Martha Graham's 117th Birthday
Martha Graham's 117th Birthday
Martha Graham's 117th Birthday
Martha Graham's 117th Birthday
Martha Graham's 117th Birthday
Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American dancer choreographer regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance, whose influence on dance can be compared  to the influence Stravinsky had on music, Picasso had on the visual  arts, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture. Graham was a  galvanizing performer, a choreographer of astounding moves. She invented  a new language of movement, and used it to reveal the passion,  the rage and the ecstasy common to human experience. She danced and  choreographed for over seventy years, and during that time was the first  dancer ever to perform at The  White House, the first dancer ever to travel abroad as a cultural  ambassador, and the first dancer ever to receive the highest civilian  award of the USA: the Medal of Freedom. In her lifetime she received  honors ranging from the key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial  Order of the Precious Crown. She said, "I have spent all my life with dance  and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense  way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But  nevertheless it is inevitable."










