Errand into the Maze

The definitive biography of the visionary dancer and choreographer Martha Graham.

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Between 1926 and 1991, the year of her death, Martha Graham choreographed close to one hundred masterpieces. She changed how dancers were perceived onstage, devised new ways of moving, and pioneered a revolutionary dance technique. Along the way, Graham engaged with the debates, ideas, and events of the twentieth century - creating dances of social comment and human experiences. Graham, the first dancer and choreographer to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and named Time’s “Dancer of the Century,” was a visionary artistic force. Hers was the iconic face of what came to be called modern dance.

In Errand into the Maze, the legendary dance critic Deborah Jowitt gives us the definitive portrait of this great American artist. Beginning with Graham’s childhood and early work in theatrical productions, and touching on her offstage adventures, this elegant, empathetic biography places Graham’s works and creations at the heart of her story. Her dances, brimming with emotional intensity, are intimately linked with their creator, and she was foregrounded in many; she was the heroine in almost all the dances she choreographed, portraying figures like Jocasta, Clytemnestra, and Judith. In this volume, Graham is center stage once more, and Jowitt casts a bright and brilliant spotlight on her life and work.