Martha Graham - 'Heretic'

Martha Graham performs in part of 'Heretic'

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Martha
• Graham

[erikisPSYCHO]

God; bring back Martha Graham, and in return we shalll give you both P. Diddy, and Justin Bieber.

[hazel2nv]

Google brought me here!!!

[nickwallacesmith]

@starsandmars79 - as long as a dancer has to move from one sculptured pose to another and has to phrase the movement in between (there's no choice not to) then it would be able to be seen as dance - it is fun to talk about and consider these kinds of possibilities. cheers!

[starsandmars79]

This got me to wondering…could a choreographer theoretically create a dance which entirely consists of dancers moving from one sculptured pose to another? Or would that be more like theater than dance? Dance, of course, must have a certain sense of motion to be considered dance, but I am wondering at what point choreography ceases be to dance and instead becomes theater? It is fun to think about.

[starsandmars79]

@nickwallacesmith

It is similar to Les Noces! I hadn’t realized that before. It is interesting that both Les Noces and Heretic were created in the 1920s. I wonder if there was some idea or theory in the arts world during that decade which influenced both of these works?

[nickwallacesmith]

hi starsandmars79 - yes in this she reminds me of bronislava nijinska and the sculptural organisation of groups in 'les noces', don't you think? cheers

[starsandmars79]

@nickwallacesmith

One more thing that I noticed about Heretic- it is fascinating how Graham used the corps to create ensembles of dramatic poses, like at 0:24 and 0:58, it is kind of like (for lack of better term) dance-sculpture.

[starsandmars79]

@nickwallacesmith

Thanks for the info! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find The Dream or Cinderella segments on YouTube, but I did see the Month in the Country segment. There, the Fred Step seemed to be used express the anticipation of a pleasant walk outside, but there is also a certain understated quality to it, with the pas de chat barely discernible. Perhaps this is sort of hinting at Natalia’s waning interest in Rakitin or something like that.

[nickwallacesmith]

@starsandmars79 - yes, powerful in that juxtaposition, exactly

[nickwallacesmith]

hi starsandmars79 - ashton had one step - 'the fred step' - that he created in 1933 and thereafter used a lot. The Ballet Bag says"

'Ashton might not have been overly superstitious but he always found a way to include a signature combination of steps as a personal tribute to his beloved Pavlova. Principal dancer Michael Somes said at the time “even when a new work was completed, room must had to be found for [Ashton's] signature step” ...

[nickwallacesmith]

... Ashton called his lucky step the Pavlova (as it originated from a step she performed when dancing a Gavotte) but nowadays this combination is referred to as the Fred Step. It goes like this:

Pose en arabesque: dancer steps onto one leg with the opposite leg stretched behind

Coupé dessous (sometimes in fondu): dancer extends leg down to the front with a step, picking up and placing the other foot behind the ankle. ...

[nickwallacesmith]

... Petit développé à la seconde: dancer slightly lifts foot behind the ankle along the supporting leg and extends to the side

Pas de bourrée dessous: Leg is brought to the back and dancer performs a series of “sideway steps” with the legs interchanging and the back leg finishing at the front in fifth position.

Pas de chat: A jump to the side with the knees bent ending in fifth position. ...