Martha Graham

Victoria Thoms

Description

In her heyday, Martha Graham’s name was internationally recognized within the modern dance world, and though trends in choreography continue to change, her status in dance still inspires regard. In this book, the first extended feminist look at this modern dance pioneer, Victoria Thoms explores the cult of Graham and her dancing through a feminist lens that exposes the gendered meaning behind much of her work. Thoms synthesizes a diverse archive of material on Graham from films, photographs, memoir and critique in order to uniquely highlight her contribution to the dance world and arts culture in general.

 

Sujets

• Theater
• Performing Arts
• Dancers
• Theatre
• Contemporary dance
• Choreography
• General officer
• Dance
• Art
• General
• Performance

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 26 août 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783200924
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published in the UK in 2013 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2013 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2013 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover designer: Ellen Thomas
Copy-editor: MPS Technologies
Cover image: Anthony Crickmay / © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Production manager: Jessica Mitchell
Typesetting: Contentra Technologies
ISBN 978-1-84150-508-4
ePDF ISBN: 978-1-78320-091-7
ePUB ISBN: 978-1-78320-092-4
Printed and bound by Hobbs, UK
For Norm, with love and admiration
I now only wish to feel the magnitude of my happiness. Even before I knew you I carried you in my heart from heaven. I longed for my Brother above all else in the world. I have you now. You are in my arms.
From the libretto of Iphigenie auf Tauris , an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck (text by François Guillard, translated into German from the original French by J. B. von Alxinger and the composer) used by Pina Bausch to realise her dance-opera by the same name. English translation by the author.
Acknowledgements
List of Images
Chapter 1: Martha Graham as Ghost
Chapter 2: Graham and the Spectres of Feminism
Chapter 3: Haunting Cultural Imperialism: Graham, London, and the Phantom of the Ballet
Chapter 4: Graham’s Haunted Relationship with the Camera: Reality, Time, and Dancing
Chapter 5: Ways of Speaking with the Dead: Graham and Queer Resurrection
Chapter 6: Martha Graham in Our Hands
References
Index
Acknowledgements
I came to the final stages of this project on Martha Graham in 2011, the year that commemorated both the twentieth anniversary of her death and the tenth anniversary of the fall of the Twin Towers. These two rather weighty anniversaries caused me to reflect on the work I had done to date and inspired me to push forward and publish this book. I had come to a point in my research that felt like an ideal stopping point and I also felt the necessity to release myself from being haunted by the daunting ghost of Martha Graham, at least for a while.
I officially began this project in 2008 because of a grant generously awarded by the British Academy. This was followed, in 2009, by further support in the form of a sabbatical awarded by the School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure (SSPAL) at the University of Wolverhampton. However, my interest in writing a book on Graham began much earlier. In 2005 I was supported by a grant called the University of Wolverhampton’s Promising Young Researcher Scheme and, with Professor Jean Gilkison’s support, I was inspired to consider the possibility of writing a monograph on Graham. My fascination with Graham began much earlier though. My first exposure to Martha Graham was in the 1990s through the expert tutelage of former Graham-Company member Judith Garay during my undergraduate year at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver Canada. I remember marvelling at the depth of experience and exhilaration that could come from learning her technique. I have been marvelling about Graham ever since. This length of engagement has added to the complexity of the undertaking as, throughout the process, I changed perspective a number of times in order to do what I thought was the greatest justice to Graham, and because ‘life’ intervened at several points in the process. Certainly if Graham has taught me anything it is that life lived to its fullest makes life so much more satisfying. And one’s life is full because no one ever lives it alone. A substantial number of people and organisations have helped in the completion of this project. To those noted above and those that follow, I owe a lasting debt of gratitude. I hope I can continue to live up to the inheritances, both collectively and singularly, that they have so generously bequeathed to me.
