Writing for this publication has brought so many pleasures and discoveries for this dance enthusiast. Maybe the biggest one was how much I love Martha Graham’s choreography. I admit I never saw much of her choreography before I started writing for Bachtrack. Now? I make it a point to see them every year.
This year, they had a brief residency at New York City Center. I went to their Gala performance, which was fairly short (about 80 minutes, no intermission) but meaty.
The program started with one of those celebrity collaborations that seem de rigueur for galas. In this case, singer FKA Twigs danced the brief solo Satyric Festival Song. It was a playful, lighthearted solo that (unusual for Graham) included hops, skips and smiles. Is FKA twigs a Graham dancer yet? Probably not, but it was fun nonetheless.
The next piece was one of Graham’s last. Maple Leaf Rag was choreographed in 1990, when Graham was 95 years old. It’s a 15-minute ballet set to songs by Scott Joplin. The curtain rises on a jogging board. The board serves both as a place for dancers to dance and to observe. In one sequence, Graham creates a play within a play, as some dancers sit on the board and watch other dancers carry on. Laurel Dalley Smith and Lloyd Knight were humorous and daft as the central couple.
The choreography is actually a clever parody of the Graham style. All the signature moves are there. The torso contortions, the dramatic leg raises, the overwrought duets, the long billowing gowns. Maple Leaf Rag is not a masterpiece, but it is a rare moment of lightness and humor from Graham.
The Rite of Spring is also a late Graham work. Graham was 88 years old. Igor Stravinsky’s famous, propulsive score has been catnip for choreographers. In fact, a young Martha Graham herself danced The Chosen One in Leonid Massine’s version. Everyone from Sir Kenneth MacMillan to Paul Taylor has tried their hand at the score.
Graham’s version follows the basic outlines of the story. The setting seems to be the American Western deserts. A sinister Shaman (Alessio Crognale-Roberts) lords over what looks like a labor camp. Men and women (in “topless” body suits) robotically and grimly go through the paces. The Chosen One (Xin Ying) struggles and is tortured (tied up with rope, thrown around by men) before dancing herself to death.
Xin Ying’s heroic performance anchored the entire evening. She was remarkable. Her face was expressive, as it cycled through the emotions of disbelief, terror, ecstasy and acceptance. She had the fierceness and authority of a true Graham dancer.
Otherwise, Rite of Spring was a bit overwrought. It starts off guns blazing, but has nowhere to go. There’s no crescendo of intensity, no suspense that maybe the Chosen One would escape. The joy was seeing the magnificent dancers of the company, and to hear the Stravinsky score live, even if the program was not A+ Graham.
