75
Celebrating the 75th Anniversary
of the premiere of
Appalachian Spring
October 30, 1944
Photo credit: Martha Graham in Appalachian Spring. Photographer unknown, circa 1944. Courtesy of Martha Graham Resources.
A
fter Martha gave me this bare outline, I knew certain
crucial things - that it had to do with the pioneer
American spirit, with youth and spring, with
optimism and hope. I thought about that in combination with
the special quality of Martha's own personality, her talents
as a dancer, what she gave off, and the basic simplicity of her
art. Nobody else seems anything like Martha, and she's
unquestionably very American. There's something prim
and restrained, a strong quality about her that one tends to
think of as American. Her dance style is seemingly, but only
seemingly, simple and extremely direct.
–– Aaron Copland
