The History And Background On Martha Graham

The History And Background On Martha Graham Martha Graham, the outstanding 20th century dancer, choreographer and teacher was born on May 11, 1894 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as one among the three daughters of George and Jane Beers Graham (Martha Graham, 2010). During her life time she spent most of her decisive years on the west coast region. Media have often regarded Martha Graham as one of the well recognized dancers and choreographers ever lived in America. Martha Grahams father was a psychiatrist who concentrated much in his study and analysis of physical movement. He was a third generation American of Irish descent and her mother Jane Beers was one of the tenth generations of puritan Miles Standish. Dr. Graham and family had a high standard living because of the negotiable salary they saved from their works. The Graham family had a reputed position in the society on account of their high standard living and good educational background. From the very tender age itself, Martha had the support of her family in matters rela ted to education and career opportunities. Though her family was ever ready to provide her excellent guidance in education, Martha preferred her career as a dancing performer-disapproving her parents wish. After the completion of her educational career from Cumnock School, a junior college, she enrolled in the Denishawn Studio, a dancing school operated by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn (1891-1972) (Martha Graham, 2010). Analysing the biographical note of Martha, it is identfiable that after getting enrolled in Denishawn Studio, she devoted herself entirely for dancing and choreography. She married dancer Erick Hawkins in 1948 but their marriage proved to be failure and divorced in 1954. Later, as we see, she became proficient in dancing and tried her best to attain the highest position in this field. She focused her attention essentially in performing arts and practiced much by contributing her own methods to dancing. She tried her preeminent to open the new way for modern dance. Special attraction/feature of her dancing Martha Graham was a wonderful performer and good choreographer in America. Her choreography is very surprising and amazing to viewers that she created new style of body movements and facial expressions. While observing Marthas performances, it is well evident that she always attempted to expose real passion and human experiences which helped her to stand aloof from other performers of her time. Martha Grahams dance has often been compared to Picassos painting and Stravinskys music, and so on. One may not feel it as an exaggeration to reveal that her choreography and dance performances are incredibly attractive and stunning. Her contributions have transformed to different art forms which exerted notable influence in changing the old method of dancing. Marthas innovative style of dancing has paved the way for expanding the style of word around dancing. She expressed herself very liberally and truthfully in almost all her dance performances. It was the sincere attempt from her part to d evelop dancing profession resulted for the establishment of Martha Graham Dance Company in 1926 (Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, 2006). As her profession was dancing, she could compose many dance programs. Her dance company offers support to the entire American dance students by including other brilliant dance teachers also in her dance troupe. Freedman (1998) rightly enlists Grahams performance when he writes, Graham invented a revolutionary new language of dance, an original way of moving that she use to reveal the joy, passions, and sorrows common to all human experience. She had a genius for connecting movement with emotion. Martha Graham is not only a resourceful dancer but also an excellent choreographer. Graham created new trends and attractive style for dancing by reminding the fact that dancing has significant role in society as a pure method of entertainment. Dance is a one of the important and transitory forms of expression. Martha Graham attempted to convey her ideas so naturally and translated these ideas to expression with facial and body movements. Graham strongly believed that body and facial expressions must be there in an excellent dance. Graham controlled her body movements and facial expressions with music. These movements attracted the attention of many modern observers and as such, they accepted this new style and recognized this performance as a modern dance. A good dance performer should be capable of creating different types expressions on his/her face. The idea produced by the dancing body can include physical identity and physical representations of thoughts. So Martha Grahams new style of dancing can be considered as a representation and result of her thoughts. The performer and choreographer Martha Graham produced different gestures images, stances and poses. She had also included the physical representation of the feelings, moods and impulses. These styles or movements attracted a great deal of audience. Marthas Dance is a real representation of her personality- expression, and it conveyed different messages. Majority of the modern and traditional dancing forms tell a story which clearly coveyed the observer a message. Choreographer Martha Graham expressed her ideas in different ways and in different style. Thus one can infer that most of her performances were self expressive and self explanatory. During her life span, Graham had composed and presented a large number of dance programs. Her 180 dancing performances in America within the period of fifty years acknowledge this fact. She had won many awards and achievements. Some of them include the Kennedy Center Honors in 1978, the French Legion of Honor in 1984 and presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976. She could maintain her status as a good dancer and choreographer till the end of her life. Her last dance performance, Maple Leaf Rag presented in 1990, a year before her death, was also a grant success. It is such grant performances that earned her the name, 20th century revolutionary artist. She has exerted a significant influence in relieving the dance form from the traditional methods or concepts, presented with comparatively dawdling movements. 