She said, 'I would find it hard to dance in Germany at the present time. In 1936, Graham took a strong political stance when she refused to go to the Olympic Games in Berlin. During the 1930s, because of the Depression, her ballets had no sets, and she made most of the costumes herself. In 1929, she choreographed her first non-solo ballet, Heretic. During this time, her pieces, including Immigrant, Vision of Apocalypse, Lamentation, and Revolt, often dealt with social problems. Graham opened the Martha Graham School of contemporary Dance in 1927. It included 18 short pieces by Scriabine, Debussy, Satie, Ravel, Schumann, and Horst, and it starred Betty McDonald, Evelyn Subier, and Thelma Braerce. In 1926, she started teaching at the Eastman School of Rochester, and she gave her first recital on April 18, at the 48th Street Theatre, in New York.

She also met the composer, Louis Horst, here. After graduating in 1916, she joined the Denishawn School, run by Ruth Saint-Denis and Ted Shawn in Los Angeles, where she danced several important roles, including Shawn's Xochtil. From 1913-1916, Graham studied theater and dance at the University of Cumnoch. It was here that she decided she wanted to become a dancer. Two years later, she visited the Mason Opera House, for a Ruth Saint-Denis performance. At this time, her family moved to Santa Barbara, California. Graham was born on May 11, 1894, in Pittsburgh, where she lived until she was 14. She revolutionized dance, lighting, stage designing, costuming, and music with her creative perfectionism. In her lifetime, Martha Graham freed the art of dance by providing a new dance language and new concepts.

Dancer, choreographer born May 11, 1894, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania died April 1, 1991.

Blood Memory by Martha Graham