- Her experimental work on what the body could do based on its own structure developed into what was known as "percussive movements."
- Was brought to the Eastman School of Music in 1926 by Rouben Mamoulian, who was then the 28-year-old director of the Eastman School of Drama.
- She was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1985 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C.
- Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976.
- Is portrayed by Richard Move in Ghostlight (2003)
- Graham has been sometimes termed the "Picasso of Dance" in that her importance and influence to modern dance can be considered equivalent to what Pablo Picasso was to modern visual arts.[33][34] Her impact has been also compared to the influence of Stravinsky on music and Frank Lloyd Wright on architecture.
- In the years that followed her departure from the stage, Graham sank into a deep depression fueled by views from the wings of young dancers performing many of the dances she had choreographed for herself and her former husband. Graham's health declined precipitously as she abused alcohol to numb her pain. Graham not only survived her hospital stay, but she rallied. In 1972, she quit drinking, returned to her studio, reorganized her company, and went on to choreograph ten new ballets and many revivals.
- To celebrate what would have been her 117th birthday on May 11, 2011, Google's logo for one day was turned into one dedicated to Graham's life and legacy.
- Graham herself lists her final performance as her 1970 appearance in Cortege of Eagles when she was 76 years old.
- In 2021 actress Mary Beth Peil portrayed Graham in the Netflix series Halston.
- Just before she became sick with pneumonia, she finished the final draft of her autobiography, Blood Memory, which was published posthumously in the fall of 1991.
- Her last completed ballet was 1990's Maple Leaf Rag.
- Founded in 1926 (the same year as Graham's professional dance company), the Martha Graham School is the oldest school of dance in the United States. First located in a small studio within Carnegie Hall, the school currently has two different studios in New York City.
- In 2013, the dance films by her were selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the registry's owner, The Library of Congress.
- In 2015 she was posthumously inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
- In her lifetime she received honors ranging from the Key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown.
- On May 11, 2020, on what would have been Graham's 126th birthday, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts announced it had acquired Graham's archives for its Jerome Robbins Dance Division. The archive consists mainly of paper-based material, photographs and films, including rare footage of Graham dancing in works such as "Appalachian Spring" and "Hérodiade"; her script for "Night Journey"; and her handwritten notes for "American Document".
- Graham danced and taught for over seventy years.
- Graham was the first recipient of the American Dance Festival's award for her lifetime achievement in 1981.
- She was the first dancer to perform at the White House, travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and receive the highest civilian award of the US: the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction(by President Gerald Ford). The First Lady Betty Ford had danced with Graham in her youth. Ford declared her "a national treasure".
- Graham's choreographies span 181 compositions.
- In 1998 Graham was posthumously named "Dancer of the Century" by Time magazine, and one of the female "Icons of the Century" by People.
- In 1984 Graham was awarded the highest French order of merit, the Legion of Honour by then Minister of culture Jack Lang.
- Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide.
- In 1957, Graham was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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