The Martha Graham Dance Company will have a special engagement at The Joyce Theater from March 13-18, 2012. Inner Landscape, the latest offering in the company's innovative series of thematic performances including contextual media and narration, features the acclaimEd Graham psychological works in which she laid bare the human psyche. There will be two programs presented by the company as well as a Family matinee show on Saturday-March 17 at 2:00pm.
New works by Lar Lubovitch and Yvonne Rainer premiere on March 13 and 15. Both programs will open with an abstract film montage which overlays excerpts of Graham dancing her psychological works with moments from psychological films of the same era. Created by Peter Sparling, former Graham dancer and noted dance-film artist, the montage is reminiscent of America’s fascination with the new science of the mind became evident in popular culture.
Program A (Tuesday-March 13 at 7:30pm, Friday-March 16 at 8:00pm, Sunday-March 18 at 7:30pm) opens with the film, then Witch Dance, a seminal work by the German choreographer, Mary Wigman, a Graham contemporary. Witch Dance has been recreated by Mary Anne Newhall. The program continues with Every Soul is a Circus, combination A of the Lamentation Variations, and Night Journey, the Graham masterpiece based on the tragedy of Oedipus and Jocasta.
Program B (Thursday-March 15 at 8:00pm, Saturday-March 17 at 8:00pm, Sunday-March 18 at 2:00pm) will also open with the film followed by a solo from Lyric Suite by Anna Sokolow, a major 20th Century choreographer who began her career dancing in the Graham Company. The solo will be restaged for the company by Lori May. This will be followed by the Graham masterwork from 1944, Deaths and Entrances, combination B of the Lamentation Variations and Chronicle from 1936.
As part of the Graham Company’s annual commissioning of new work, these renowned choreographers will each create a Lamentation variation for the Company. The Lamentation Variations is a project started by the Company in 2007 in order to honor the victims of 9/11.
The Lubovitch and Rainer Variations will join variations by Richard Move, Larry Keigwin, Aszure Barton, all created in 2007, and by Bulareyaung Pagarlava created in 2009. A different combination of three variations will be performed on each program at the Joyce. The
Rainer Variation is a duet titled “Lamentable.” Lubovitch will create his variations for the Company in late February.
The Inner Landscape theme is latest in company’s new approach to programming. In recent years, the Graham Company has led the field of modern dance in its experiments with new forms of audience access. Following the success of its “Political Dance Project” of 2010, with it’s over-arching theme of political activism in dance, the Company has chosen Inner Landscape as the focus for its 2012 season. A great range of performances, partnerships and educational activities will explore the psychological aspects of dance and the great Graham masterworks in which she made the mind visible.
Ticket prices at The Joyce: $19, $35 and $59 (Prices subject to change based on demand) through JoyceCharge (212) 242-0800 and www.joyce.org.