20th century dance forms are fast and it also tells the theoretical form of the story instead of merely retelling a story. Contribution to dancing Graham had given remarkable contribution to dancing field by developing distinctive style of training. She founded Martha Graham Dance Company, one of the oldest modern dance groups in America, which provides the best training for new generation dancers and choreographers. Martha Grahams new techniques and modern methods are really helpful to create classical ballet in the world. She avoided traditional and old methods, techniques and steps of classical ballet. Then her dancing form of classical ballet includes natural motion and music. She established different type style of dancing such as mobile scenery, symbolic props, and etc. Vision of the Apocalypse is the first large group piece of Martha Graham and it was performed in 1929. Other remarkable contributions are Dance Repertory Theater in New York in 1930 and Bennington School of Arts in Vermont, and so on. Her students and her co-worker helped to spread her ideas and style in the rest of the world. What was her inspiration? Though there are different things that attracted Graham to dancing, the most important among them were the classical mythologies she read. Other inspirations are the American past, biblical stories, historical figures, contemporary social problems, poems, stories, and so on. These motivations really helped her to develop new ideas and thoughts. These inspirations facilitate to found new music and gradually she won in her attempts to bring out new movements to express her own ideas.

Robert Wrhinghim in James Hoggs Novel, The Private Memoirs and Confess

Robert Wrhinghim in James Hogg's Novel, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner Works Cited Not Included   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  James Hogg's classic novel, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, portrays the fictional story of Robert Wringhim, a strong Calvinist who justifies murder by quickening the inevitable. Robert commits infamous acts of evil, believing that these murderous actions glorify God by annihilating sinners not chosen to be saved. I believe that a combination of factors involving both nurture and nature shape Wringhim into the suffering creature that he becomes. The greatest of these factors include Paranoia Schizophrenia, Multiple Personality Disorder, and the rejection of society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To my limited medical knowledge, I understand Wringhim to suffer from a severe case of Paranoia Schizophrenia among other forms of mental illnesses. There is evidence for this theory in the novel. For example, it is typical for victims of this medical condition to have an immense fear that literally controls their life. In the early pages of the book, Wringhim discusses this paranoid fear which consumes his life. ?My heart quakes with terror, when I thought of being still living in a state of reprobation, subjected to the awful issues of death, judgment, and eternal misery( Hobbes 118). This fear of ?death, judgment and eternal misery? controls him and becomes all he thinks about. He goes on to describe that he prays three times a day and seven times on the Sabbath to cope with this fear of damnation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However, even though Wringhim is obsessed with the security of his salvation earlier in the novel, this fear appears to diminish by an overwhelming sense of security that he is elected to be saved from the eternal flames fire, after his father bargains with God for Robert?s soul (130). Although there is little evidence to support this theory, it is not unintelligent for one to believe that Wringhim?s original fear of eternal damnation persists throughout his lifetime, even after he realizes he is one of the elect. Page 153 shows Robert struggling with the question of whether he is truly elect or not. This shows that his paranoid fear still persists.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After examining Wringhim?s murderous actions and the mental state he was possibly in, it can be concluded that Wringhim murders the ?enemies of the Lord? because it helps... ...er is rejected by society and goes on to cause great evil even though his heart longed to do good. The monster?s own creator rejected his creation leaving the monster with an immense feeling of misery. Robert Wringhim?s and the monster?s lives are very similar in the sense that those who should accept and love them were the first to reject them and then all of society followed forcing them to cause great evil to revenge their hurt. Revenge for society rejecting him could have been another factor that played in his decisions to murder. ?My life has been a life of trouble and turmoil; of change and vicissitude; of anger and exultation; of sorrow and of vengeance? (117).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Furthermore, it was not merely through nurture or nature that lead Robert Wringhim to commit these murders; it was the combination of both. Nature and nurture should not be classified into two separate categories or theories, because they have a correlating relationship and work off of each other. Hogg demonstrates this through Robert Wringhim using both nature (Paranoia Schizophrenia), nurture (rejection of society), and a mental disorder that combines both classifications (Multiple Personality Disorder).

