Martha Graham Dance Company
The legendary Martha Graham Dance Company takes to the stage at the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice in a performance of American modern ballet. With a programme that is both powerful and poetic, this theatrical event constitutes a rare opportunity to witness the visionary world of Martha Graham in such a renowned auditorium. This extravaganza includes a selection of three of the most iconic dances from the Graham repertoire, Diversion of Angels, Lamentation and Chronicle, plus En Masse, a newer work choreographed by Hope Boykin.
With music by Norman Dello Joio, Diversion of Angels was first performed at the Palmer Auditorium of Connecticut College on 13 August 1948. The choreography explores the eternal theme of love through Graham's interpretation of colour. The Couple in Red represent romantic love, while the Couple in White suggest a more mature loving relationship. There is another pair of dancers, the Couple in Yellow, who represent a flirtatious and adolescent kind of love. Graham has said she was struck by the artist Wassily Kandinsky and his use of colour at the time she choreographed it, something that inspired her to create the dance.
The next piece is Lamentation with music by Zoltán Kodály, the twentieth-century Hungarian composer and friend of Béla Bartók. This dance premiered on 8 January 1930 at Maxine Elliott's Theatre in New York City, twenty years after Kodály's Piano Piece, Op. 3, No. 2 was composed, excerpts from which are used in this ballet. The dance offers many of Graham's signature choreographic motifs and is notable because the lead dancer remains seated throughout the performance. Dramatic shapes are made with the costume, leading to an intense experience that expresses grief as an almost pure emotion.
Chronicle, the third Graham-choreographed dance on the programme, premiered on 20 December 1936 at the Guild Theater in New York. Set to music by the American composer, Wallingford Riegger, Graham described the modern ballet as a response to fascism in Europe at the time – she had, that year, already turned down an invitation to take part in the Berlin Olympics. Originally divided into five sections, Chronicle has been reconstructed by the company and is now performed in three parts.
The final ballet is En Masse, which features two musical works inspired by Leonard Bernstein, both arranged by Christopher Rountree. One is For Martha (Variations on a Theme by Leonard Bernstein), which is based on a short piece Bernstein created for Graham herself. The other is titled Suite for Dance from Mass, crafted by Rountree on extracts from Bernstein's Mass. The ballet was choreographed by Hope Boykin for the Martha Graham Company. Bernstein and Graham had collaborated with one another in the 1980s but, in the end, nothing was completed. This dance partially resolves that with a dance featuring the company she founded and the memorable music of one of the United States' most iconic composers.
The Martha Graham Company is renowned for its attention to technique and this modern balletic performance at Venice's La Fenice Theatre highlights its expressive depth, too.