Dancing Diplomacy: Martha Graham and the Strange Commodity of Cold-War Cultural Exchange in Asia, 1955 and 1974

Abstract

Under the auspices of the State Department during the Cold War, in 1955 and 1974 Martha Graham and her company toured Asia on the heels of hot combat. Because Graham's work was both rooted in Asian forms and inspired by American exceptionalism, it promoted two political messages for export to international elites. First, cultural convergences—sets and movement vocabulary with roots in Eastern forms—alluded to the viability of political alliances. Second, as an exemplar of modern dance, Graham and her work promoted the United States as a nation with cutting-edge solutions to twentieth-century problems. Government and private-sector planners agreed: “Washington wants to get something for its money.” 1 1. “Dance Panel Meeting,” International Exchange Program, May 5, 1955, 2, Group II, Series 5, box 101, folder 13–14 (because the meetings are titled both Dance Panel Meeting and Dance Advisory Panel between 1954 and 1963 they will be noted hereafter, “D/APM”), Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Historical Collection (CU) Records, ca. 1938–1984, Manuscript Collection 468, Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, AR (hereafter UAK). The genius of Graham's artistic modernism, threaded with American nationalism, was used as a weapon in the Cold War.

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