External Factors Affecting Organizational Structure

Environment The environment is the world in which the organization operates, and includes conditions that influence the organization such as economic, social-cultural, legal-political, technological, and natural environment conditions. Environments are often described as either stable or dynamic. ? Stable environment †¢ customers' desires are well understood †¢ remains consistent for a relatively long time †¢ Examples of organizations that face relatively stable environments include manufacturers of staple items such as detergent, cleaning supplies, and paper products. mechanistic structures to be advantageous †¢ This system provides a level of efficiency that enhances the long-term performances of organizations that enjoy relatively stable operating environments ? Dynamic environment †¢ Customers' desires are continuously changing—the opposite of a stable environment †¢ This condition is often thought of as turbulent †¢ the technology that a company uses while in this environment may need to be continuously improved and updated †¢ An example of an industry functioning in a dynamic environment is electronics.Technology changes create competitive pressures for all electronics industries, because as technology changes, so do the desires of consumers. †¢ organic structure provides the greatest benefits †¢ This structure allows the organization to respond to environment change more proactively. Organizations are now increasingly designed to be more organic now days. The HR Organizational Structure has to fit to new challenges born in the external environment. All the important and influencing people speak about the changes in the business world, as the current recession seems to be one of the worst recessions ever.The way the business was done will be discontinued and new business ethics and new business rules will be born. In Recession for example HRM Organizational Structure should be as flexible as possibl e, the HRM Employees should be really aware of the needs of the organization and they should be able to help the organization to survive the recession successfully. The HRM Organizational Structure Adjustment has to be based on the detailed analysis of the needs of the organization in the recession. Companies that nurture flexibility, awareness, and resilience are more likely to survive the crisis, and even to prosper.McKinsey-2009 Technology Advances in technology are the most frequent cause of change in organizations since they generally result in greater efficiency and lower costs for the firm. Technology is the way tasks are accomplished using tools, equipment, techniques, and human know-how. By using tools, equipment and strategy, technology helps workers accomplish their core tasks at a quicker pace. If a company has the appropriate organizational structure blended with the right technology, it can attain organizational success.Joan Woodward found that the right combination of structure and technology were critical to organizational success. In her book Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice (1965), the English management scholar classified three categories of core-manufacturing technology: ? Small-batch production †¢ Used to manufacture a variety of custom, made-to-order goods. †¢ Each item is made somewhat differently to meet a customer's specifications by the skills of the workers who work together in small groups. †¢ A print shop is an example of a business that uses small-batch production. Appropriate structure for this type is decentralized and flexible †¢ It works well in organic structure ? Mass production †¢ Automated machines are used that is programmed to make high volumes of standard products. †¢ It’s used to create a large number of uniform goods in an assembly-line system. †¢ Workers are highly dependent on one another, as the product passes from stage to stage until completion. †¢ Equipm ent may be sophisticated, and workers often follow detailed instructions while performing simplified jobs. †¢Example-A company that bottles soda pop †¢ It works well in rigid structure as has routine tasks †¢ Formal structure or mechanistic structures is the best choice for workers who must perform repetitive tasks. ? Continuous-process production †¢ Create goods by continuously feeding raw materials, such as liquid, solids, and gases, through a highly automated system. †¢ Such systems are equipment intensive, but can often be operated by a relatively small labor force. †¢ Examples-automated chemical plants and oil refineries. A flexible structure is necessary to allow workers to react quickly to unexpected problems. †¢ It works well in organic structures The other Technology factor that determines organizational structure is- ?IT-Knowledge management the sharing and integrating expertise within and between functions and divisions through real time interconnected IT that allows for new kinds of task and reporting relationships. CITATION: 1. (CliffsNotes. com. Factors Affecting Organizational Design. 