liralen's review against another edition
4.0
Doris's book The Art of Making Dances became a great success and I was glad for her, but a little put off with some of its concepts. The chapter that just did me in was entitled "The Center of the Stage." To Doris, it was a geographic place in the middle of things. When I saw it I thought, "But the center of the stage is where I am." (69)
Graham must have been a force to be reckoned with. She describes a largely conventional childhood, but one in which her parents encouraged self-expression and largely set her free to be the artist she was born to be.
Blood Memory isn't the most cohesive of stories—much of it involves anecdotes, many of them with very little context. But if nothing else it gives you a tremendous sense of Graham's voice and drive and stubbornness.
I want the dancers in my company not to be like me. I want them to have studied with me, of course. I want them to be themselves and I encourage them to do that. I want the dancers to learn the dance physically, strongly, and then put their own meaning into it, if they can dare to do that. I don't believe in having stereotyped mes running around. What a horrible thought. They should bear the marks of my work while feeling free to be the individuals they are. (243)
Graham wrote this late in her life—in fact, it was first published a few months after her death. But gosh, what a life lived before then.
Graham must have been a force to be reckoned with. She describes a largely conventional childhood, but one in which her parents encouraged self-expression and largely set her free to be the artist she was born to be.
Blood Memory isn't the most cohesive of stories—much of it involves anecdotes, many of them with very little context. But if nothing else it gives you a tremendous sense of Graham's voice and drive and stubbornness.
I want the dancers in my company not to be like me. I want them to have studied with me, of course. I want them to be themselves and I encourage them to do that. I want the dancers to learn the dance physically, strongly, and then put their own meaning into it, if they can dare to do that. I don't believe in having stereotyped mes running around. What a horrible thought. They should bear the marks of my work while feeling free to be the individuals they are. (243)
Graham wrote this late in her life—in fact, it was first published a few months after her death. But gosh, what a life lived before then.
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