Martha Graham occupies a pivotal place in the history of modern dance. She challenged the rules of traditional dance, put forward the idea that dance should pursue a higher spiritual realm, and most importantly, created a widely accepted and used system of dance techniques – the Graham Technique. This system of techniques is still regarded as one of the three major techniques of modern dance, and is regarded by many successors as the basis for physical training.
The two core concepts of the Graham Technique are contraction and release, as well as the curvature of the spine produced when the dantian is contracted and the straight line of extension when released. In Martha Graham's view, the contraction is not only the compression of the lower abdominal area during exhalation, but also the dantian force to push the pelvis backward and parallel to move forward, and cooperate with the stomach and head movements to form a complete contraction. This style of training usually starts with a seated position, and the main goal is to exercise the upper body alone.
Contraction and release are similar to the concepts of sinking, containing, punching, and leaning in traditional martial arts, while waist turning movements are closely related to another key element, spiral. Martha Graham's technique emphasizes the core of the body and the fine muscles that connect the bones deeply. Although it may seem like it requires a lot of scale and flexibility, all joint movements must be controlled by the activated joint muscles, so this technique is hailed as the most scientific dance technique.