About Us

Martha Graham Board and Staff

Board of Trustees

Judith G. Schlosser, Chairman
Inger K. Witter, President
LaRue Allen
Peter Allstrom
Amy Blumenthal
Audra D. Cohen
Neila Fortino
Beau Gage
Inga M. Golay
Laura J. Gordon
Jon Gralnick
John Hotta
John R. Keller
Adam Klein
Lorraine Oler
Paul Szilard
Janis Tripodakis
Ronald Windisch

Staff

LaRue Allen, Executive Director
Janet Eilber, Artistic Director
Aaron Sherber, Music Director
Beverly Emmons, Lighting Designer
Faye Rosenbaum, General Manager
Denise Vale, Senior Artistic Associate
Meghan Hewit McCormick, Director of Development
Suzanne Flanagan, Communications Associate
Judith M. Daitsman, Lighting Supervisor
Karen Young, Costume Supervisor
Maria Garcia, Wardrobe Supervisor
Tami Alesson, Director of Education
Virginie Mécène, Director of School
Olga Alagiozidou, School Administrator
Suzy Upton, Resources Manager
Angela Wiele, International Student Advisor
A. Apostol, Assistant to the Executive Director
Tadej Brdnik, Manager of Special Projects

Directions

By Subway

To 55 Bethune Street: Take the A,C,E, or L to 14th Street. Walk South on 8th Avenue and take a right on Bethune Street. We are located on the corner of Bethune and Washingtnon Street.

To 316 E 63rd Street: Take the F to 63rd St/Lexington Ave and walk east on 63rd St. Or, take the 4, 5, 6, N, Q, or R train to 59th St/Lexington Ave and walk north to 63rd and then east. We are located on the south side of the street, between First and Second avenues.

By Car

To 316 E 63rd Street: From points north or south, take FDR Drive to Exit 12 (63rd St.). From points east, we are directly across from the Queensboro Bridge. From points west, drive along 59th St. until you get to 1st Ave., then drive north to 63rd St. and turn left. We are located midway down the block on the left.

About Martha Graham

Martha Graham’s revolutionary vision and artistic mastery has had a deep and lasting impact on American art and culture. Her bold use of socially infused subjects and emotionally charged performances single-handedly defined contemporary dance as a uniquely American art form, which the nation has in turn shared with the world.

Graham’s creativity crossed artistic boundaries and embraced every artistic genre. She collaborated with and commissioned work from the leading visual artists, musicians, and designers of her day, including sculptor Isamu Noguchi and fashion designers Halston, Donna Karan, and Calvin Klein, as well as composers Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, William Schuman, Norman Dello Joio, and Gian Carlo Menotti.

Influencing generations of choreographers and dancers including Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, and Twyla Tharp, Graham forever altered the scope of dance. Classical ballet dancers Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, and Mikhail Baryshnikov sought her out to broaden their artistry, and artists of all genres were eager to study and work with Graham—she taught actors including Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Madonna, Liza Minelli, Gregory Peck, Tony Randall, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, and Joanne Woodward to utilize their bodies as expressive instruments.

Graham’s groundbreaking style grew from her experimentation with the elemental movements of contraction and release. By focusing on the basic activities of the human form, she enlivened the body with raw, electric emotion. The sharp, angular, and direct movements of her technique were a dramatic departure from the predominant style of the time.

With an artistic practice deeply ingrained in the rhythm of American life and the struggles of the individual, Graham brought a distinctly American sensibility to every theme she explored. “A dance reveals the spirit of the country in which it takes root. No sooner does it fail to do this than it loses its integrity and significance,” she wrote in the 1937 essay A Platform for the American Dance.

Consistently infused with social, political, psychological, and sexual themes, Graham’s choreography is timeless, connecting with audiences past and present. Works such as Revolt (1927), Immigrant: Steerage, Strike (1928), and Chronicle (1936)—created the same year she turned down Hitler’s invitation to perform at the International Arts Festival organized in conjunction with the Olympic Games in Berlin—personify Graham’s commitment to addressing challenging contemporary issues and distinguish her as a conscientious and politically powerful artist.

Martha Graham remained a strong advocate of the individual throughout her career, creating works such as Deaths and Entrances (1943), Appalachian Spring (1944), Dark Meadow (1946), and Errand into the Maze (1947) to explore human and societal complexities. The innovative choreography and visual imagery of American Document (1938) exemplified Graham’s genius. The dramatic narrative, which included the Company’s first male dancer, explored the concept of what it means to be American. Through the representation of important American cultural groups such as Native Americans, African-Americans, and Puritans and the integration of text from historical American documents, Graham was able to capture the soul of the American people.

During her long and illustrious career, Graham created 181 masterpiece dance compositions, which continue to challenge and inspire generations of performers and audiences. In 1986, she was given the Local One Centennial Award for dance by her theater colleagues, awarded only once every 100 years, and during the Bicentennial she was granted the United States’ highest civilian honor, The Medal of Freedom. In 1998, TIME Magazine named her the “Dancer of the Century.” The first dancer to perform at the White House and to act as a cultural ambassador abroad, she captured the spirit of a nation and expanded the boundaries of contemporary dance. “I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer,” she said. “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.”

About the Company

The Martha Graham Dance Company has been a leader in the development of contemporary dance since its founding in 1926. Informed by the expansive vision of pioneering choreographer Martha Graham, the Company brings to life a timeless and uniquely American style of dance that has influenced generations of artists and continues to captivate audiences. Graham and her Company have expanded contemporary dance’s vocabulary of movement and forever altered the scope of the art form by rooting works in contemporary social, political, psychological, and sexual contexts, deepening their impact and resonance.

Always a fertile ground for experimentation, Martha Graham Dance Company has been an unparalleled resource in nurturing many of the leading choreographers and dancers of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Merce Cunningham, Erick Hawkins, Pearl Lang, Pascal Rioult, and Paul Taylor. Graham’s repertoire of 181 works has also engaged noted performers such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Claire Bloom, Margot Fonteyn, Liza Minnelli, Rudolf Nureyev, Maya Plisetskaya, and Kathleen Turner. Her groundbreaking techniques and unmistakable style have earned the Company acclaim from audiences in more than 50 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Today, the Company continues to foster Graham’s spirit of ingenuity. It is embracing a new programming vision that showcases masterpieces by Graham, her contemporaries, and their successors alongside newly commissioned works by contemporary artists inspired by Graham’s legacy. With programs that unite the work of choreographers across time within a rich historical and thematic narrative, the Company is actively working to create new platforms for contemporary dance and multiple points of access for audiences.

Martha Graham Dance Company’s repertory includes Graham masterpieces Appalachian Spring, Lamentation, Cave of the Heart, Deaths and Entrances, and Chronicle, among other works. The Company continues to expand its mission to present the work of its founder and her contemporaries, and remains a leader by catalyzing new works with commissions that bring fresh perspectives to dance classics, such as American Document (2010) and Lamentation Variations (2009). Multimedia programs like Dance is a Weapon (2010), a montage of several works connected through text and media, redefine the boundaries of contemporary dance composition.

About the School

The Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance has the distinction of being the longest continuously operating school of dance in America and is a charter member of the accrediting organization, the National Association of Schools of Dance. Students come from around the world to study at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, the only school primarily focused upon teaching the Martha Graham Technique and Repertory.

Resources

For Students of All Ages

Martha Graham Dance Company Study Guide created by the Virginia Arts Festival
Kennedy Center Arts Edge (“A Dancer’s Journal” interactive website for students)

Articles by Graham Artists

Relearning Appalachian Spring by Aaron Sherber
Celebrating the Anti-Heroine by Marnie Thomas Wood
Martha Graham: 20th Century Warrior by Peter Sparling
Martha’s Advanced Class, 1947 by Stuart Hodes
A Dancer Speaks Out: The Untold Story of the Noguchi Sets by Janet Eilber
Falling by Dr. Ellen Graff ( originally published in “Women and Performance: a journal of
feminist theory,” vol 14:1, #27, 2004.)

Additional Web Sources

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Library of Congress
Dance Heritage Coalition
Isamu Noguchi Foundation
PBS American Masters
Kennedy Center Honors
New York Times Articles
Wikipedia article about Martha Graham