Martha Graham
Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence of Picasso on modern visual arts, the influence of Stravinsky on music, and the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright on architecture.
Graham was born in Allegheny City later to become part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1894. Her father George Graham practiced as what in the Victorian era was known as an alienist, a practitioner of an early form of psychiatry. The Grahams were strict Presbyterians. Dr. Graham was a thirdgeneration American of Irish descent. Her mother Jane Beers was a secondgeneration American of Irish and ScotsIrish descent and was also a sixthgeneration descendant of Myles Standish. While her parents provided a comfortable environment in her youth, it was not one that encouraged dancing.
Source: Wikipedia