Martha Graham: To Be Grateful

Martha Graham/Lamentation/Barbara Morgan/

Interview with the Author

New York City

By Telephone and In Person

1990

Charity begins at home, but so does consecration, and honesty, and self-respect. To walk out of one's door each morning requires that you believe you are needed beyond your four walls and can offer something. To be grateful for the opportunity to simply walk out and live a life offers blessings and insight.

You have to believe that you belong--to the human race, to the dancer's world, to any circle to which you seek admittance. I am not saying that you announce that you are great, but you have to accept the fact--and be grateful for the fact--that you are part of something great. You have to move forward believing that you are part of something that has merit, and you have to work hard to be of merit yourself.

I can't work with someone who has doubts about dance. I can work with someone who has doubts and questions about how to serve the dance, but they have to know they've entered a holy calling. Otherwise, they will never rise to the level that the dance deserves.

Life deserves and demands everything we can offer, and satisfaction arises, I think, from working very hard to give our all to those things to which we are called.

Through all the struggles, I was grateful always that I was in the right struggle, and I think that is what saved me.

Martha Graham/Letter to the World/Barbara Morgan

© 2014 James Grissom

From Artistic Suicide