Background
Martha Graham was an American dancer, instructor, choreographer, and director of the Martha
Graham Dance Company. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania in 1894. Her formative
training was with Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn at the Denishawn School and Company in Los
Angeles. Graham went on to teach at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., where
she began to explore more experimental dance techniques. One of the most influential figures
in modern dance, she created over 100 works, including solo, ensemble, and theatrical
pieces. As a teacher Graham fostered the continuing evolution of modern dance through former
company members such as Anna Sokolow, Merce Cunningham, and Paul Taylor. She died in
1991.Barbara Morgan was an American photographer particularly well known for her work, both
experimental and documentary, with modern dancers. She was born in Buffalo, Kansas in 1900.
Though formally trained in painting and printmaking at the University of California, Los
Angeles, Morgan developed an interest in photography after seeing an exhibit of Edward
Weston's photographs. One of Morgan's early major undertakings as a photographer was her
work with Martha Graham and the Martha Graham Dance Company during the years1935-1940, which
formed the basis for her book, Martha Graham: sixteen dances, published in 1941. Morgan's
dance photographs were groundbreaking in their departure from "performance documentation"
and helped to revolutionized dance photography. She died in 1992.
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