The Martha Graham Dance Company: House of the Pelvic Truth

by Blakeley White-McGuire

Overview

What is the legacy of Martha Graham and why does it endure?

How and why did the philosophy and subsequent canon of Martha Graham flood out into an artistic diaspora that is still a wellspring of inspiration for contemporary artists?

How do dancers that have never studied with, or worked under, Martha Graham maintain her vision?

All of these questions, and many more, are considered in this fascinating book, authored by one of the Martha Graham Company's ex-principal dancers, which illuminates the ongoing significance of the Martha Graham Dance Company almost 100 years after it was founded.

Through doing so, we are offered a study of the history of the Martha Graham Dance Company - the longest-standing modern dance company in America, its international diaspora and the current generation of dancers taking up the mantel.

Drawing on extensive interviews conducted for the book, the company's story is told through the experiences, inspirations, motivations and words of performers from Graham's iconic artistic lineage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350145870
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/13/2022
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.44(d)

About the Author

Blakeley White-McGuire was a Principal dancer with the Martha Graham Company from 2001 - 17. She currently serves on the faculties of the American Dance Festival, the Paul Taylor School, Hunter College, City University of New York, and is an official Regisseur for the Martha Graham Center staging repertory internationally.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: The artist in her own words
Chapter 2: The house of the pelvic truth (1926 - present day) - releasing the female body and the significant of a female-derived dance technique
Chapter 3: Story-telling and transgressing norms
Chapter 4: Endurance/re-birth - Graham's dancers take the lead
Chapter 5: Graham in diaspora - testimonies and inspirations from artistic collaborators and practitioners (1947-present day)
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Blakeley White-McGuire's The Martha Graham Dance Company: House of Pelvic Truth emerges as required reading for students and scholars of Martha Graham and her enduring legacy. Ms. McGuire's intimate experience with the transformative power of the technique and repertory, paired with searing commentary from contemporary leaders in dance influenced by Graham and her legacy, provides a compelling narrative for the current relevance and continued passionate practice of Graham's iconic technique and repertory.
Sandra Kaufmann, Director of Dance, Loyola University Chicago, US

For me, personally, I've never found a book on, about or by Martha Graham that has done her or her life's work justice. For me, the best is Goddess by Robert Tracy. The other that includes much on Graham but is not exclusively about her is Deborah Jowitt's Time and the Dancing Image. Blakeley's book has the potential to fill holes in certain areas.
Pam Risenhoover, Professor of Dance, Randolph College, US

This book takes up where the last books about the legacy of Martha Graham left off ... There is no scholarship regarding the generation of artists who have been influenced posthumously by Graham's example, by the study of her embodied technique and her revolutionary choreography ... ? Blakeley White-McGuire is highly regarded as one of Graham's most significant contemporary interpreters as a dancer. As an author, she has already had several well-respected publications, and a book seems the next platform for her voice as an artist and scholar with a distinct history in this work.
Sandra Kauffman, Director of Dance, Loyola, US

From the Publisher