New York City SHSAT 2017

(Marvins-Underground-K-12) #1

the extravagant stylization of classical ballet, using the
natural breath pulse as the basis for movement instead
( 15 )of formalized classical motions. She avoided
decorative sets and costumes and used an all-female
dance troupe. Moreover, her productions used music
purely as an accompaniment to dance rather than as an
elaborate showpiece in itself. In fact, Graham’s early
( 20 )work was so stark and severe that it was described by
one critic as “uncompromisingly ugly.”
For the most part, the critics and the public
understood little of Graham’s break with tradition.
Although her work addressed universal feelings and
( 25 )ideas, many people could not perceive this; they
reacted only to the unfamiliar and original dance
movements with which these feelings and ideas were
expressed. Graham denied that she was experimenting
merely for the sake of being different. Her new style,
( 30 )she said, “was not done perversely to dramatize
ugliness, or to strike at sacred tradition. The point was
that the old forms could not give voice to the fully
awakened man.”
As the decades passed, Graham’s work found
( 35 )wider acceptance. By the 1940s, it had already
become the tradition against which a new avant-garde
was rebelling; this is a fate common to all artistic
revolutions. But Graham continued to explore the
essence of human conflicts and emotions through her
( 40 )dances, and success did not cause her to give up
experimenting. She continued to revise her ideas
throughout her career, incorporating men into her
company and broadening her subject matter to include
sources from Greek mythology and the Old
( 45 )Testament.


39. Which of the following best tells what this passage is about?
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