Martha Graham Dance Company: American Legacies
$55+
- Mannes Orchestra, guest artists
In a season entitled “American Legacies,” the Company explores Martha Graham’s relation to Americana and Modernism. Graham works to be performed include her visceral masterwork The Rite of Spring, her extraordinary collaboration with Aaron Copland and Isamu Noguchi, Appalachian Spring, and her joyous Satyric Festival Song, danced by special guest star FKA twigs.
Two explosive new additions to the repertory will shine light on uniquely American themes. The Company will present a production of Agnes de Mille’s 1942 classic Rodeo, with Aaron Copland’s iconic score reorchestrated for a Bluegrass ensemble, presenting the ballet in a way that explores the Black origins of that musical form. The dance will be paired with a new work by Jamar Roberts with a commissioned score by Grammy-winning composer Rhiannon Giddens.
Music for the Graham classics will be performed live by The Mannes Orchestra under the direction of David Hayes.
4/17: Rodeo (de Mille), New Work (Roberts), Maple Leaf Rag (Graham)
4/18 (Gala): Satyric Festival Song (Graham), Maple Leaf Rag (Graham), The Rite of Spring (Graham)
4/19: Appalachian Spring (Graham), New Work (Roberts), The Rite of Spring (Graham)
4/20: Rodeo (de Mille), New Work (Roberts), CAVE (Shechter)
Programming subject to change.
About Martha Graham Dance Company
Martha Graham and her Company have expanded contemporary dance’s vocabulary of movement and forever altered the scope of the art form by rooting works in contemporary social, political, psychological, and sexual contexts, deepening their impact and resonance.
Always a fertile ground for experimentation, Martha Graham Dance Company has been an unparalleled resource in nurturing many of the leading choreographers and dancers of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Merce Cunningham, Anna Sokolow, Erick Hawkins, Pearl Lang, Sir Robert Cohan, Donald McKayle, Elisa Monte, Jacquelyn Buglisi, Paul Taylor and many others.
Graham’s repertoire of 181 works has also engaged noted performers such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Claire Bloom, Margot Fonteyn, Liza Minnelli, Rudolf Nureyev, Maya Plisetskaya, and Kathleen Turner. Her groundbreaking techniques and unmistakable style have earned the Company acclaim from audiences in more than 50 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
https://marthagraham.org/