For Martha
19 POSES
CELEBRATING THE 19th AMENDMENT
18th August, 1920 – 18th August, 2020
“We are kicking off a week-long celebration of the anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave American women the right to vote and propelled the ongoing struggle to guarantee those rights for all women.”
“Who says doing your chores can’t be a creative endeavor? We want to see all the creative and unexpected ways you can come up with to use one (or more!) of the #19poses to perform an everyday task.”
Martha Graham Dance Company asked to see, and we responded, during our one-hour, stage 4 walks, and in chore-stagings at home.
Though we didn’t make it through all nineteen of the poses (we’ll have to return one day to Pose #4: Phaedra, Pose #12: Clytemnestra, and Pose #13: Letter to the World), it sure was fun.
In lockdown I, we tried our hands at recreating poses in paintings, in lockdown II, we made shapes for Martha. Who knows what will follow. What we do know is that this bright spark of playful distraction helped us, and hopefully it helped you as well.
Gathered here, in order pictured below,
Pose #8: Frontier
Pose #11: American Provincials
Pose #1: Prelude to Action
Pose #16: Night Journey
Pose #14: Immediate Tragedy
Pose #17: Immigrant: Steerage, Strike
Pose #3: Clytemnestra
Pose #6: Satyric Festival Song
Pose #9: Spectre 1914
Pose #18: Primitive Mysteries
Pose #7: Masque from Chronicle
Pose #2: Revolt
Pose #10: American Document
Pose #5: Immigrant: Steerage, Strike
Pose #19: Errand into the Maze
Pose #15: Frontier
Martha Graham image details (in order, pictured above):
Pose #7: Masque from Chronicle
Graham leads her company of women in her timeless anti-war statement from 1936.
Photographer: Robert Fraser
Pose #11: American Provincials
This work, now lost, had as its background the world of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. “… a mighty and terrifying holiness is evoked with heroic frenzy.” (New York Times review)
Premiere: 1934
Photographer: Barbara Morgan
Pose #1: Prelude to Action
Graham leads her company of women in her timeless anti-war statement, Chronicle — created the same year she rejected an invitation from the Nazis to dance in Germany.
Premiere: 1936
Photographer: Robert Fraser
Pose #16: Night Journey
Graham’s brilliant retelling of the Oedipus tragedy told through the memories of his mother and wife, Jocasta.
Premiere: 1947
Photographer: unknown
Pose #14: Immediate Tragedy
Graham embodying the outrage of Spanish women in a solo protesting the events taking place during the civil war in Spain.
Premiere: 1937
Photographer: Barbara Morgan
Pose #17: Immigrant: Steerage, Strike
An emotional Graham solo, now lost, inspired by “the animalistic defiance of immigrant labor alive to new forces and broader visions” (original program note).
Premiere: 1928
Photographer: Soichi Sunami
Pose #3: Clytemnestra
In one of her most complex creations, Graham plays Agamemnon’s Queen and murderer, reflecting on her deeds and defending them to the Gods.
Premiere: 1958
Photographer: Martha Swope
Pose #6: Satyric Festival Song
A comedic Graham solo in which she makes fun of her own serious reputation. Premiere: 1932
Photographer: unknown
Pose #9: Spectre 1914
A solo from Chronicle representing the foreboding prelude to war and warning audiences in 1936 about the rise of fascism in Europe.
Premiere: 1936
Photographer: unknown
Pose #18: Primitive Mysteries
Graham as Mary in her ground-breaking modernist, ritualistic homage to the Virgin
Premiere: 1931
Photographer: Barbara Morgan
Pose #7: Masque from Chronicle
Graham leads her company of women in her timeless anti-war statement from 1936.
Photographer: Robert Fraser
Pose #2: Revolt
Graham’s first dance of social commentary, a solo speaking for the individual and the outraged spirit.
Premiere: 1927
Photographer: Soichi Sunami
Pose #10: American Document
A patriotic dance/drama intended to celebrate democracy and freedom in the face of terrible events taking place in Europe — the beginnings of WWII.
Premiere: 1939
Photographer: Barbara Morgan
Pose #5: Immigrant: Steerage, Strike
An emotional Graham solo, now lost, inspired by “the animalistic defiance of immigrant labor alive to new forces and broader visions” (original program note).
Premiere: 1928
Photographer: Soichi Sunami
Pose #19: Errand into the Maze
Graham emerging from the maze. Based on the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, a woman goes into the maze of her own psyche to conquer her own fears.
Premiere: 1947
Photographer: Pictorial Press, London
Pose #15: Frontier
A Graham solo in which a young woman faces the future with hope, determination and courage.
Premiere: 1935
Photographer: Barbara Morgan
