An animated Google Doodle on the search giant's homepage today celebrates what would have been the 117th birthday of dancer and choreographer Martha Graham.
The animation begins with a dancer on the far right of the homepage performing one of Graham's signature works. She morphs into another dancer and then another, until there are five figures spelling out the Google logo with their movement.
Graham was born in 1894 and is known for creating a completely new style of dance in the 1920s and 1930s. She started her own dance company in 1926 and created 181 dances throughout her life, until she passed away in 1991. Some of her most well-known works are charted in today's Google Doodle.
The first image is the shrouded figure from "Lamentation," Graham's well-known solo from 1930. According to the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, the solo was Graham's desire to "chart a graph of the heart" with her dances.
"The innovative costume, a tube of stretchy wool, accentuates the torque and pull of the movement, becoming the sculptural evocation of grief itself," the center said.
The second image is from 1932's "Satyric Festival Song," in which Graham mocked the new-found fame she had gained from works like "Lamentation." It also takes its inspiration from the clown figures used in Native American ritual, showcasing her love of all things American southwest.
The dancer then spins to her knees and reaches forward to re-enacts the bride role from "Appalachian Spring," a ballet she created in 1944. Graham collaborated with composer Aaron Copland and sculptor Isamu Noguchi for a work they all considered to be their contributions to the war effort, the center said.
The bride then jumps, her legs rising above the two "Os" in the Google logo for Graham's famous "contraction" move. This particular doodle image is from 1947's "Night Journey," which tells the story of Oedipus through flashbacks from his mother and wife, Jocasta.
Finally, the doodle ends "with a sweep of the skirt and the determined finish—feet planted firmly, head erect and focused." The young woman is from 1935's "Frontier" solo, which "reminds us of Graham's reverence for individualism and self-empowerment and of her unquenchable 'appetite for the new,'" according to the center.
For more, the slideshow above.
The animation is the brainchild of artist Ryan Woodward, who was inspired by Blakeley White-McGuire, a principal dancer with the current Martha Graham Dance Company.
"It was really great to work with Dancers and Choreographers from the Martha Graham Dance Company in New York on this. Martha was an incredible artist," he said on his Web site.
The 2011-2012 touring season for the Martha Graham Dance Company kicks off on July 1 in Barcelona and will make stops around the globe before ending with a one-week run at New York's Joyce Theater in March 2012.
Google, meanwhile, has made headlines for its own in-house homepage doodles, including an interactive undersea-themed drawing in honor of author Jules Verne's 183rd birthday and 17 holiday-themed doodles that were live for two days in December. Earlier this week, Google.com also featured 16 homepage doodles in honor of what would have been the 76th birthday of children's author Roger Hargreaves, who wrote the Mr. Men and Little Miss series.
Recently, it was revealed that Google obtained a patent for its popular homepage doodles, covering "systems and methods for enticing users to access a Web site."
For more on Google's doodles, see the slideshow below.