Martha Graham Dance Company

Martha Graham Dance Company
Skirball Center, NYU, NYC

April 18, 2006

Reviewed by Wendy Perron

Eighty years from the day of its first concert, the Martha Graham Dance Company celebrated its 80th anniversary with a gala of many choreographic jewels. Considering the Protas legal trials and the post-Protas artistic trials (what with the ousting of Terese Capucilli and Christine Daykin), they were celebrating their survival as much as their heritage.

High points were Katherine Crockett’s grief-stricken Lamentation (1930) and an excerpt of Clytemnestra (1958), which Fang-Yi Sheu tore through with a white-hot fury. And oh yes—the movie clip from White Christmas (1954) with Danny Kaye cavorting in mockery of Graham-style modern dance.

Francis Mason, head of the board, declared Graham to be the greatest artist in American history. Mikhail Baryshnikov joked, saying he had just been chatting with Martha backstage. And Martha herself did show up, in the form of Richard Move, that wickedly funny Graham impersonator. (The fact that he was invited into the bosom of the Graham company shows how times can change for the better.)

The evening started with dances by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn and ended with Graham’s uncharacteristically funny Maple Leaf Rag (1990). A rare performance of Graham’s Three Gopi Maidens (1926) showed that her early dances were just as scarf-driven and girly as those of her predecessor, Ruth St. Denis. (But let me note: Lloyd Knight as Krishna was terrifically sinewy.)

Graham dances demand a legendary strength through the center and urgency in performance. Some dancers had it and others didn’t. Heretic (1929) and excerpts from Appalachian Spring (1944), Dark Meadow (1946), and Chronicle (1936) all received strong but not outstanding performances.

The strangest offering of the evening was an excerpt of Part Real—Part Dream (1965). Two stars who bring their own worlds with them, Richard Move and Desmond Richardson, performed the cat-and-mouse duet. Although a black veil covered Move’s face, his/her desire for the glorious male figure standing on the bench was obvious. Richardson, with his arm changes stemming from deep in the back, danced the Graham idiom more powerfully than any of the men in the company.

The evening, directed by Patricia Birch (whose early career was in the Graham company), was designed to introduce Graham to new audiences. One hopes that it garnered widespread support for the company. See www.marthagraham.org/company.