Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring Deborah Stevenson Greenberg, Jan. Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring; written by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan; illus. by Brian Floca. Porter/Flash Point/Roaring Brook, 2010. [48p.] ISBN 978-1-59643-338-0 $12.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 3-5. The Martha of the title is legendary twentieth-century dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, and Greenberg and Jordan, noted chroniclers of art, here follow the artistic collaboration that created one of her best-known ballets, Appalachian Spring. Graham worked with composer Aaron Copland, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his score, and with sculptor Isamu Noguchi, who created the stage sets, to craft a "story of the frontier when pioneer families traveled west to put down roots." While it's tough to put together a few of the historical pieces here, the graceful, restrained text chronicles a process most people never see the inside of; the details of revision and collaboration are wisely chosen for effective illumination. Floca's art has some similarity to that of Robert Andrew Parker, illustrator of Greenberg and Jordan's Action Jackson (BCCB 11/02), in its slender linework and washes of watercolor hues; however, it's more trim and diagrammatic, evincing a delicate crispness that's subtly appropriate to Graham's vigorous aesthetic. This could make an interesting counterpart to Schubert's Ballet of the Elephants (BCCB 5/06), or, with additional information, an introduction to Graham and modern American art, especially if paired with Freedman's Martha Graham (BCCB 6/98) and the few extant film clips of Graham in action and conversation. The book closes with end matter including brief traditional biographies of Graham, Copland, and Noguchi; a bibliography; source notes; and a few black-and-white photographs of the principals. Copyright © 2010 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois