Martha Graham Dance

Had a great time watching Martha Graham Dance at the Joyce Theater.

My favorites this afternoon go to Deo and Hérodiade.

Deo is a world premiere choreographed by Maxine Doyle and Bobbi Jene Smith featuring an all-female cast, and explores the relationship between mothers and daughters. I loved the incredible amount of energy in the piece. Sections of the dance reminded me of Pina Bausch’s the Rite of Spring. e.g., When the women came together and moved rapidly in a tight formation (into the ground, arms crossing their chest, beating their feet to create rhythm) and individual women broke out into their own solo. Even the opening scene, when all but one dancer were lying flat on the ground, felt powerful.

I also enjoyed seeing Martha Graham’s distinct movement vocabulary so vividly executed by Xin Ying and Anne Souder as a woman and her attendant in the 1944 choreography, Hérodiade.