How did audiences react to Martha Graham’s early experimental dances?

Following her 1926 debut as an independent artist, Martha Graham’s early experimental works were initially met with positive reception, as critics described her as graceful and lyrical. However, this changed significantly with her 1927 concert program. For more than a decade, her original choreography was frequently criticized as being "ugly, stark, and obscure."

Audiences were generally unimpressed by these experimental performances, and she faced ridicule from both famous and unknown dancers and theatregoers alike. During this period, Graham famously referred to her own work as her "period of long woolens," a nod to the simple jersey dresses she wore in many of her dances, which stood in stark contrast to the exotic costumes and elaborate staging of her previous work at Denishawn.1