Ruth Leon recommends… Martha Graham Dance Company – Jacob’s Pillow
Ruth Leon recommendsMartha Graham Dance Company – Jacob’s Pillow
Martha Graham, who died in 1991 aged 96, was perhaps the most important American dance innovator of the 20th century. She totally remade the way the body is used in movement by inventing and performing The Graham Technique, still taught and imitated throughout the world.
A great dancer herself, but only in her own style, she made modern dance accessible and available to audiences, first in America, then all over the world. Important artists such as the sculptor Isamu Noguchiand the composer Aaron Copland made work to complement her dances, designed her costumes, competed to photograph her, and added to her aura. She was something completely different and she built on her own performing success by forming the Martha Graham Company in her own image, to dance works which she choreographed, a company which has outlived her and continues to perform her dances. She was unique.
The Martha Graham Dance Company is still a world leader in the ever-evolving art form of modern dance. Today, the company is embracing a fresh vision that showcases Graham masterworks alongside newly commissioned works by contemporary artists.
Featuring the company’s performance of “Errand into the Maze” (1947) and “Cave of the Heart” (1946), both Greek-themed works by Martha Graham with sets by Noguchi, and the hit of its 2022 New York season: Hofesh Shechter’s dazzling “CAVE,” inspired by communal nightlife dancing and the Rave scene, you can relive the magic of this stunning show from anywhere in the world on Jacob’s Pillow On Demand. Martha Graham Dance Company was filmed live during Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival 2023.
Purchasing this stream allows for an unlimited number of viewing sessions. Streaming now through February 4, 2024
$15
Martha Graham was a theatrical genius, a Shakespeare (or Sophocles) of Modern Dance. Not only that, she had great taste in music and commissioned the best composers. An interesting note is that she had a roommate who was a harp student of Carlos Salzedo, who knew Nijinski and Adolf Bolm, and when he saw Martha dance, he recommended her for the Guggenheim Fellowship that launched her career.