'Dancing' Google Doodle honors Martha Graham

Search giant Google paid tribute Wednesday to legendary choreographer Martha Graham with a dance-themed animated doodle. Visitors to Google's home page (www.google.com) were greeted with an image of a woman sitting, then moving and making several dance moves. Clicking on the animation or the Google logo will lead to a search results page on Graham, who would have turned 117 on May 11. Google said that the brief animation was the work of Ryan Woodward, who had been behind various animation works ranging from Looney Tunes to Ironman 2 to Spider-man 3. "Hope you guys like the Google Doodle I did in commemoration of legendary Martha Graham. This was released on May 11, 2011 on Google.com. I 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!" Woodward said on his home page. A Wikipedia entry on Graham described her as "a galvanizing performer, a choreographer of astounding moves." "She invented a new language of movement, and used it to reveal the passion, the rage and the ecstasy common to human experience. She danced and choreographed for over seventy years, and during that time was the first dancer ever to perform at The White House, the first dancer ever to travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and the first dancer ever to receive the highest civilian award of the USA: the Medal of Freedom," it said. — TJD, GMA News