Graham was a third-generation American of Irish descent. Her father, George Graham, practiced as what in the Victorian era was known as an ' alienist', a practitioner of an early form of psychiatry. Graham was born in Allegheny City – later to become part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – in 1894. First located in a small studio within Carnegie Hall the school currently has two different studios in New York City. But nevertheless it is inevitable.' Founded in 1926 (the same year as Graham's professional dance company), the Martha Graham School is the oldest school of dance in the United States. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. She said, in the 1994 documentary The Dancer Revealed: 'I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. In her lifetime she received honors ranging from the Key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown. She was the first dancer to perform at the White House, travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and receive the highest civilian award of the US: the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide.
Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer.
