Sat 1/31 @ 7:30PM
When people who aren’t especially well-versed in modern dance are asked to come up with the name of a major figure in that genre, there’s one name likely to come up vastly more often than any other: Martha Graham (1894-1991). The dancer, choreographer, teacher and leader of her own company which she founded in 1926, created a repertoire of movements that still pop up in most modern dance companies today; she virtually defined the genre. She performed for 70 years but not in Germany at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Although she was personally invited by Joseph Goebbels and assured that her Jewish dancers would be safe, she turned down the invitation. In 1938, she was the first dancer to perform at the White House at the invitation of the Roosevelts, which she accepted.
She continued to choreography until she died at the age of 96. Her disciples have preserved her work, and her company has outlived her. They will be performing in Cleveland for the first time in 19 years under the auspices of DANCECleveland as they celebrate their centennial. They will perform two of her signature pieces, her renowned 1944 piece Appalachian Spring, with music by Aaron Copland, and her 1930 work Lamentation with music by Zoltán Kodály. But they’ll also be bringing newer works , such as Jamar Roberts’ We the People, with a score by noted Americana music Rhiannon Giddens, and CAVE, choreographed by Hofesh Shechter. Local Case Western Reserve University dance students will appear in Steps in the Street.
They’ll perform at the State Theatre. Get tickets here.