Overview
"Brings together all the elements of Grahamās colorful life...with wit, verve, critical discernment, and a powerful lyricism.āāMary Dearborn, acclaimed author of Ernest Hemingway
Time magazine called her āthe Dancer of the Century.ā Her technique, used by dance companies throughout the world, became the first long-lasting alternative to the idiom of classical ballet. Her pioneering movementsāpowerful, dynamic, jagged, edgy, forthrightācombined with her distinctive system of training, were the epitome of American modernism, performance as art. Her work continued to astonish and inspire for more than sixty years as she choreographed more than 180 works.
At the heart of Grahamās work: movement that could express inner feeling.
Neil Baldwin, author of admired biographies of Man Ray (āTruly definitive . . . absolutely fascinatingā āPatricia Bosworth) and Thomas Edison (āAbsorbing, gripping, a major contribution to our understanding of a remarkable man and a remarkable eraā āRobert Caro), gives us the artist and performer, the dance monument who led a cult of dance worshippers as well as the woman herself in all of her complexity.
Here is Graham, from her nineteenth-century (born in 1894) Allegheny, Pennsylvania, childhood, to becoming the star of the Denishawn exotic ballets, and in 1926, at age thirty-two, founding her own company (now the longest-running dance company in America).Ā Ā
Baldwin writes of how the company flourished during the artistic explosion of New York Cityās midcentury cultural scene; of Erick Hawkins, in 1936, fresh from Balanchineās School of American Ballet, a handsome Midwesterner fourteen years her junior, becoming Grahamās muse, lover, and eventual spouse. Graham, inspiring the next generation of dancers, choreographers, and teachers, among them: Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor.
Baldwin tells the story of this large, fiercely lived life, a life beset by conflict, competition, and lonelinessāfilled with fire and inspiration, drive, passion, dedication, and sacrifice in work and in dance creation.
This book title, Martha Graham (When Dance Became Modern), ISBN: 9780385352321, by Neil Baldwin, published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (October 11, 2022) is available in hardcover. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
Unlike Amazon and other retailers who may also offer Martha Graham (When Dance Became Modern) books on their website, we specialize in large quantities and provide personal service, from trusted, experienced, friendly people in Portland, Oregon. We offer a Price Match Guarantee, and QuickQuote form, to make purchasing quick and easy.
Prefer to work with a human being when you order Martha Graham (When Dance Became Modern) books in bulk? Our Book Specialists are standing by Monday-Friday 8-5 PST, ready to help!