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Martha Graham Dance Company
The Martha Graham Dance Company, founded in 1926, is known for being the oldest American dance company. Founded by Martha Graham as a contemporary dance company, it continued to perform pieces, revive classics, and train dancers even after Graham's death in 1991. The company is critically acclaimed in the artistic world and has been recognized as "one of the great dance companies of the world" by the New York Times and as "one of the seven wonders of the artistic universe" by the Washington Post. Many of the great 20th and 21st century modern dancers and choreographers began at the Martha Graham Dance Company including: Merce Cunningham, Erick Hawkins, Pearl Lang, Pascal Rioult, Miriam Pandor, Anna Sokolow, and Paul Taylor. The repertoire of 181 works also includes guest performances from Mikhail Baryshnikov, Claire Bloom, Margot Fonteyn, Liza Minnelli, Rudolf Nureyev, Maya Plisetskaya, and Kathleen Turner. Her style and technique, the Graham technique, is recognized in 50 countrie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martha Graham "Every Soul"
Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness to Jesus resurrecting her brother, Lazarus. Etymology of the name The name ''Martha'' is a Latin transliteration of the Koine Greek Μάρθα, itself a translation of the Aramaic מָרְתָא ''Mârtâ,'' "the mistress" or "the lady", from מרה "mistress," feminine of מר "master." The Aramaic form occurs in a Nabatean inscription found at Puteoli, and now in the Naples Museum; it is dated AD 5 (Corpus Inscr. Semit., 158); also in a Palmyrene inscription, where the Greek translation has the form ''Marthein.'' Pope, Hugh"St. Martha" The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1919. Biblical references In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus visits the home of two sisters named Mary and Martha. The two sisters are co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judith (ballet)
''Judith'' is a solo work created by dancer/choreographer Martha Graham. William Schuman composed the music. Charles Hyman designed the original set, which was replaced almost immediately by one conceived by Isamu Noguchi. He also added jewelry and a headdress. Jean Rosenthal provided the lighting. The piece premiered on January 4, 1950, at the Columbia Auditorium in Louisville, Kentucky.Belfy, Jeanne Marie. (1991). ''Judith and the Louisville Orchestra: The Rest of the Story''. College Music Symposium 31. College Music Society: 36–48. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40374124. Concept and theme The idea for a "dance concerto" was proposed by Louise Kain, a patroness of the arts and a board member of the Louisville Philharmonic Society. She suggested Graham perform with the musicians in the manner of a musical concerto, with the dancer replacing the solo instrument. The plan was met with enthusiasm by all parties. Taken from the deuterocanonical books of the Bible (Apocrypha), the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Errand Into The Maze
''Errand into the Maze'' is a Martha Graham ballet based on a poem by Ben Belitt set to music by Gian Carlo Menotti. The surrealistic set was designed by Isamu Noguchi, the costumes by Graham herself. The dance uses the Greek myth of Ariadne and the Minotaur to explore the theme of conquering one’s inner demons, more specifically the fear of sexual intimacy. The piece premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre on February 28, 1947, with Graham as the protagonist, a sort of female Theseus, and Mark Ryder as the Minotaur-like character. ''Errand into the Maze'' is one of the choreographer's best-known and most popular ballets. It remains in the Martha Graham Dance Company repertory. Plot The original program notes describe the action as “that errand-journey into the maze of the heart to face and do battle with the Creature of Fear.” Barely fifteen minutes in length, Errand into the Maze is designed almost as a solo work, with the bull-horned, staff (bone)-carrying Creature of Fear se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Night Journey (ballet)
''Night Journey'' is a Martha Graham ballet performed to music by William Schuman with costumes designed by Graham and a set by Isamu Noguchi. Commissioned by the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation of the Library of Congress, the work premiered on May 3, 1947, at Cambridge High School in Boston, Massachusetts. ''Night Journey'' is the third of Graham's dances derived from Greek mythology, following '' Cave of the Heart'' and ''Errand into the Maze''. Theme, synopsis and original cast Graham based the 30-minute-long ballet on a fragment of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Original program notes explain "the action takes place in Jocasta's heart at the instant when she recognizes the ultimate terms of her destiny." The original cast members were Graham in the role of Queen Jocasta and Erick Hawkins as King Oedipus. Mark Ryder as the blind Seer ( Tiresias) was accompanied by the Daughters of the Night ( Furies), a chorus of six women: Pearl Lang, Yuriko, Ethel Winter, Helen McG ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cave Of The Heart
''Cave of the Heart'' is a one-act ballet choreographed by Martha Graham to music (''Medea'' suite) by Samuel Barber.Martha Graham Dance Company Repertory http://marthagraham.org/press-presenters2/repertory It was first performed on May 10, 1946, with the title ''Serpent Heart'', at the second annual Festival of Contemporary American Music in the McMillin Theater of Columbia University. ''Serpent Heart'' was commissioned by the festival sponsor, The Alice M. Ditson Fund.John Martin, ''Ballet by Graham in World Premiere'', ''The New York Times'', May 11, 1946 http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200153626/pageturner.html Overview The piece is loosely based on Euripides' tragedy ''Medea''. The choreography is rich in Jungian symbolism, an important influence on Graham. According to the 1946 program notes, the work is “much like the myth of Jason, the warrior hero, and Medea, granddaughter of the sun…a dance of possessive and destroying love…” The four-person or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salem Shore
