Graham was born on May 11th 1894 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. at the age of 14 Graham attended her first dance performance, watching Ruth St. Denis performed at the Mason Opera House in Los Angeles. Following this in the mid 1910s Graham began her studies at Denishaw School of Dancing and Related Arts, which she stayed at till 1923.

In the mid-1910s, Martha Graham began her studies at the newly created Denishawn School of Dance and Related Arts, at which she would stay until 1923. In 1926, the Martha Graham center of contemporary dance was established.

The contraction and release were both the basis for Graham's weighted and grounded style, which is in direct opposition to classical ballet techniques that typically aim to create an illusion of weightlessness. To counter the more percussive and staccato movements, Graham eventually added the spiral shape to the vocabulary of her technique to incorporate a sense of fluidity.

Grahams technique pioneered a principle known as "Contraction and Release" in modern dance, taking advantage of the use of breathing to stylise the movements. 

Graham has been named the "Picasso of Dance" in that her importance and influence to modern dance can be considered equivalent to what Picasso was to modern visual arts. Her impact has been also compared to the influence of Stravinsky on music. 

Martha Graham has been said to be the one that brought dance into the 20th century. She passed away  on April 1st 1991, aged 96, in New York City. After dancing and teaching for over 70 years.