Category: Martha Graham Dance Company

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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.

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Martha Graham at City Center

Martha Graham Dance Company. April 14th at the New York City Center.

My favorites tonight were “Ekstasis” and the “Rite of Spring”. The former is the most incredible articulation of the human hip movement. The latter is an emotional journey constructed as much from body movements as from the sound of bodies impacting the floor.

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Martha Graham at City Center

Martha Graham Dance Company. April 13th at the New York City Center.

My favorites of tonight’s program were “Mosiac” by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui that mixed various dance genres and “The Legend of Ten” by Lar Lubovitch where the dancers flowed across the stage like ocean waves… gentle yet powerful at once.

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The Rite of Spring

“The Rite of Spring” by the Martha Graham Dance Company.

WOW! What a stunning studio rehearsal on Wednesday. The music “the Rite of Spring” by Igor Stravinsky was strong, but Martha Graham’s dancing was even more powerful.

Right from the beginning, this choreography commanded an incredible amount of energy with the men entering the stage, striking the floor, and stumping in unison. The movements, the music, the percussive sounds, the breathing, and the juxtapose of the individual dancers’ emotions and the geometric patterns that make up the soulless ritual … all came together to tell the story of the young woman sacrificed in a primitive savage ceremony. The sacrifice, danced by Charlotte Landreau, was stunning in her performance with her fear, her sorrow, and her determination — to fight for a meaning of her life. Bravos.

Don’t miss the Martha Graham Dance Company season “Sacred/Profane” at @nycitycenter on April 11-14!!