Martha Graham Dance Company a Hit at Staller Center

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By Alison Prelusky Staff Writer 

In 1926, a woman named Martha Graham formed a classroom, a workspace, and living quarters from a small Carnegie Hall studio in midtown Manhattan. From these humble beginnings grew a company that would soon push the boundaries of movement as a means of artistic expression and modern dance as an art form would never be the same. Martha Graham spent seventy years of her life experimenting, choreographing, and teaching dance; her career yielded 181 different ballets, and the “Martha Graham Technique” became a style renowned by dancers and dance enthusiasts the world over. She was recognized as one of People magazine’s “Icons of the Century,” and was named “Dancer of the Century” by Time magazine in 1998. On Saturday, October 22nd, Stony Brook’s own Staller Center had the privilege of hosting a performance by the Martha Graham Dance Company.

The evening began with four short solo pieces, all performed by women. The first was Serenata Morisca (1916), which was set to piano music but maintained a very Middle Eastern feel, in both style and costume. The soloist’s movements were very feminine yet commanding and were complimented by the jingling of her coin jewelry. The bright, dynamic mood of this piece was starkly contrasted by the second piece of the night, Lamentation (1930), a piece in which the costume is as important in conveying meaning as the choreography itself. The soloist is wrapped up in stretchy purple fabric, and throughout the entire piece seems to be trying to break free of it, while slow but tense piano music adds to the struggle. She stands up, and through intense strain comes very close to liberating her body from the web of fabric, but she eventually seems to give in, and almost embraces it. She finishes by sitting back down on the bench, her body scrunched down and defeated. The grave seriousness of this performance was quickly contrasted by following piece, Satyric Festival Song (1932), which was created by Ms. Graham in response to critics’ accusations of her being “too serious.” A solo flute served as musical accompaniment as the soloist performed, clad in a dress striped in black and bright green. The light feeling of the piece was wonderfully conveyed by movement that incorporated some brief periods of stiff, robotic movement, only to be followed by a bounciness that resembled a person laughing. The relaxed atmosphere of the piece was accentuated by the soloist’s long, loose hair being tossed about, and the audience reacted by letting more than a few giggles escape. A serious mood quickly returned to the stage with the fourth solo piece of the night, Deep Song (1937). Fascism and the Spanish Civil War served as the inspiration for this dance, where the soloist is wearing a long black and white dress and begins the piece by sitting on a bench, much like in Lamentation. Throughout the performance, she is constantly stretching and reaching, looking as though she is trying to unsuccessfully grab a hold of something. As the piece goes on, accompanied by percussive and short piano notes, the soloist actually incorporates the bench into her dancing; she crawls under it and even lifts up one end, and then leans against it while turning it around in a complete circle. The piece ends with her seeming to be attached to the bench, and trying in spastic movements to escape it, but failing.
 The final dance before the show’s intermission was Cave of the Heart (1946), a piece based on the Greek myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece. The characters were Jason, Medea the Sorceress, the Princess, and the Chorus (played by one woman). This was the first piece of the night that used an actual set – there was a throne, a silver tree-like sculpture, and a series of small platforms that resembled stepping stones. The dance told the story of Medea falling in love with Jason and using her powers to help him obtain the Golden Fleece; however, Jason falls in love with the Princess, and the jealous Medea uses her powers to destroy the Princess. All the while, the Chorus knows exactly what tragic events are about to unfold, and she tries to prevent the characters from going through with their actions. The dancers’ costumes added to the beauty of the piece, with both Medea and the Chorus in flowing dresses, and Jason and the Princess scantily clad in a red loincloth and a small toga, respectively. Toward the end of the piece, one of the props was actually picked up and utilized by the dancers, which added a new element to the already expressive piece.
The end of intermission ushered in the beginning of Steps in the Street (1936), a piece which serves to illustrate the atrocities of war. This dance featured an all-woman cast of eleven, all clad in simple black dresses. It begins with the dancers shuffling onto the stage in synchronization, two by two, with no music. As they make their way across and exit, a single woman is left alone on the stage, and it is then that the music begins to play. She begins dancing, but the rest of the women shuffle out onstage once again; this repeats continually for the duration of the piece. The soloist keeps getting caught up in their zombie-like movements, but is struggling to escape from their repetitive march to no avail. The piece ends with her being ushered off the stage with the rest of the group as she is still fighting their manipulative movement.

Acts of Light (1981) was the final piece of the night, and involved the entire dance company. There were three movements to this particular piece, the first of which was entitled Conversation of Lovers. This piece began with six men, wearing white pants, and one woman, wearing a red toga, moving across the stage in synchronization. Eventually everyone is gone except for the woman, and she is suddenly joined by a man also clad in red. They engage in a passionate dance together, incorporating many movements that are mirror-images of one another, and a feeling of romance and flirtiness is wonderfully conveyed to the audience. The second movement of the piece was Lament, which one would expect to have similar qualities of Lamentation; however, this was certainly not the case. Lament is performed by a woman in a flowing, ghost-like white costume, and she performs her entire dance while surrounded by four men, who are clad in black loincloths. The men all face her, and do various poses in synchronization with one another as she moves around the stage in creeping, defeated movements. She ends up dancing with each of the men; they oblige her as she goes to them, and she is even lifted into the air many times, but the piece ends with the men leaving her alone onstage. She does a small solo, and ends the piece by kneeling on the floor. The final movement of the evening is Ritual of the Sun, and this movement incorporated eighteen of the company’s twenty-three members. Every dancer in this movement wore the same costume, which gave the piece a very bright and vivid feel. Most of the piece consisted of all eighteen dancers out onstage, facing the audience and doing all sorts of poses and movements in perfect synchronization. The dancers were even breathing in perfect synchronization, which was highly audible to those of us sitting toward the front of the theatre. This movement had a very joyous and “sunny” feel to it, which was a wonderful way to end the evening’s performance.
Naturally, as curtain calls came, the audience was not hesitant to make the dancers fully aware of how worthy of our attention they were. The wide variety of choreography, costumes and music served as quite a palate in showcasing the capabilities of the human body in the expression of art.