Graham And Noguchi
Martha Graham, as she was personally known, was a very popular dancer as early as 1928. Not only was she a prominent dancer, but she was also a famous choreographer and a dance innovator at the same time. Her passion for aesthetic dances and culture intrigued her to get on a personal journey through the tradition of the conventional Greece culture; an expedition that culminated to the creation of seventeen dances which are typically referred to as the Greek cycle. The dances were mainly based on the artistic work of Martha and characterized by original work of art and unique creation of dance language and performances some of which were done in collaboration with Isamu Noguchi (Anna, 1989:2).
As such, Martha purely used the early Greece traditions, cultural practices myths and tragedies as the main inputs to depict women from a new point of view and in a unique artistic aroma or what is called theatrical dances. Her passion for art and classical approaches to dances and performances especially in the seventeen dances (Greek cycle) earned her unmatched fame and placed her among the greatest modern theatre’s interpreters of the classical culture and ancient way of life. Isamu Noguchi on the other hand was an ancient prominent sculptor architect, a poet and a furniture and landscape design. In undertaking his work, the classical culture was also his main inputs a factor that intrigues his passionate relationship with Martha graham.
While Noguchi reflected his passion for art and culture with the artifacts and furniture that he craftily made, Martha graham pursued the same vision with classical theatrical dances, and performances. However, their shared aesthetic vision and passion for art and culture forms the tenets and basis of their continued collaboration and relationship. The history of Noguchi’s success in onstage constructs is by no means new to any lover of art in the world due to their stunning beauty and profundity (Ann, 1989:7). Although there has often been complaints that the set that Noguchi made for Martha graham greatly complicated Martha dances due their implacability, resistance, inflexibility and requiring the Martha dancers to spend a lot of time rehearsing to tame them and protecting their reputation, the famous pieces of architectural art earned a lot of fame in terms of aesthetic value addition both to graham and Noguchi. Even Martha accepted that the sets theatrical effects are magnificent (Alderson1983:120).
The relationship between Martha and Noguchi existed on the tenets of unification of goals and creation of lasting synergies aimed at achieving optimum results in terms of arts and aesthetics. Although the two artists worked together in two totally different forms of art, they were able to unify their aesthetic goal depicting what Martha called the thing itself. It is believed that the mastermind of the lasting and successful collaboration between Martha and Noguchi is their ability to find a way of making it permanent. In fact, it did not end with the completion of the set and the debut of the dance routine. Indeed, the perpetual relationship between the two artists had never ended until today as it exists every time graham dancer and a Noguchi set practice together challenging and continually inspiring one another to have a greater impact on the next audience. Among the dances that Martha graham and Isamu Noguchi includes the Cortege of Eagles, Eugene Lester’s Music and the Famous the Night Journey (Ann, 1989)
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