Experience the world-class Martha Graham Dance Company as part of TPAC’s International Dance Series Friday January 31 at 7:30 PM and at 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM on Saturday, February 1 in Polk Theater. The Martha Graham Dance Company has been a leader in the evolving art form of modern dance since its founding in 1926. It is both the oldest dance company in the United States and the oldest integrated dance company. During its 90-year history, the Company has received acclaim from audiences and critics in more than 50 countries. Today, it is embracing a new programming vision that showcases masterpieces by Graham alongside newly commissioned works by contemporary artists.
The program consists of four pieces, as follows:
“We the People” is a dance of 21st Century Americana that references and reverberates with our history. Its new score by Rhiannon Giddens, as arranged by Gabe Witcher, offers the historic sound of American folk music. Its acclaimed choreographer Jamar Roberts has said, “‘We the People’ is equal parts protest and lament, speculating on the ways in which America does not always live up to its promise. Against the backdrop of traditional American music, ‘We the People’ hopes to serve as a reminder that the power for collective change belongs to the people.”
CAVE – This high-energy work by Hofesh Shechter emerged out of an idea brought to the Graham Company by international dance star Daniil Simkin. Simkin was interested in taking dance that is part of the techno club scene to a new level and finding a way to integrate choreographed movement into a rave style event. As a prelude to this larger idea, Hofesh Shechter was invited to create a dance for the proscenium stage for the Graham dancers. The result is a visceral collective movement experience with a powerful, swirling shared kinetic energy.
“Appalachian Spring” (the classic) Choreography by Martha Graham; Music by Aaron Copland. “Appalachian Spring” tells the story of a young frontier couple on their wedding day. Created as the war in Europe was drawing to end, the ballet captured the imagination of Americans who were beginning to believe in a more prosperous future, a future in which men and women would be united again. Themes from American folk culture can be found throughout the dance. Aaron Copland weaves a Shaker tune, “Simple Gifts,” throughout his luminous score, while Martha Graham’s choreography includes square dance patterns, skips and paddle turns and curtsies, even a grand right and left. The spare set by Isamu Noguchi features a Shaker rocking chair. With its tale of a new life in a new land, the dance embodies hope. Critics have called “Appalachian Spring’ “shining and joyous,” and “a testimony to the simple fineness of the human spirit.”
“Immediate Tragedy” – Martha Graham created this solo in 1937 in reaction to the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War. We see the woman in “Immediate Tragedy” as a universal figure of determination and finally, resilience. The dance was notable and well received, but when Graham stopped performing it in the late 1930s, the solo was forgotten and considered lost. In 2020, Janet Eilber reimagined the choreography for “Immediate Tragedy” using recently discovered photos of Graham in a 1937 performance, and many other archival references. A new score was created by Christopher Rountree inspired by pages of music hand-written by composer Henry Cowell, which were found in the Graham archives. Martha described her inspiration for this dance in a letter to Cowell, “whether the desperation lies in Spain or in a memory in our own hearts, it is the same. I felt in that dance I was dedicating myself anew to space, that in spite of violation I was upright and that I was going to stay upright at all costs”
CHICAGO is still the one musical with everything that makes Broadway shimmy-shake: a universal tale of fame, fortune, and all that jazz, with one showstopping song after another and the most astonishing dancing you’ve ever seen. In the whirlwind of Chicago’s Jazz Age, two of the Cook County Jail’s most notorious murderesses—vaudeville star Velma Kelly and chorus girl Roxie Hart—become fierce rivals as they compete for headlines amidst a media frenzy.
Broadway’s longest-running musical has been razzle dazzling audiences for 27 years, and after more than 10,000 performances, 6 Tony Awards®, 2 Olivier Awards, and a Grammy®, they’re just getting started. Come on, babe! Head to CHICAGO! They’re hotter than ever. Performances are Tuesday, January 28 through Saturday, February 1 at 7:30 PM nightly; Saturday at 2:00 PM and Sunday, February 2 at 1:00 PM in Jackson Hall.
