MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY
Philadelphia, PA
Suzanne Roberts Theater
Saturday January 4, 2025
8:00 PM
For any questions about these program notes, please contact:
Lauren Mosier, Company Manager
212.229.9200
[email protected]
MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY
Artistic Director
Janet Eilber
Executive Director
LaRue Allen
The Company
Lloyd Knight
Xin Ying
Leslie Andrea Williams
Anne Souder
Laurel Dalley Smith
So Young An
Richard Villaverde
Devin Loh
Antonio Leone
Meagan King
Ane Arrieta
Zachary Jeppsen-Toy
Amanda Moreira
Jai Perez
Ethan Palma
Major support for the Martha Graham Dance Company is provided by
Arnhold Foundation
Howard Gilman Foundation
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs In partnership with the New York City Council
New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the New York State Legislature
National Endowment for the Arts
The Shubert Foundation
The Artists employed in this production are members of the American Guild of Musical Artists AFL-CIO.
In the tradition of its founder, the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance remains committed to being a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and anti-racist organization, and will honor this pledge through its ongoing practices, policies and behaviors.
Copyright to all Martha Graham dances presented held by the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, Inc.
All rights reserved.
ERRAND INTO THE MAZE
Choreography by Martha Graham
Music by Gian Carlo Menotti†
Lighting by Lauren Libretti
Costumes by Maria Garcia
Premiere: February 28, 1947, Ziegfeld Theatre, New York City
There is an errand into the maze of the heart’s darkness in order to face and do battle with the Creature of Fear. There is the accomplishment of the errand, the instant of triumph, and the emergence from the dark.
So Young An
Antonio Leone
†Used by arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc., publisher and copyright owner.
CAVE OF THE HEART
Choreography and Costumes by Martha Graham
Music by Samuel Barber†
Set by Isamu Noguchi
Original lighting by Jean Rosenthal
Adapted by Beverly Emmons
Premiere: May 10, 1946, Columbia University, New York City
The Sorceress, Medea
Xin Ying
Jason
Lloyd Knight
The Princess, Creon’s Daughter
Laurel Dalley Smith
The Chorus
Anne Souder
Originally commissioned by the Alice N. Ditson Fund, Columbia University.
†Medea, Opus 23, used by arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc., publisher and copyright owner
NOTES ON THE REPERTORY
ERRAND INTO THE MAZE (1947)
Errand into the Maze premiered in 1947 with a score by Gian Carlo Menotti, set design by Isamu Noguchi and starring Martha Graham. The duet is loosely derived from the myth of Theseus, who journeys into the labyrinth to confront the Minotaur, a creature who is half man and half beast. In Martha Graham’s retelling of the tale, it is a woman who descends into the maze to confront the Creature of Fear. The duet can be interpreted as a metaphor for the psychological state of a woman who must face her own fears. The current production of Errand into the Maze is stripped of the classic production elements, in order to focus on the dramatic, physical journey of the choreography itself.
CAVE OF THE HEART (1946)
Premiered at Columbia University in 1946 and originally entitled Serpent Heart, this dance is a psychological study of the destructive powers of love, the dark passions that guard the human heart, coiled like a serpent ready to strike when attacked. Medea, princess of the kingdom of Colchis, was known as a sorceress. Pierced by Cupid’s bow, she fell in love with the adventurer Jason and used her magical powers to help him gain the Golden Fleece. Sacrificing all that was dear to her, she fled with him to his home in the kingdom of Corinth, where they lived as man and wife and had two small children. But Jason was ambitious, and when offered the Princess of Corinth in marriage, he abandoned Medea. This is the moment in which Martha Graham’s dance begins. We see Medea’s dawning understanding that she has been betrayed and exiled from her home leading to her unstoppable course of revenge. The Chorus, foreseeing the tragedy about to be enacted, tries to prevent it, and suffers its unfolding. Graham’s dance confronts us with the horror of a woman so crazed by vengeance that she commits the unthinkable. She is the most detestable of beings, but she is not alien to us. In her exploration of these dark and primal passions Graham reveals the full range of what it is to be human. Ultimately this is a dance of transformation, as the Sorceress (Medea), cleansed by flames, is returned to her father the Sun.
