Errand into the Maze: The Life and Works of Martha Graham

Former Village Voice dance critic Jowitt (Jerome Robbins) delivers a rigorous, authoritative biography of legendary 20th-century dancer/choreographer Martha Graham (1894–1991). After a brief overview of Graham’s Presbyterian upbringing in Allegheny, Pa., Jowitt jumps into Graham’s early days as a dancer in California and New York and describes the “ferocious intensity” beneath her demure presentation. The author dismisses her subject’s early work as tawdry fluff in the Orientalist style popular at the time (she highlights a wince-inducing early review boasting that Graham “can be more Indian than a native”), but suggests the passion and precision of those pieces laid the foundation for Graham’s eventual artistic blossoming. “In relation to the work she made for herself and her company of women,” Jowitt writes about the maturation of Graham’s solo practice, “she was appropriating the right to strength and assertiveness in her art and to a seriousness that brooked no condescension.” Jowitt’s speculations on how Graham “must have” felt raises questions about the veracity of those insights, but the breadth of research on Graham’s credits and creations—a laundry list of productions are conjured in eye-popping detail—wins out in the end. Fans will thrill to this comprehensive account of Graham’s boundary-breaking work. (Aug.)