RP372 Dancing Queen

 RP372 Dancing Queen

In 1970, at the age of 76, Martha Graham performed her final dance. For the legendary American dancer and choreographer, it was a transition that she would find very difficult to go through. Having spent over half a century as a dancer, when the time finally came to hang up her dancing shoes, Graham sank into depression and alcoholism, feeling that her raison d'être had been taken away from her by age.
By the time it came for Graham to retire from dancing, she had danced at the White House for eight different presidents and choreographed countless highly influential performances. Her dance company, the Martha Graham Dance Company, which is now one of the oldest dance companies in America, had toured Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, earning her global acclaim.
But watching young dancers take roles that had once been meant for her was almost overwhelmingly sad for the aging Graham. “I believe in never looking back, never indulging in nostalgia, or reminiscing,” she said. “Yet how can you avoid it when you look on stage and see a dancer made up to look as you did 30 years ago, dancing a ballet you created with someone you were then deeply in love with?”
Graham's approach to modern dance was innovative in that she challenged the fluidity and grace of ballet, confronting tradition with sharp movements. Her actions expressed violent passions, inner turmoil, and psychological torment, all vividly expressed through her ability to display extreme tension and release with her body. Freedom of movement was central to her philosophy. “It's not my job to look beautiful,” she said. “It's my job to look interesting.” For subject matter she took stories from mythology, folk tales, and history, and often wove strong social commentary into her choreography.
Alcohol abuse after her retirement sent her to the hospital, but she recovered and even began writing again, continuing to contribute to choreography until her death in 1991. Her influence on modern dance has been compared to Picasso's influence on art, something she could never have expected when, as an aspiring young performer, she enrolled in a dance school at the late age of 22, which many considered far too old for a dancer.