Martha Graham was born May 11, 1893 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Although Martha became a dancer she did not always want to be one. When Martha was young her housekeeper Lizzie inspired Martha and her younger sisters Mary and Georgia to perform. Other than a few plays that Martha and her sister made up, there was no performing arts education in Martha's early childhood.

When the air in Pittsburgh got too thick from coal mines for anyone to live in, Martha's parents, Jane Beer and George Greenfield Graham, moved their family to California. Martha attended high school in California and got interested in sports. One day Martha saw a poster advertising Ruth St. Denis. Ruth St. Denis was dressed in jewels from her head to her toe. She was supposed to be a goddess in the dance. Martha was amazed and knew that this was something she could not miss. Finally she got her parents to agree to take her to see Ruth St. Denis perform. She was impressed when she saw Ruth St. Denis perform, and she decided that she wanted to be a dancer. She started to be more and more interested in dance, and Ruth St. Denis was still her role model.

When Martha graduated from high school she went to the Denishawn School for Dancers. Ruth St. Denis was the main instructor. When Martha came into the classroom of Ruth St. Denis, Ms. Ruth, as all of her students called her, said "dance." Other than that there were no instructions on what to do. Martha was left on the dance floor and waited. Louis Horst (the piano player and grand musician) started playing the piano. Martha danced. Ruth St. Denis was not happy with her performance and decided to let her husband, Ted Shawn, teach Martha to dance. One day after Martha had been with the company for quite a while there was an audition for a production called A Dance Pageant of Egypt, Greece, and India. Some of the girls in the company were trying out for the main part in front of Ted. He thought to himself, "None of these girls look right for the part, if only Martha knew how to dance she would look perfect for the part." Martha, who had been watching the girls rehearse, said, "I can dance!" She did the step perfectly and got the part. That was her very first performance.

She stayed with the company for a little while and then moved on to New York City. Once in New York she joined Broadway. She stayed with Broadway for quite a while and then moved on again. She opened a dance school in New York and stayed there all of her life. Whatever Martha did she always danced. Martha died when she was 96 and had a happy life.