—ELLEN GRAFF
ABOUT MARTHA GRAHAM
Martha Graham has had a deep and lasting impact on American art and culture. She single-handedly defined contemporary dance as a uniquely American art form, which the nation has in turn shared with the world. Crossing artistic boundaries, she collaborated with and commissioned work from the leading visual artists, musicians, and designers of her day, including sculptor Isamu Noguchi and composers Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and Gian Carlo Menotti.
Graham’s groundbreaking style grew from her experimentation with the elemental movements of contraction and release. By focusing on the basic activities of the human form, she enlivened the body with raw, electric emotion. The sharp, angular, and direct movements of her technique were a dramatic departure from the predominant style of the time.
Graham influenced generations of choreographers that included Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, and Twyla Tharp, altering the scope of dance. Classical ballet dancers Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, and Mikhail Baryshnikov sought her out to broaden their artistry. Artists of all genres were eager to study and work with Graham—she taught actors including Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Madonna, Liza Minnelli, Gregory Peck, Tony Randall, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, and Joanne Woodward to utilize their bodies as expressive instruments.
During her long and illustrious career, Graham created 181 dance compositions. During the Bicentennial she was granted the United States’ highest civilian honor, The Medal of Freedom. In 1998, TIME Magazine named her the “Dancer of the Century.” The first dancer to perform at the White House and to act as a cultural ambassador abroad, she captured the spirit of a nation. “No artist is ahead of his time,” she said. “He is his time. It is just that the others are behind the time.”
ABOUT THE COMPANY
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.
Today, the Company is embracing a new programming vision that showcases masterpieces by Graham alongside newly commissioned works by contemporary artists. With programs that unite the work of choreographers across time within a rich historical and thematic narrative, the Company is actively working to create new platforms for contemporary dance and multiple points of access for audiences.
Since its inception, the Martha Graham Dance Company has received international acclaim from audiences in more than 50 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The Company has performed at the Metropolitan Opera House, Carnegie Hall, the Paris Opera House, Covent Garden, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as at the base of the Great Pyramids in Egypt and in the ancient Odeon of Herodes Atticus theater on the Acropolis in Athens. In addition, the Company has also produced several award-winning films broadcast on PBS and around the world.
Though Martha Graham herself is the best-known alumna of her company, the Company has provided a training ground for some of modern dance’s most celebrated performers and choreographers. Former members of the Company include Merce Cunningham, Erick Hawkins, Paul Taylor, John Butler and Glen Tetley. Among celebrities who have joined the Company in performance are Mikhail Baryshnikov, Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, Maya Plisetskaya, Tiler Peck, Misty Copeland, Herman Cornejo and Aurelie Dupont.
In recent years, the Company has challenged expectations and experimented with a wide range of offerings beyond its mainstage performances. It has created a series of intimate in-studio events, forged unusual creative partnerships with the likes of SITI Company, Performa, the New Museum, Barney's, and Siracusa’s Greek Theater Festival (to name a few); created substantial digital offerings with Google Arts and Culture, YouTube, and Cennarium; and created a model for reaching new audiences through social media. The astonishing list of artists who have created works for the Graham dancers in the last decade reads like a catalog of must-see choreographers:
Kyle Abraham, Aszure Barton, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Lucinda Childs, Marie Chouinard, Michelle Dorrance, Nacho Duato, Mats Ek, Andonis Foniadakis, Liz Gerring, Larry Keigwin, Michael Kliën, Pontus Lidberg, Lil Buck, Lar Lubovitch, Josie Moseley, Richard Move, Bulareyaung Pagarlava, Annie-B Parson, Yvonne Rainer, Sonya Tayeh, Doug Varone, Luca Vegetti, Gwen Welliver and Robert Wilson.
The current company dancers hail from around the world and, while grounded in their Graham core training, can also slip into the style of contemporary choreographers like a second skin, bringing technical brilliance and artistic nuance to all they do -- from brand new works to Graham classics and those from early pioneers such as Isadora Duncan, Jane Dudley, Anna Sokolow, and Mary Wigman. “Some of the most skilled and powerful dancers you can ever hope to see,” according to the Washington Post last year. “One of the great companies of the world,” says The New York Times, while Los Angeles Times notes, “They seem able to do anything, and to make it look easy as well as poetic.”
