In her writing, I am a Dancer, Martha Graham describes her attitude to life journey and mastering the dancing. She presents her feelings and thoughts in light and thoughtful manner, and the wonderful metaphors appear as if on their own. One of the most appealing passages that evoked some compassion and recognition in my mind was the picture of the author sitting in her cabinet and looking at the tree in the yard. Martha Graham writes: “It began as a sapling when I first moved here, and although a wire gate was in its way, it persisted and grew to the light, and now thirty years later it is a tree with a very thick trunk, with the wire embedded within. Like a dancer, it went to the light and carried the scars of its journey inside.” This is a very powerful metaphor and a very accurate one.
It also carries some fleur of the past – the allusion to the Gabriel García Márquez “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” The implied meaning of this metaphor enriches the text greatly. Moreover, the tree image used as a metaphor can be called the spine of the text. It is not too young and not a too old tree, which sprouts to the light and life. Martha Graham then develops the initial thought and says that this tree is like a dancer who aims to create charming instances of life through tenacity and devotion. Word count: 241.
Martha Graham was an outstanding American dancer and dance director. She was also a talented trainer and helped develop dance skills in young performers from many generations. The uniqueness of her contribution to the profession is that Martha Graham dedicated her life to dance, overcoming obstacles day after day to create her reality of truth, beauty, and movement, which is “the outer space of imagination.” Equally important, she managed to achieve a mastery that has been marked by many awards, dedicating her life to dancing and nothing else. Martha Graham said in her memoirs that as a dancer, she “permitted the life to use her in a very intense way” and although it was not pleasant, it was inevitable. Word count: 119.
Reference
Graham, M. (2010). I am a dancer (pp. 113-118). Routledge.