I am particularly grateful for the access I have been allowed to the Graham Center for Contemporary Dance. They are amazing simply for keeping Graham’s legacy alive but truly exemplary for maintaining the highest of artistic and educational standards in often difficult circumstances. I am especially indebted to the Artistic Director Janet Eilber, who consistently supported this project in unfailingly answering even the most obscure questions in emails and interviews and also made it possible for me to witness the workings of an amazing company of dancers in rehearsal. It is the alchemy of dance itself that makes it impossible to completely express the visceral exhilaration of watching Graham’s work in close proximity, performed by those for whom the work means the world. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and a gift I will not soon forget. I would also like to thank Jennifer DePalo, Linda Hodes, and Stuart Hodes for giving me the opportunity to speak with them in person. I also had the privilege of taking classes at the Graham School, taught by the remarkable Elizabeth Auclair, Carrie Elmore-Tallitsch, Marnie Thomas, and Anne Westwick. These sessions reminded me that no matter what is said in writing about Graham, this is not the same as the impact of moving bodies doing her dancing, by corporeal experience expressed in sweat and strenuous physical effort.
The scope of my analysis in the penultimate chapter of this book would not have been possible without the consistent support of Richard Move, who gallantly suffered through my questions not once but twice. Similarly, I am greatly indebted to dancer Katherine Crockett not only for speaking with me but for going out of her way to perform for me Move’s important work Bardo . I am also deeply appreciative of the time Roy Fialkow has given me over the years that I have been thinking about the impact of his work Lamentations of Jane Eyre .
I wish to acknowledge the support and guidance of my colleagues at the University of Wolverhampton, including Danielle Aways, Winifred Bartlett, Karen Bill, Thomas Hicks, Andrew Lane, Dorothy Ledgard, Royona Mitra, Alan Nevill, Patrick Tulloch, and Dennie Wilson. I would especially like to thank Amanda Bayley, Kay Biscomb, Clare Lidbury, and John Pymm for their incredible kindness to me in the spring of 2010. I wish to thank my students who keep me believing in the transformative power of learning.
I am extremely grateful to the following critical friends who offered me invaluable feedback during various stages in the completion of this manuscript: Ben Andrews, Amanda Bayley, Kay Biscomb, Frances Clarke, Paul Johnson, Camelia Lenart, Clare Lidbury, Elena Loizidou, Geraldine Morris, Larraine Nicholas, Rosella Simonari, Norm Thoms and Caroline Wiscombe. I am also indebted to Stacey Prickett, Jane Pritchard and the rest of the Executive Committee of the Society for Dance Research for their professional support.
I am particularly appreciative of the many and generous conversations I have had with Victoria Geduld in both New York and London. She and Henrietta Bannerman have been my Graham posse over the last several years. I am especially grateful for Bannerman’s constant personal and professional support during this project, especially because she disagreed with me on a number of occasions. She is a genuine, and in my opinion, particularly under-acknowledged Graham expert. I would also like to thank Susan Sentler for exposing me to Primitive Mysteries and Ann Hutchinson Guest and Miriam Arsham for being so wonderfully candid.
I will always be grateful to Paula Jo Galbraith for all the amazing things she made possible during my many research trips to New York. I am also grateful to Patricia Rader and Tasha Sims who did their best to keep me from getting too lonely during these visits.
During this project I have spent a lot of time in various archives; this was made so much more fulfilling because of the support of various people, specifically Elizabeth Aldrich at the Library of Congress and Charles Perrier and Danielle Castronovo at the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. I would also like to thank the Victoria and Alberta Archives at Blythe House in London, the National Resource Centre for Dance at Surrey University, the Archive of American Art in Washington DC and the Davison Library at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The time I spent in the British Library was also particularly helpful.
Finally I would like to thank my parents, Grunhild Thoms and Willi Thoms, and my partner Christopher David Yanda. I cannot fully acknowledge the depth of feeling I have for them or the debt I owe them.
List of Images
Figure 1: Primitive Mysteries
Figure 2: Primitive Mysteries
Figure 3: Vicky Cartoon
Figure 4: Newspaper Photo
Figure 5: Newspaper Photo
Figure 6: Richard Move in his Lamentation
Figure 7: Roy Fialkow in Lamentations of Jane Eyre
Figure 8: Katherine Crockett in Bardo
Chapter 1
Martha Graham as Ghost
Modern dance pioneer Martha Graham died on 1 April, 1991, at the age of 96, after an almost inexhaustible career as a dance artist of international repute. She was an unreservedly compelling performer with enormous personal and physical charisma. Even after her retirement, when she needed to be helped on stage during company curtain calls, she could still command waves of standing ovations with the simple flourish of her arm. Graham began her career with vaudeville in the late 1910s and when she died in New York, almost 80 years later, she was still the artistic director of a globally recognised dance company. She was also an immensely perceptive choreographer and the creator of a potent and unique dance language that continues to be taught throughout the world. Her im