29 Oct 2010 . Read more:  http://www. cliffsnotes. om/WileyCDA/study_guide/Factors-Affecting-Organizational-Design. topicArticleId-8944,articleId-8881. html? citation=true#ixzz13mZtlnHJ 2. Ref- HRM Organizational Structure HRM Advice Blog Adjustments in Recession http://hrmadvice. com/blog/2008/12/30/hrm-organizational-structure-adjustments-recession/ Technology/Task Consider check processing at a bank. This activity is usually performed by a business unit that is highly formalized, has a great deal of specialization and division of labor, and high centralization of decision-making.In contrast, the creative section of an ad agency is usually not formalized at all, the division of labor is often blurry, and it is highly decentralized. It appears that certain activities naturally â€Å"go with† certain structures. Joan Wood ward found that by knowing an organization's primary system of production, you could predict their structure: Unit production/small batch. Companies that make one-of-a-kind custom products, or small quantities of products (e. g. , ship building, aircraft manufacture, furniture maker, tailors, printers of engraved wedding invitation, surgical teams). In these companies, typically, people's skills and knowledge is more important than the the machines used. †¢ Relatively expensive to operate: work process is unpredictable, hard to pre-program or automate. †¢ Flat organization (few levels of hierarchy). †¢ Ceo has low span of control (direct reports). †¢ Relatively low percentage of managers †¢ Organic structure (see  handout) Mass production/large batch. Companies that sell huge volumes of identical products (e. g. , cars, razor blades, aluminum cans, toasters). Make heavy use of automation and assembly lines.Typically, †¢ bigger than small batch †¢ Taller hierarchies †¢ bottom level is huge (supervisor span of control is 48) †¢ Relatively greater number of managers (because hierarchy is so tall) †¢ Mechanistic, bureaucratic structure †¢ Relatively cheap to operate Continuous Production. Primarily companies that refine liquids and powders (e. g. , chemical companies, oil refineries, bakeries, dairies, distilleries/breweries, electric power plants). Machines do everything,   humans just monitor the machines and plan changes. These organizations are tall and thin or even inverted pyramid: almost nobody at the bottom †¢ At the very top there is an organic structure †¢ Lower levels more mechanistic, but because machines do everything, there is not much paper work, low level supervision, etc. Chick Perrow '67 looked at how the frequency and type of exceptions that occurred during production affected structure. Two types of exceptions: (a) can be solved via orderly, analytic search process (like mecha nic fixing car), (b) no analytic framework, rely on intuition, guesswork (like advertising, film-making, fusion research).    |Few Exceptions |Many Exceptions | |Un-analyzable |pottery, specialty glass, motel room artwork; plumbing; |film making; aerospace; (non routine research) | | |computer technical support (craftwork) |tasks that no one really knows how to do: work on | | |routine work, but when problems crop up, it is hard   |intuition, implicit knowledge | | |to figure what to do | | |Analyzable |routine, like screws; (routine manufacturing) |custom machinery, building dams; (engineering | | |the few problems that occur are usually easy to |production) | | |understand |the application of well-known principles and | | | |technologies to lots of new and different | | | |situations | It turns out that bottom left organizations (analyzable and few exceptions) tend to be highly centralized and formalized — in short, bureaucracies. Bureaucracies are the best possible org anizational form when the task is well-understood, and how to best execute it can be specified in advance.At the other extreme, the top right organizations (unanalyzable and many exceptions) are not well handled by bureaucracies. There are so many exceptions and new situations that having a set of formal procedures which specify how to handle every situation is out of the question. Organizations in this box tend to be highly decentralized and use informal means of coordination and control. The reasons have to do with human bounded rationality. (Bounded rationality refers to the fact that since humans have limited brain capacity, we cannot always find the absolute optimal solution to a given problem — we only have the time and capacity to consider a few possible solutions, and choose the best among those. But we can't consider all possible solutions. Really complex systems are difficult to pre-plan: there are too many contingencies. We simply can't figure it all out. Need to a llow for real-time, flexible adjustment. Environment Adaptation Organizations actively adapt to their environments. For example, organizations facing complex, highly uncertain environments typically differentiate so that each organizational unit is facing a smaller, more certain problem. for example, if Japanese tastes in cars are quite different from American tastes, it is really hard to make a single car that appeals to both markets. It is easier to create two separate business units, one that makes cars for the Japanese market, and the other that makes cars for the US market. Natural SelectionOrganizations whose structures are not fitted to the environment (which includes other organizations, communities, customers, governments, etc. ) will not perform well and will fail. Most new organizations fail within the first few years. If the environment is stable, this selection process will lead to most organizations being well-adapted to the environment, not because they all changed th emselves, but because those that were not well-adapted will have died off. Dependence The economy is a giant network of organizations linked by buying and selling relationships. Every company has suppliers (inputs) and customers (outputs). Every company is dependent on both their suppliers and their customers for resources and money.To the extent that a company needs it's suppliers less than they need it, the company has power. That is, power is a function of asymmetric mutual dependence. Dependence is itself a function