Following Footsteps
The Martha Graham Dance Co. presented a retrospective montage that covered Martha's artistic career, from its beginnings right up to her late works
Martha Graham had the rare ability to inspire her associates while defiantly doing things her way. Transformative people like her, and Balanchine to name another, leave behind disciples as well as techniques.
To put its 80th anniversary in perspective, the Martha Graham Dance Co. presented a retrospective montage that covered Martha's artistic career, from its beginnings with the Denishawn company in the early 20th century right up to her late works (she died in 1991, at age 96). They told the story using old film, photographs and performance re-creations, plus a concise, interesting text delivered by Janet Eilber, artistic director and former Graham principal dancer. The company is devoted not merely to the memory of Graham but to keeping her work alive, performed and understood. These dancers have archived, lived and assimilated it all.
Nothing composed by their Mistress is too obscure to warrant attention; in this historical survey, we got to see the virtually unknown Panorama from 1935. Thirty-three red-clad University of the Arts dance students marched in intersecting, martial lines with their elbows out striking heroic poses, as urgent and emphatic as Norman Lloyd's score. Officially this is "stoic commentary" on our Puritan heritage and treatment of black Americans. It was created about the time Martha turned down an opportunity to dance at Hitler's infamous 1936 Olympics. Whatever it meant, it looked good.
Two later works filled out the program and the story. In 1958's Embattled Garden, 64-year-old Martha ruminated on one of her favorite topics: sex. More than embattled, her Eden is downright crowded with Adam, Eve, Lilith and a stranger who slithers down Isamu Noguchi's stylized tree like a serpent. This is an overheated piece with much clutching and agonizing, and none of the simplicity of the earlier work highlighted in the montage.
1981's Acts of Light, created when Martha was in her late 80s, was the finale. The well-danced piece was performed by men in loincloths and ladies in Halston draperies. Carl Nielsen's music drove the movement like a movie score. It is over-the-top Martha, made when the great lady's need to create was greater than the need to edit.
Martha Graham Dance Co.
Nov. 8,Annenberg Center
Also In This Week's Arts Section
Comments
Be the first to comment on this article.