Speaking to a non-specialist audience, Dorothy Bird discusses modern dance with particular reference to Martha Graham, in whose company she danced in the 1930s. The presentation, illustrated by slides and demonstrations by two young dancers, includes a capsule history of ballet, but focuses mainly on Graham and her predecessors and contemporaries: Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Doris Humphrey, José Limón, Helen Tamiris. Bird explores the relation of modern dance and the works of modern artists (Rodin, Picasso, Giacometti, Käthe Kollwitz, Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, and others), and guides the demonstrators through examples of Graham's exercises, both technical and expressive. She shares many memories of working with Graham, Louis Horst, Humphrey, Limón, and others. The lecture-demonstration concludes with a piece choreographed by Bird.