Writing/“House of the Pelvic Truth”

What is the legacy of Martha Graham and why does it endure?

How and why did the philosophy and subsequent canon of Martha Graham flood out into an artistic diaspora that is still a wellspring of inspiration for contemporary artists?

How do dancers that have never studied with, or worked under, Martha Graham maintain her vision?

All of these questions, and many more, are considered in this fascinating book, authored by one of the Martha Graham Company's ex-principal dancers, which illuminates the ongoing significance of the Martha Graham Dance Company almost 100 years after it was founded. 

Through doing so, we are offered a study of the history of the Martha Graham Dance Company - the longest-standing modern dance company in America, its international diaspora and the current generation of dancers taking up the mantel. 

Drawing on extensive interviews conducted for the book, the company's story is told through the experiences, inspirations, motivations and words of performers from Graham's iconic artistic lineage.

View on Bloomsbury Publishing
View on Bloomsbury Publishing
View on Amazon
View on Amazon

“This book takes up where the last books about the legacy of Martha Graham left off ... There is no scholarship regarding the generation of artists who have been influenced posthumously by Graham's example, by the study of her embodied technique and her revolutionary choreography ... ? Blakeley White-McGuire is highly regarded as one of Graham's most significant contemporary interpreters as a dancer. As an author, she has already had several well-respected publications, and a book seems the next platform for her voice as an artist and scholar with a distinct history in this work.”

— Sandra Kauffman, Director of Dance, Loyola, US

  • This book is a major achievement. At last we have a social history, ecology and an intimate choreographic narrative of the woman and dance company that changed American dance and Modernism beyond it forever. This book brings together, in their own words, the most important voices who had been shaped by and, in turn, themselves shaped the Martha Graham legacy and modern dance beyond it. This is an important book for anyone who wants to understand dance, body-politics, feminism and the social history of the 20th century. A uniquely inspiring read that reminds us, in the words of Graham herself, that dance is the hidden language of the soul. This book digs deep into the readers' hearts and illuminates this significant lineage to which we are indebted.

    — Dana Mills

  • Blakeley White-McGuire's The Martha Graham Dance Company: House of Pelvic Truth emerges as required reading for students and scholars of Martha Graham and her enduring legacy. Ms. McGuire's intimate experience with the transformative power of the technique and repertory, paired with searing commentary from contemporary leaders in dance influenced by Graham and her legacy, provides a compelling narrative for the current relevance and continued passionate practice of Graham's iconic technique and repertory.

    — Sandra Kauffman, Director of Dance, Loyola, US

  • "For me, personally, I've never found a book on, about or by Martha Graham that has done her or her life's work justice. For me, the best is Goddess by Robert Tracy. The other that includes much on Graham but is not exclusively about her is Deborah Jowitt's Time and the Dancing Image. Blakeley's book has the potential to fill holes in certain areas."

    — Pam Risenhoover, Professor of Dance, Randolph College, US

In Conversation with Blakeley White-McGuire (July 2024)

An evening in conversation with Blakeley White-McGuire, former star of the Graham Company and author of The Martha Graham Dance Company: House of the Pelvic Truth. Through a series of insightful interviews, the book illuminates the ongoing significance of Martha Graham and her eponymous dance group.

In a discussion led by Artistic Director Janet Eilber, Ms. White-McGuire was joined by Company alumni who were interviewed for the publication including some who worked with Martha Graham herself.

Blakeley and Yung Yung Tsuai-Lerner

Blakeley and Janet Eilber

Book Signing at Westbeth

Further Writing

“Re-examining the Inevitable Rise”

Performance Research (Journal), Volume 18, Issue 8

"Falling is a physical reality. Humans and other beings encounter and/or experience it nearly on a daily basis throughout a lifetime without necessarily considering the meaning associated with this symbolic gesture. In the canon of Modern dance, the fall is a catalyst to the rise – an intentional heroic recovery. Extant physical performance practices within this cannon embody falling’s metaphorical significance as a performative and creative act…”

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