Press & Mentions

Martha Graham, sometimes referred to as the “Picasso of modern dance”, was the first dancer to perform at the White House in 1937 and travel abroad as an officially launched Cold War cultural ambassador. Victoria Phillips provides an overview of Graham's legacy for the History and Women blog.

“I saw it go up and now I have seen it come down. It makes me feel tri­umphant to think that noth­ing lasts but the spir­it of man and the union of man. Peo­ple cross the bor­der from East to West to shake the hands of those they have not seen before. In a way, they have become each other’s fron­tier.” – Martha Graham

All the Russias is delighted to feature excerpts from Martha Graham's Cold War: the Dance of American Diplomacy. This is Part I of a three-part series. The segment derives from the book’s coda, “American Document and American Icons: ‘Grahamizing and Americanizing’ the Russians for the Soviet Stage.” See Part II and Part III.

Victoria Phillips presented her new book, Martha Graham's Cold War: The Dance of American Diplomacy, to a packed house at the Maison Francaise. Her talk was followed by a lively panel discussion with Lynn Garafola, Professor Emerita of Dance at Barnard College, Richard R. John, Professor of Journalism at Columbia University, and Whitney Laemmli, Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. The even was moderated by Victoria de Grazia, Moore Collegiate Professor of History at Columbia University.

The National Museum of American Diplomacy at the State Department arranged a “Diplomacy After Hours” discussion on March 5, 2020, that focused on a new book by Victoria Phillips, Martha Graham’s Cold War: The Dance of American Diplomacy.  The event was hosted by Dr. Jane Carpenter-Rock, the Museum’s deputy director and the speaker at the May First Monday program on the projected presentation of Public Diplomacy at the museum.

In choreography that focused on women protagonists whose stories promoted timeless politics and cultural values, Graham’s work demonstrated the power of the free world.

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Columbia News recently spoke with Philips (GS’85, BUS’88, GSAS'08 and '13) about the book, her influences, and her teaching.

"… And here is another interwoven and weird story around Paulina’s Friends: a lecturer from NYC, who I missed to meet for a minutes, when she came to the countryside of Brandenburg in order to see a show.

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One day later, we met at her hotel in the downtown of Berlin for the first time. Victoria Phillips is a very special personality, and that’s why I decided to make an interview with her."

"At age ten, Dr. Victoria Phillips performed French courtroom dance. While studying Literature and Creative Writing in GS, working at the Columbia Business School, and observing classes there, Phillips became interested in stock picking. She therefore earned an M.B.A. from Columbia and went on to pursue a career on Wall Street."