What those Dancers Dance

Martha Graham
Martha Graham was an American dancer and choreographer regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance, and is widely considered one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. Graham invented a new language of movement, and used it to reveal the passion, the rage and the ecstasy common to human experience. She danced and choreographed for over seventy years, and during that time was the first dancer ever to performance at the White House, the first dancer ever to travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and the first dancer ever to receive the highest civilian award, the Medal of Freedom. 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 said "I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable."

I spent some time roaming through her performances and I have acclaim her for her originality. I am absolutely moved by the fluidity she organizes the dances through ,but the method in which "gravity" is acknowledged and accepted in deep heavy thrusts is where i see the aspects of dance that have pervaded my sight for so long. These gasping bursts expand dance as an art form from the purely aesthetic to the truly human evocation of emotion.

Twayla Tharp
Tharp was born in Portland, Indiana in 1941 and was named for Twila Thornburg, the "Pig Princess" of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair in Indiana. Tharp's family moved to Rialto, California in 1951, where her parents opened a drive-in movie theater. During this period she studied at the Vera Lynn School of Dance and attended Pacific High School in San Bernardino. Tharp attended Pomona College in California, but transferred to Barnard College in New York City. It was in New York that she began dancing with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. She graduated from Barnard with a degree in art history in 1963 and joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Two years later she formed her own company, called Twyla Tharp Dance.
At its 1982 commencement ceremonies, Tharp's alma mater awarded her its highest honor, the Barnard Medal of Distinction

I believe Tharp's work to be excitingly beautiful, though I find it rather bland when it comes to incorporating new ideas into dance. The rhythmic gestures and urgently playful steps could be pushed so much further than to just show off exemplary dancers. For instance, she might have her performances embrace its ambiguous rush and incorporate the frustration and anxiety that such movement entails. I felt nothing for her work.

Mark Morris
Mark Morris is an American modern dancer, choreographer and director whose work is acclaimed for its craftsmanship, ingenuity, humor, and at times eclectic musical accompaniments. Morris is popular among dance aficionados as well as mainstream audiences.
His father taught him how to read music and his mother Maxine introduced him to Balkan folk dance, and ballet.
Morris subsequently moved to New York, where he established his own company, the Mark Morris Dance Group, which debuted in 1980.
Though now largely retired from performing, Mark Morris was long noted for the musicality and power of his dancing as well as his amazing delicacy of movement. His body was heavier than the typical dancer, more like that of an average person, yet his technical and expressive abilities outstripped those of most of his contemporaries.