"...a fascinating evening"

July 1, 2005 performance, reviewed by Connell McGrath

This season Martha Graham Dance Company returns to Jacob's Pillow to present an historical retrospective of its prolific founder's legacy. The evening included pieces from all stages of her career as well as pieces choreographed by her teachers, Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis.

The program, called Prelude and Revolt: Denishawn to Graham, is most interesting as a live performance archive. It is a fascinating evening for those of us interested in the history and early development of modern dance, and in the work of Pillow founder Ted Shawn. As dance itself, it is uneven with moments of excellence preceded and followed by stretches of dated and melodramatic work.

The first half of the evening's performances were accompanied by Pat Daugherty on piano, and one piece had Elizabeth Mann on flute.

The first three works are archival curiosities of most interest to those who frequent the Pillow with its larger-than-life portraits hanging in the main theater of Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis. They are The Insense (1906), choreographed by St. Denis, and Gnossienne (1919) by Ted Shawn (set to Erik Satie's sublime piano work by the same name). Serenata Morisca (1916) is a modern dance reworking of middle eastern motifs with choreography attributed to Ted Shawn and "reconstructed by Martha Graham."

Three Gopi Maidens (1926), the first dance choreographed by Graham alone, is derivitive of her teachers' styles in that it represents the dance styles of other cultures and is mostly decorative and superficial. It reminds me of silent movies from the 20s set in the sands of Araby.

After these four mercifully short works from the St. Denis/Shawn/Graham archives, the program comes alive with Lamentation (1930), Satyric Festival Song (1932, "reconstructed" in 1994 by Diane Gray & Janet Eilber) and Steps in the Street (1936). In four short years between when she made Gopi Maidens and Lamentation, Graham comes into her own as an artist. Lamentation has substance and a spare, modern sensibility. For its time it was a daring challenge and it holds up today as an engaging and thoughtful work.

Satyric Festival Song is funny and entertaining, but it, too, breaks from the decorative pieces from the Denishawn era. Steps in the Street (excerpted from Sketches from Chronicle, a study of social injustice) is a masterpiece made for the entire company. It demonstrates Graham's considerable ability make full use of the stage for many dancers. It is the highpoint of the evening.

After intermission, the Company presents Errand into the Maze (1947) from the prime of her career and one of her last dances, Acts of Light (1981). Errand... is made to music of Gian Carlo Menotti by the same name and a set by Isamu Noguchi. Acts of Light takes as a starting point the following Emily Dickenson writing: "Thank you for all the beautiful acts of light which beautified a summer now past to its reward." There is a wistful and nostalgic air to much of the piece, as if Graham were conscious that this may be her last work and wished to bid a fond and positive farewell. It ends on a joyous dance by full company called Ritual of the Sun. These pieces show Graham's commitment to expressing emotion and ideas through movement, and to making profound, socially significant work.

The primary impetus to this program is aptly summarized by the following 1937 quote from Graham herself (found in Norton Owen's liner notes): "It is a mistake to believe that modern dancing is something unrelated to anything that has gone before. It is only by knowing the rules that it becomes possible to break and change them."

Martha Graham Retrospective
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