Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American dancer and choreographer whose revolutionary approach to movement reshaped modern dance and influenced generations of artists. Born in Allegheny City (now part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Graham moved with her family to California as a teenager. She began studying dance in her early twenties at the Denishawn School, where she developed a deep fascination with how emotion could be expressed through the body rather than through decorative gesture.

In 1926, she founded the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance in New York City and introduced a new movement vocabulary centered on contraction and release—a physical embodiment of emotional tension and release. Her choreography explored themes of identity, mythology, and the human condition, often through stark, sculptural movement and minimalist staging.

Graham created more than 180 works over seven decades, collaborating with artists such as Isamu Noguchi, Aaron Copland, and Halston. Her iconic pieces—including Appalachian Spring (1944), Lamentation (1930), and Cave of the Heart (1946)—cemented her reputation as the “Picasso of dance.”

Accolades and Legacy

• Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1976) and the National Medal of Arts (1985)
• First dancer and choreographer to perform at the White House
• Honored by the Kennedy Center for lifetime achievement (1979)
• Her company, the Martha Graham Dance Company, remains the oldest continually active modern dance troupe in America
• Recognized by the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian for redefining American modernism

Pittsburgh Connection
Graham’s birthplace in Allegheny City (now Pittsburgh’s North Side) ties her to the same creative soil that produced artists like Andy Warhol and Billy Strayhorn. Though she moved west as a child, her early Pennsylvania roots connect her to the city’s legacy of innovation in the arts.