“Dedicated to Freedom”

Abstract In West Berlin, 1957, Graham performed her solo Judith during the opening ceremonies of Congress Hall, an American-designed modernist building that, with its transparent glass walls, luminous curved roof, and reflecting pool, was a “symbol of the Free World,” according to the German press, situated just one hundred yards from the line dividing West Berlin from East, liberal democracy from communism. Modernism in dance met the architecture of diplomacy. “We should have the freedom of modern dancing as well as that of speech,” Graham declared when she arrived in Berlin; she embodied the modern impulse and the ideal of freedom and democracy that came with it. Led by Eleanor Lansing Dulles, the sister of both John Foster, Eisenhower’s secretary of state, and Allen, director of the CIA, the Americans planning the inauguration of Congress Hall understood that with Martha Graham, they had a cultural ambassador who was “dedicated to freedom.” However, bringing heavy-handed references to the nation’s Nazi past, Graham received poor reviews in Germany. A few days later, Graham watched as Mary Wigman received raves. Yet the Congress Hall committee reported back that Graham’s performance could be considered a success because up to half of the elite audience was from East Germany. Graham received a polite but curt note from Dulles and began drinking heavily after returning home to choreograph Clytemnestra, the first three-act modern ballet.