FKA twigs Will Perform Martha Graham's Satyric Festival Song at MGDC Gala

The Martha Graham Dance Company has announced that global recording artist, creative director, and dancer FKA twigs will perform Martha Graham’s 1932 solo Satyric Festival Song as part of the Company’s Gala program on April 18, at New York City Center. Twigs is also one of the 2024 Gala honorees and is being recognized for her distinctive, interdisciplinary, and groundbreaking work in music and art.

“Twigs is someone I’ve long admired as a creative force and change-maker, so we were delighted to discover her personal interactions with our social media posts,” said Martha Graham Dance Company Artistic Director Janet Eilber. “We slid into her DMs to let her know that we wanted to honor her as one of today’s most engaging artistic innovators. That digital exchange inspired the idea of a performance by twigs IRL of Graham’s solo Satyric Festival Song. How appropriate that Martha’s quirky, sassy solo, which both mocked and celebrated her own artistic fearlessness, should be inhabited by one of today’s own multifaceted and charismatic trailblazers. We are thrilled to have twigs onstage for our annual Gala, April 18, which also happens to be the Company’s 98th birthday!” 

Twigs will perform Graham’s Satyric Festival Song, created in 1932 and originally part of a suite of solos entitled Dance Songs, on a program that also features the Martha Graham Dance Company in Graham’s powerful The Rite of Spring from 1984 and witty Maple Leaf Rag (1990), her last complete work, with music by Scott Joplin and costumes by Calvin Klein.

The 2024 gala continues the Martha Graham Dance Company’s longstanding tradition of honoring trailblazing women. This year’s honorees are FKA twigs; Dr. Donna E. Shalala, a nationally recognized scholar and leader in higher education and government, and Interim President of The New School; and Adriene Holder, Chief Attorney of the Civil Practice/The Legal Aid Society.  

The Gala is presented as part of GRAHAM 100, the Company’s three-year centennial celebration.

The performance will be followed by dinner and dancing at The Metropolitan Club. For Gala tables and tickets, please visit www.marthagraham.org/gala.

 Performance-only tickets are also available and can be purchased online at CityTix: 212-581-1212/ www.nycitycenter.org. New York City Center is located at 131 West 55th Street, NY, NY 10019.

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