of the availability of alternative supply. A depends on B to the extent that there are few alternatives to B that are available to A. Dependence is also a function of how much A needs what B has got. If the Post It's company starts to play hardball with you, and there are no good alternatives, it's still not a big deal because Post It's are just not that important. Organizations that have power over others are able to impose elements of structure on them.For example, GM is famous for imposing accounting systems, cost controls, manufacturing techniques on their suppliers. The sets of entities in an organization's environment that play a role in the organization's health and performance, or which are affected by the organization, are called  stakeholders. Stakeholders have interests in what the organization does, and may or may not have the power to influence the organization to protect their interests. Stakeholders are varied and their interests may coincide on some issues and not others. Therefore you find stakeholders both cooperating with each other in alliances, and competing with each other. [pic] Figure 1. Unconnected stakeholders.When stakeholders are unconnected to each other (as in Figure 1), the organization usually has an easier time of playing the different parties off one another. For example, it can represent its goals and needs differently to each stakeholder, without fear of being found out. Or, such competitive stakeholders in to outbidding each other (e. g. , a university can tel one alumnus that another alumnus is about to give a huge donation). Furthermore, when the stakeholders are unconnected, they cannot coordinate their efforts, and so have trouble controlling the organization. [pic] Figure 2. Well-connected stakeholders. In contrast, when the stakeholders are well-connected (as in Figure 2), the organization cannot represent itself differently to each one, or it will be found out.Furthermore, if the bonds among the stakeholders are closer than the bonds with the organization, the stakeholders may side with each other against the organization, and won't act in ways that negatively affect other stakeholders. Institutionalization Under conditions of uncertainty, organizations imitate others that appear to be successful. In other words, if nobody really knows what makes a movie successful, and then somebody has a blockbuster hit, everybody else copies the movie, and the organizational structure that p roduced the movie, hoping that they will get the same results. This can cause whole industries to adopt similar structural features. One reason why this happens is the fear of litigation or simply blame.If several well-known, successful companies start adopting some new management style — say, self-governing teams — and you don't because you know its not appropriate for your company, and then things start to go wrong for your company, people will say ‘see? you should have adopted self-governing teams. we told you so'. So to avoid that, if the top companies in a field all adopt some new style, then all the others do to to avoid being blamed. In addition, diffusion of ideas due to personnel transfer and professional school training can create uniformity as well.Ref:Organizational Theory:Determinants of Structure Stephen P. Borgatti October 08, 2001 http://www. practical-management. com/Organization-Development/Organization-s-External-Environment. html

Famous Quotes from Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman

Willy Loman, the titular character in Death of a Salesman, spent his whole life pursuing what he thought was the American Dream. The play deals with themes of reality and illusion as a family struggles to define their dreams. It is one of Arthur Millers most famous plays and brought  him international acclaim. In 1949, Miller won the Pulitzer  Prize for Drama for this controversial play.   Important Death of a Salesman Quotes Im the New England man. Im vital in New England. (Willy, Act 1) Hes liked, but hes not well liked. (Biff, Act 1) The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want. (Willy, Act 1) The man knew what he wanted and went out and got it! Walked into a jungle and comes out, the age of 21, and hes rich! (Willy, Act 1) I dont say hes a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. Hes not the finest character that ever lived. But hes a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. Hes not to be allowed to fall in his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person. (Linda, Act 1) A small man can be just as exhausted as a great man. (Linda, Act 1) Before its all over were gonna get a little place out in the country, and Ill raise some vegetables, a couple of chickens... (Willy, Act 2) You cant eat the orange and throw the peel away—a man is not a piece of fruit! (Willy, Act 2) Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of 84, into 20 or 30 different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and heped by so many different people? (Willy, Act 2) After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive. (Willy, Act 2) I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been. (Biff, Act 2) Ive got to get some seeds. Ive got to get some seeds, right away. Nothings planted. I dont have a thing in the ground. (Willy, Act 2) Pop! Im a dime a dozen, and so are you!I am not a dime a dozen! I am Willy Loman, and you are Biff Loman! (Biff and Willy, Act 2) Im gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. Its the only dream you can have - to come out number-one man. He fought it out here, and this is where Im gonna win it for him. (Happy, Act 2)