Martha Graham technique is a modern dance style and training method created by American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham (1894–1991), built on the cycle of “contraction and release.”
It is widely regarded as the first codified modern dance technique and has been called the cornerstone of American modern dance. It also shaped the later techniques of Merce Cunningham, Lester Horton and Paul Taylor. In a Graham contraction, the deep pelvic and abdominal muscles pull the spine into a concave arc from the tailbone to the neck, and the release returns or pushes the energy outward. The cycle began as a stylized version of breathing, with the contraction tied to the exhale and the release to the inhale. Movement starts in the torso rather than the feet. The second core idea is the spiral, a rotation of the spine of about 45 degrees around its vertical axis. The technique is also known for strictly codified falls and floorwork, and for active, cupped hands rather than decorative ones. Critic Anna Kisselgoff called the style “powerful, dynamic, jagged and filled with tension.”
Source: Wikipedia, Graham technique
Image: Martha Graham by Nickolas Muray, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.