BIOGRAPHIES
JANET EILBER (Artistic Director) has been the Company’s artistic director since 2005. Her direction has focused on creating new forms of audience access to Martha Graham’s masterworks. These initiatives include contextual programming, educational and community partnerships, use of new media, commissions from today’s top choreographers and creative events such as the Lamentation Variations. Earlier in her career, Ms. Eilber worked closely with Martha Graham. She danced many of Graham’s greatest roles, had roles created for her by Graham, and was directed by Graham in most of the major roles of the repertory. She soloed at the White House, was partnered by Rudolf Nureyev, starred in three segments of Dance in America, and has since taught, lectured, and directed Graham ballets internationally. Apart from her work with Graham, Ms. Eilber has performed in films, on television, and on Broadway directed by such greats as Agnes de Mille and Bob Fosse and has received four Lester Horton Awards for her reconstruction and performance of seminal American modern dance. She has served as Director of Arts Education for the Dana Foundation, guiding the Foundation’s support for Teaching Artist training and contributing regularly to its arts education publications. Ms. Eilber is a Trustee Emeritus of the Interlochen Center for the Arts and was recently honored with a Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Juilliard School. She is married to screenwriter/director John Warren, with whom she has two daughters, Madeline and Eva.
BEN SCHULTZ (Rehearsal Director) joined the Company in 2009 and serves as rehearsal director for the company. He’s danced lead roles including King Hades in Clytemnestra, Jason in Cave of the Heart, and Shaman in The Rite Of Spring. He premiered Martha Graham’s work in Russia performing Errand into the Maze with prima ballerina Diana Vishneva at the Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg. He’s also performed with Buglisi Dance Theater, Hannah Kahn Dance Company, and The Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble. Currently he’s on staff at both The Martha Graham School and The Alvin Ailey School teaching the Martha Graham technique for pre professional students and divisions.
LLOYD KNIGHT joined the Company in 2005 and performs the major male roles of the Graham repertory including in Appalachian Spring, Embattled Garden, Night Journey and many others. Dance Magazine named him one of the “Top 25 Dancers to Watch” in 2010 and one of the best performers of 2015. Mr. Knight has starred with ballet greats Wendy Whelan and Misty Copeland in signature Graham duets and has had roles created for him by such renowned artists as Nacho Duato and Pam Tanowitz. He is currently a principal guest artist for The Royal Ballet of Flanders directed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Born in England and raised in Miami, he trained at Miami Conservatory of Ballet and New World School of the Arts.
XIN YING joined the Company in 2011 and performs many of Martha Graham’s own roles including in Herodiade, Errand into the Maze, Chronicle, Lamentation, Deep Song, and Cave of the Heart. Ms. Xin has also danced solo roles in Clytemnestra and Diversion of Angels. She has been featured in works created for the Company by Nacho Duato, Pontus Lidberg, Annie-B Parson, Kyle Abraham, Liz Gerring, Maxine Doyle and Bobbi Jene Smith. Ms. Xin also starred in the Chinese production Dreams and has been commissioned to create new choreography for Co•Lab Dance. Her Instagram account, on which she posts her own improvisations, has thousands of followers.
ANNE SOUDER joined the Company in 2015 and performs Martha Graham's own roles in Dark Meadow Suite, Chronicle, Deep Song, and Ekstasis. Roles have also been created for her by such luminaries as Marie Chouinard, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Maxine Doyle and Bobbi Jene Smith. Ms. Souder began her training in Maryville, Tennessee and graduated from the Ailey/Fordham BFA program with a double major in Dance and Theology while performing works by Alvin Ailey, Ron K. Brown, and more. She was also a member of Graham 2 and awarded a Dizzy Feet Foundation scholarship.
