Why Graham
To see a Graham dance is to feel it.
We all know that movement affects how we feel and that how we feel can be affected by how we move.
To Martha Graham, life and movement were one.
Her appetite for movement can only be described as voracious. Her hunger to know movement and all of its faces was insatiable, Every path crossed, every source, was pursued to its fullest, deepest origin with a hunger that went beyond the physical. The beauty in her work is built on essence.....truth.....strength. In her dances there is no embellishment. To achieve the absolute clarity that she sought, the underlying sources on which she built her unique physicality were, deep, complex, subtle.
Today as a beginning student we follow the same paths to discover in our own terms our essence...truth..strength.
In every “class” we face the same challenges that Graham faced working alone in a studio a century ago but we have well laid paths to follow.
The dances, exercises, moves are there already. Our challenge is to search with the same insatiable appetite, to experience them in their fullest physical sense, and ultimately, to speak through them from our hearts.
Martha Graham has left us the power of words in movement and with that power comes responsibility. It is up to us to speak with the same absolute clarity, truth, and passion from our own lives.
-Phyllis Gutelius
Comments from a student after one year of study.
Before I began studying Graham Technique I had a lot of problems with my knees because i had never worked from my hips. Working without awareness of the hips I had an injury. Also i had trouble with balance because I had little awareness of my center. The longer I studied Graham, the stronger my abdominal muscles became. my balance got better as my awareness of center improved. After a few lessons I felt how much stronger the muscles of my hips were. In other technique lessons my turn-out improved. I also experienced increased flexibility in my back and hamstrings. I continue to feel improvement. My movement has more flow. I also have a better understanding of where the movement is coming from and moving toward and where to go for the impulse. The benefits from Graham are not only physical. I now enjoy dancing much more and feel that the study of Graham Technique has been a very important experience.
This is Graham
First Year Students In Performance
Movement developed in the classroom is given new meaning on stage. The students move in relationship to each other and to the space of the stage. The momentum built carries them into new levels of experience and awareness. A year of study takes on life and meaning at different levels.
Music : Excerpted from Ravenous movie score by Michael Nyman Damon Albarn
Choreography : Phyllis Gutelius
Second Year Student Solo Performance
Graham Technique after 2 years of study. excerpt from "When A Lion Dreams"
At the end of the second year, students develop from group to soloist work.
When creating a role, it was not unusual for Graham to relate animal behavior and movement to that of a human character she was developing; and, it was also commonplace for a dancer learning the role to be sent to the zoo to study the physicality of their character. For this dance the challenge is to project the weight and power of a big cat awakening in the wild . A predator attuned and alert to any change in his surroundings.
Dancer: Christopher Yeatman
Music: Ben Carriel
Choreography: Phyllis Gutelius