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In 1927, Japanese artist Michio Ito presented his solo work Tango to a New York City audience. Though he dressed the part of a tango dancer, it was not a strict representation of the form. An abstract piece, it was crafted with powerful, sweeping gestures with rhythmic footing. This was not Ito’s debut performance—he had […]
This spring, the Martha Graham Dance Company (MGDC) will revisit Bennington College for the first time in decades, offering a residency, conversation, and performance of Graham classics and new works in celebration of the company’s 100th anniversary. Dance students from the college’s BA and BFA programs are set to perform Panorama, Graham’s groundbreaking call to […]
During a time when universities were just beginning to offer dance degrees, Bessie Schönberg invigorated the study of dance composition in higher education. She was a celebrated composition teacher at Sarah Lawrence College for nearly 40 years, known for championing her students’ individuality. A revered mentor, she helped shape the creative work of four generations […]
Erick Hawkins made modern dance history as the first male dancer accepted into Martha Graham’s company, but he also earned success as a choreographer and creator of the Hawkins technique. His movement was characterized by a free-flow aesthetic—one that required hidden strength—and informs many of the somatic disciplines we know today, like Body-Mind Centering technique. […]
“The body never lies,” Martha Graham famously said. With these four words and her stage work, Graham brilliantly countered the fixed belief that the body and mind are separate entities. Inspired by this revolutionary view, Marian Chace (1896–1970), who briefly studied with Graham, began exploring the mind-body interrelationship on a very different stage—the wards of […]
When teaching, Terese Capucilli frequently talks about the image of a beautiful terrace garden. “At the base of it is all of these memories as a child, and all of this learning. You can develop the garden through your life, but always reach back and find those roots.” Citing her mentor, Martha Graham, she adds, […]
Like a pearl, an artist who can devote herself equally to performing, choreographing, and teaching, is uniquely rounded. Pearl Lang (1921–2009) was such a person, and she made no hierarchical distinctions in her three-pronged career. Lang’s devotion to her craft led her to become one of the mid-century’s most heralded modern dancers and choreographers, famous […]
I came to New York after I finished high school in Tokyo, in 1979. I didn’t know much about New York or the dance scene there. I got my student visa through the Joffrey Ballet School, and I started to take modern class at The Ailey School. After auditioning, I got a scholarship to Ailey […]
Originally published in print August 2015 Anna Sokolow (1910–2000) was a prolific choreographer fiercely committed to social justice and unafraid to deal with difficult subjects in her work—like war, poverty, isolation and strife. Born in Connecticut to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Sokolow moved to New York City as a child and studied dance at an after-school […]
Martha Graham Dance Company created The EVE Project to mark the upcoming 100th anniversary of U.S. women’s right to vote. The female-focused initiative includes new works, as well as the company’s classic repertoire highlighting Martha Graham’s heroines and antiheroines. In April, the company is showing the newly reconstructed Circe, Graham’s 1963 interpretation of the Greek […]