LAUREL DALLEY SMITH joined the Company in 2015. Performing principal roles in Appalachian Spring, Steps in the Street, Errand into the Maze, Cave of the Heart and Diversion of Angels. Also Creating new roles with contemporary choreographers Hofesh Schechter, Pam Tanowitz, Bobbi Jene Smith, Annie B Parsons amongst others. Laurel guests internationally with award winning LA/UK based Yorke Dance Project, performing work created on her by Yolande Yorke Edgell and Sir Robert Cohan. Laurel recently created the role of Ariadne in Deborah Warner’s World premiere of ‘Minotaur’, choreography by Kim Brandstrup.
SO YOUNG AN, a native of South Korea, joined the Company in 2016 and dances featured roles in Graham ballets as well as new works. Ms. An is the recipient of the International Arts Award and the Grand Prize at the Korea National Ballet Grand Prix. She has danced with Korean National Ballet Company, Seoul Performing Arts Company and Buglisi Dance Theatre. She has also performed works by Yuri Grigorovich, Jean-Christophe Maillot, Mats Ek, Patricia Ruanne and Samantha Dunster.
ANTONIO LEONE, a native of Italy, graduated from the Rudra Bejart School in Switzerland. In 2021 he joined Graham 2 and the main company in 2022. He performs featured roles in Errand into the Maze and Diversion of Angels by Martha Graham, as well as roles in works by Agnes DeMille, Sonya Tayeh and Yin Yue. He is the first male dancer with CRDance and a Pearl Lang Award recipient for Excellence in Performance.
Staff
LaRue Allen, Executive Director
Janet Eilber, Artistic Director
Ben Schultz, Rehearsal Director
Blakeley White-McGuire, Rehearsal Director
Simona Ferrara, General Manager
Lauren Mosier, Company Manager
A. Apostol, Director of Development Operations
Fran Kirmser, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Special Events
Melissa Sherwood, Director of Marketing
Joyce Herring, Director of Martha Graham Resources
Chloe Morrell, Production Supervisor
Yi-Chung Chen, Resident Lighting Designer
Becky Nussbaum, Associate Lighting Supervisor
Gabrielle Corrigan, Wardrobe Supervisor
Karen Young, Costume Consultant
Ashley Brown, Director of School
Tami Alesson, Dean of Students and Government Affairs
Virginie Mécène, Program Director/Director of Graham 2
Lone Larsen, Program Director
Amélie Bénard, Teens@Graham Program Director
Ana Sanchez, School Assistant
Camille Nemoz, Administrative Assistant
Janet Stapleton, Press Agent
Regisseurs
Miki Orihara
Virginie Mecene
Peggy Lyman
Peter Sparling
Blakeley White-McGuire
Elizabeth Auclair
Lone Larsen
Tadej Brdnik
Masha Maddux
Maxine Sherman
Martin Lofnes
Anne Souder
PeiJu Chien Pott
Amelie Bernard
Board of Trustees
Javier Morgado, Chair
Lorraine Oler, Immediate Past Chair
Barbara Cohen, Vice Chair
Inger Witter, President
Judith G. Schlosser, Chair Emeritus
LaRue Allen, Executive Director
Janet Eilber, Artistic Director
Amy Blumenthal
Ayse Dizioglu-Koyluoglu
Geoffrey D. Fallon
Russell Guthrie
Christine Jowers
Irina Nuzova
Nichole Perkins
Stephen M. Rooks
Lori Sackler
Lawrence Stein
Ellis Wood
North American Representation
Rena Shagan Associates, Inc.
(www.shaganarts.com)
International Representation
LaRue Allen
Executive Director
([email protected])
Alumni Search
If you or someone you know has ever performed with the Martha Graham Dance Company or attended classes at the Martha Graham School, please send us names, addresses, telephone numbers and approximate dates of membership. We will add you to our alumni mailing list and keep you apprised of alumni events and benefits. Call +1.212.229.9200 or e-mail [email protected].
The Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance is a not-for-profit corporation, supported by contributions from individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies. Contributions in support of the Martha Graham Center will be gratefully received at the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, Inc., 55 Bethune Street New York, NY 10014, or visit www.marthagraham.org/contribute.
For more information, visit www.marthagraham.org
