Martha Graham in 1926 debut as an independent artist. Her earlier work, such as Three Gopi Maidens, were ballets, where the critics found that she was graceful and quite lyrical. However a year later, all of that changed.
The Three Gopi Maidens were “performed to music by Cyril Scott, with costumes by Norman Edwards.” The work was performed by Thelma Biracree, Evelyn Sabin, and Betty Macdonald as part of Graham’s first independent concert. A review from Dance Magazine (July 1926) noted, “I liked…the three gopis in their lovely draped batik costumes of melting colors and their young faces brightened by the warm flowers in their shining hair.”
The dance depicts a graceful young woman adoring a Hindu God. We do not have any video proof of this dance however it was more balletic than what she did later on.
However in 1935, Martha Graham created this dance called Frontier. Instead of the dance being about worshiping/ adoring a God, this was a tribute to the vision and independence of the pioneer woman. As written on the Martha Graham Website the dance “portrays her strength and tenderness, her determination and jubilation at overcoming the hazards of a new land, as well as her love of the land.”
From Video evidence of this dance, you can clearly see some her technique coming though. For example in 1:45 – 1:50, you can see that she is doing contractions while going backwards in a balletic like way with the legs.
Her style has developed over the years of teaching and using her own technique, experimenting with simple body movements such as contractions and breathing that you would see in a later developed dance of hers rather than her beginning dances.
Video:
Frontier : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6RZsTme_vw
Information gained:
Callum Dance Blog 