Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Martha Graham

Quote by Martha Graham

“We look at the dance to impart the sensation of living in an affirmation of life, to energize the spectator into keener awareness of the vigor, the mystery, the humor, the variety, and the wonder of life. This is the function of the American dance.”

Quote by Martha Graham

Create image

Author

Martha Graham
Martha Graham

Martha Graham, born on May 11, 1894, and died on April 1, 1991, was one of the pioneers of modern dance in the United States. Known as the 'Mother of Modern Dance', she was renowned for her unique dance style and profound emotional expression. more

You May Also Like

“The dancer, or dancers, must transform the stage for the audience as well as for themselves into an autonomous, complete, virtual realm, and all motions into a play of visible forces in unbroken, virtual time...Both space and time, as perceptible factors, disappear almost entirely in the dance illusion.”

WellsPlayForceSpaceAudienceStageIllusionDanceDisappearFactorsRealmsVisibleDancerBalletTime And SpaceUnbrokenAutonomousDance Performance
Author:Susanne Katherina Langer
Create image

“It is difficult to see the great dance effects as they happen, to see them accurately, catch them fast in memory. It is even more difficult to verbalize them for critical discussion. The particular essence of a performance, its human sweep of articulate rhythm in space and in time has no specific terminology to describe it by.”

HumansHappensDifficultMemoriesSpaceEffectsParticularEssencePerformancesDanceCriticalRhythmDiscussionTerminologyGreat Dance
Author:Martha Graham
Create image

“Basic dance--and I should qualify the word basic--is primarily concerned with motion. So immediately you will say but the basketball player is concerned with motion. That is so--but he is not concerned with it primarily. His action is a means towards an end beyond motion. In basic dance the motion is its own end--that is, it is concerned with nothing beyond itself.”

ShouldMeanEndsActionPlayerBasketballConcernedDancingDanceBasketball Player
Author:Alwin Nikolais
Create image

“The dance, just as the performance of the actor, is kinesthetic art, art of the muscle sense. The awareness of tension and relaxation within his own body, the sense of balance that distinguishes the proud stability of the vertical from the risky adventures of thrusting and falling--these are the tools of the dancer.”

ArtBodyFallActorsAwarenessAdventureProudBalanceToolsPerformancesDanceTensionMusclesDancerStabilityBalletRelaxationVerticalDance Performance
Book:Toward a Psychology of Art: Collected Essays
Create image

“If one had to define one essential gift with which a dancer needs to be endowed, there might be a rush of answers. A beautiful body, grace of line, graciousness of spirit, joy in the work, ability to please, unswerving integrity, relentless ambition towards some abstract perfection. Certainly all these factors determine a dancer's character, and every element exists in some combination within the performing artist's presence.”

IfsNeedsCharacterBodyMightBeautifulJoySpiritArtistLinesAbilityAnswersGraceIntegrityPleaseEssentialsElementsAmbitionPerfectionDanceDetermineFactorsCombinationPerformingAbstractDancerBalletRelentlessGraciousnessPerforming ArtsBeautiful BodyPerforming Artist
Author:Lincoln Kirstein
Create image