92/Y Tribeca daytime talk - Martha Graham in Love & War

Author Mark Franko is a Prof. of Dance @ the Univ. of S. California, a former dancer and award winning choreographer.  His current book on Martha Graham focuses on the defining events and influences on her works; 1938-53.  Franko discussed the interweavings of her life and work, combining politics, Greek myths, psychoanalysis, and her turbulent relationship with Erick Hawkins.  Hawkins was a dancer 20 years Graham's junior.  They had a volatile love/hate, relationship that strongly impacted her work. Some of Graham's works were aimed against facism.  The central focus of Franko's talk was aimed at uncovering the ideas behind her works as "choreography is an intellectual operation."  Granted, but the talk would have greatly benefited from photos and film footage, especially in reference to her seminal works mentioned: Appalachian Spring, Night Journey and American Document.  Graham is often referred to as the greatest revoluntionary for dance in the 20th C.  It would have interested me to know how her work was first received and its impact today.  Dance is a kinetic, evolving art form requiring a visual medium to best be appreciated and understood.