''Salem Shore'' is a solo modern dance work choreographed by Martha Graham to original music by Paul Nordoff. The piece premiered on December 26, 1943 at the 46th Street Theater in New York City. The ballet featured costumes by Edythe Gilfond and a set by Arch Lauterer. Program notes accompanying the first performance described the dance as "a ballad of a woman's longing for her beloved's return from the sea." Theme, structure and critical reception The dance takes place on a minimal set evoking the New England shoreline. At center stage, sits a large twisted wreath of driftwood. Off to one side a small railing juts out, an abstraction of the widows' walks that punctuate the roof lines of the region's coastal homes. Another stylized architectural fragment approximates the outlines of a ship. Clad in a plain dark dress, the soloist jumps in and out of the driftwood hoop, lifting her skirt and the letting it fall with a nervous plucking motion. Intermittently, she crosses to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Appalachian Spring
''Appalachian Spring'' is a musical composition by Aaron Copland that was premiered in 1944 and has achieved widespread and enduring popularity as an orchestral suite. The music, scored for a thirteen-member chamber orchestra, was created upon commission of the choreographer and dancer Martha Graham with funds from the Coolidge Foundation. It was premiered on Monday, October 30, 1944, at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., with Martha Graham dancing the lead role. The set was designed by the American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Copland was awarded the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his achievement. Music In 1942, Martha Graham and Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge commissioned Copland to write a ballet with "an American theme". Copland did the bulk of the work in 1943–44, and the work was premiered at the Library of Congress on October 30, 1944, with Graham dancing the lead role. In 1945, Copland was commissioned by conductor Artur Rodziński to rearrange the ballet as an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
El Penitente
''El Penitente'' is a modern dance work by Martha Graham performed to music by Louis Horst. It premiered on August 11, 1940, at the Bennington College Theater, Bennington, Vermont, with costumes by Edythe Gilfond and a set by Arch Lauterer. Isamu Noguchi later redesigned the set and created a new mask. Theme, structure and original cast The ballet’s theme is taken from the Penitente religious traditions of the American Southwest in which believers expiate their sins through extreme penance, including mortification of the flesh. Its structure is derived from the mystery plays of the Middle Ages, in which small groups of traveling performers reenact scenes from the Bible. The original cast members were Graham as the Mary Figures ( Virgin, Magdalene and Mater Dolorosa), Merce Cunningham as the Christ Figure and Erick Hawkins as the self-flagellating Penitent. In 1947, Graham relinquished the portrayal of Mary to Pearl Lang, marking the first time a "Graham" role was pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ron Protas
Ron Protas is the former Associate Director of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance and heir of modern dance choreographer Martha Graham. Agnes de Mille writes in ''Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham'' that in the late 1960s Protas, who had been a law student at Columbia University, became introduced to the Martha Graham Dance Company. De Mille writes that Protas was not well liked by company members, as he was not a dancer and had no reason to be involved with the company. Initially, Graham did not like Protas. But when Graham's health began to fail, as a result of her alcoholism and depression over having to retire from her performing career, Protas stepped in and nursed Graham back to health. De Mille writes that over the next several years the influence of Protas grew, eventually he and Graham restructured the company entirely. According to de Mille, Protas soon embarked on a campaign to copyright the Martha Graham Dance Technique: "Now, under the guidance o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Document
''American Document'' is a modern dance work choreographed by Martha Graham in response to rising Fascism in 1930s Europe. The piece premiered on August 6, 1938 at the Vermont State Armory in Bennington, Vermont. The ballet features spoken word excerpts from the United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence and Emancipation Proclamation, among other texts. The set was created by Arch Lauterer; the costumes were designed by Edythe Gilfond. The original music was written by Ray Green. Graham extensively reworked the choreography in 1989. John Corigliano's Oboe Concerto replaced Green's music for the revised version. Theme and characters The idea for the ballet came to Graham as she listened to the Axis powers, Axis nations' "vicious and terrifying" propaganda on the radio. It occurred to her that American democracy had a repository of words with "the power to hearten men and move them to action." The original program notes state," Our documents are our leg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frontier (ballet)
''Frontier'' is a solo dance choreographed by Martha Graham to music by Louis Horst. The set was designed by Isamu Noguchi; Graham created the costume. The work began as an ensemble piece, ''Perspectives: Frontier and Marching Song'' also known as ''Frontiers (Perspective No. 1)'' and ''Frontier''. The ballet's ''Marching Song'' portion was set to music by Lehman Engle. The work premiered on April 28, 1935, at the Guild Theatre in New York City. By the end of 1935, Graham was performing ''Frontier'' exclusively as a solo. The piece was the first of her works to explore American identity through an archetypal character. Theme Approximately seven minutes in length, ''Frontier'' is the first of Graham's "American" modern dance works, a group that includes ''American Document'' (1938), ''American Provincials'' (1934), ''Panorama'' (1935), ''El Penitente'' (1940), ''Letter to the World'' (1940), '' Salem Shore'' (1943) and ''Appalachian Spring'' (1944). In its solo form, the piece ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
