Martha in the middle.

Martha Graham is all about the center--in her technique (all of her movements start from the center of the body) and in her career. "A long time ago, I decided that my place was front and center. That's where I chose to be, and that's where I remain," Graham once said in a Dance Magazine interview. Not only did she remain in the spotlight as a modern dance pioneer for 65 years, she was front and center on 10 Dance Magazine covers (topped only by Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolph Nureyev). On her second cover in 1948, she danced Herodiade, a piece she had created four years earlier at age 50. The covers range from the austerity of Primitive Mysteries, to the solemnity of Judith, to a sultry pose with her early mentor, Ted Shawn.

In the May 1989 issue Graham, then 95, said, "The energy of the world is available to all of us. It moves the planets and makes everything work. We can all use it. Only we become frightened or frustrated or too tired to use it. I use it." Her distinctive style is still taught not only at the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, but at many colleges and universities (For more on Graham's technique, see pg. 90).

"A dance is one instant of life--a vibratory piece of energy," Graham said. Here are a few covers that captured this dynamism, and what some of her dancers had to say about her.