for that by celebrating her in Women’s History Month. (Women’s History Month is from March 1st through March 31st.) When Martha Graham died in 1991, she left a huge legacy behind. Martha evolved a great technique, called by its famous name "contraction and release.” Her way of movement came from her heart and soul. Martha Graham had great emotion and technique. Martha did not only benefit one person, but she benefited an abundance of people within the dance community and that is why she fits into this theme very well. Martha Graham also endured other wonderful things. Such as being presented with many awards. In 1959, she received the Laurel Leaf of the American Composers Alliance for her service to music. Her colleagues in theater voted her the recipient of the 1986 Local One Centennial Award for Dance. That is why some people call her “the dancer of the century” because that award cannot be given out for another 100 years. Martha Graham also got a few presidential awards, which is a big encounter. In 1976, President Gerald R. Ford honored Martha Graham with the United States highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom which made her the first dancer and choreographer to receive this honor. In 1985, Martha got her second presidential award that was given to her by President Ronald Reagan. President Ronald Reagan designated her to be one of the first recipients of the United States National Medal of Arts. The United States National Medal of Arts is “the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States government. The National Medal of Arts is awarded by the President of the United States to individuals or groups who are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the
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