Above: PeiJu Chien-Pott, principal dancer of the Martha Graham Dance Company
~ Author: Oberon
Thursday April 12th, 2018 - The Martha Graham Dance Company are at New York City Center for their 92nd season. This evening's program opened with a Bessie Award-winning reincarnation of a 'forgotten' Graham solo and ended with a powerfully-danced rendering of the choreographer's Rite of Spring. The Mannes Orchestra, under David Hayes' baton, were in the pit for the Norman Lloyd score of Panorama, and for the immortal Rite.
Ekstasis was a 'lost' ballet until former Graham principal Virginie Mécène set about re-imagining it. Working from photos and writings, Ms. Mécène set the solo on the uniquely radiant PeiJu Chien-Pott, using new music by the Catalan composer Ramon Humet. Ms. Chien-Pott danced the piece tonight, and - in a word - both dancer and dance are stunning.
Originally set to music by Lehmen Engle, Ekstasis premiered in New York City in 1933. In a 1980 interview, Martha Graham said that, at the time, she was "...experimenting with the thrust of the pelvis. Before Ekstasis, I had been using a more static form, trying to find a ritualistic working of the body,” she said. Thus in Ekstasis, Graham’s technique drawing on the center of the body - the pelvis - blooms. Ms. Mécène's rendering calls for movement that is at once earthbound and ecstatic.
Ramon Humet’s new musical setting for Ekstasis bubbles, drips, percolates, whines, and growls as the luminous Ms. Chien-Pott - in a pool of light, clad in form-fitting silver-white - begins to move her hips and torso whilst her arms and hands carve the air in evocative port de bras. As the dance progresses, sometimes in silence, the dancer becomes an icon of the feminine spirit: paradoxically seductive and chaste. As the lights faded, and then came up again, the audience unleashed a torrent of applause and cheers on Ms. Chien-Pott.
Watching Ekstasis this evening - my first viewing of it - it's easy to see why her performance of it won PeiJu Chien-Pott a 2018 Bessie Award. Brava! to both Ms. Chein-Pott and Ms. Mécène for restoring this Graham jewel to the repertory.
Above: from Panorama, photo by Robert Cooper
Performed to music by Norman Lloyd, Martha Graham's Panorama is set in three parts, "Theme of Dedication," "Imperial Theme," and "Popular Theme." Mobiles designed by Alexander Calder were part of the staging, with a set by Arch Lauterer, when Panorama was premiered on August 14th, 1935, at Bennington, Vermont. The work on that occasion was perfromed by 'Martha Graham and Group', with student dancers.
I first experienced Panorama in 2016 at a Graham|Deconstructed evening down at Westbeth. It made a very powerful impression, and I was particularly pleased to see it again tonight - it's ever so timely - danced by the Teens@Graham All-City Panorama Project, an ad hoc ensemble culled from our schools. There were a couple of young men among the bevy of women, all of them clad in vibrant red.
Marching motifs abound - sometimes marching in place - and sub-regiments form, disband, and re-mix in elaborately structured patterns. The music can sometimes turn more lyrical, and the entire ballet communicates with Graham's gestural vocabulary. At one point, everyone musters into a moving, stage-filling circle, a celebration of community.
A central adagio passage for five women shows them striking poses of power and affirmation before the entire ensemble return for a finale full of traveling leaps before the troops disperse. The dancers took their bows to great shouts of approval from the audience.
In recent weeks, we have seen an emergence of student activism in our country (down to the high school level) that recalls the protests of the Vietnam War era. It's a no-brainer that children should feel safe in their schools - in their lives, actually - and these young people are determined to make it so. Godspeed to them, and may their efforts prosper. Martha Graham's Panorama felt like a rallying point tonight.
Above: Lorenzo Pagano and Xin Ying in Lucinda Childs' Histoire; photo by Melissa Sherwood
Lucinda Childs' Histoire was commissioned for the Graham Company in 1999; it began life as a pas de deux, set to music by Krzysztof Knittel. Recently, Janet Eilber, the Company’s artistic director, discovered it in the Company’s archives and decided to ask Ms. Childs if she would extend it. These performances mark the premiere of the expanded version.
The 'new' Histoire begins with the original duet, then moves on to a 'second act' for eight dancers, set to music by Astor Piazzolla. The first couple return in the middle of part part two, but they are no longer joyful and carefree. Their relationship is now tense; at the end of the ballet, the men and the women walk off in opposite directions.
Xin Ying and Lorenzo Pagano danced the original duet tonight: a smooth, lush, and very attractive partnership, at times a bit playful and ever-full of obvious mutual affection. The movement is somewhat stylized, jazzy and easy-going, and for a time they dance in sync, underscoring their romantic harmony. The score - imaginatively featuring the harpsichord - and the fine lighting accentuate the airy sense of happiness.
The Piazzolla works (Milango and Soledad) engage us with the composer's familiar scoring for piano, violin, bass, and bandoneón. Six dancers appear - the Annes (Souder and O'Donnell), the Lloyds (Knight and Mayor), Marzia Memoli, and Ben Schultz - and the choreography takes on a ballroom-y aspect. When Ying and Lorenzo join them, there's tension in the air, some changing of partners, and a darkening of mood.
Above: Charlotte Landreau in Martha Graham's The Rite of Spring
As a spectacular finale to a fascinating evening of dance, the Company offered Martha Graham's The Rite of Spring - a big, bold, sexy setting of the once-controversial Stravinsky score. The choreography is demanding in the extreme, and it was gloriously danced this evening with all the passion and commitment that are the trademarks of the artists of this fantastic Company.
The beautiful French dancer Charlotte Landreau made a marvelous impression as The Chosen One; embodying the vulnerability and terror of the young woman about to be sacrificed, she danced and acted with an eerie sense of reality, as if these things were really happening to her. Mlle. Landreau's luxuriant blonde hair, let down as her ultimate fate drew nigh, became an element of the dance, putting me in mind of another tragic young damsel: Debussy's Mélisande.
A powerful foil to Mlle. Landreau's captivatingly doomed victim, the arrestingly handsome Abdiel Jacobsen - who comes to us from the Côte d’Ivoire - embodied the relentless priestly figure, patiently stalking his prey with implacable will. Their duet, fraught with sexual tension, kept the audience enthralled.
The choreography demands incredible energy and focus from the large ensemble, and the Company moved thru it with abounding energy and passion. Everyone deserves to be named: So Young-An, Laurel Dalley Smith, Natasha M Diamond Walker (appearing all too briefly, but we'll make up for that when she appears as Lilith in the second program), Marzia Memoli, Anne O'Donnell, Anne Souder, Leslie Andrea Williams, Leon Cobb, Alessio Crognale, Lloyd Knight, Jacob Larsen, Lloyd Mayor, Ari Mayzick, Lorenzo Pagano, and Ben Schultz.
Despite some truly annoying chatter that seemed to emanate from the tech table just a few rows behind us, Martha Graham's Rite of Spring shone as a dark and glorious treasure. Roses to Mlle. Landreau for her compelling portrayal, and cheers to all involved in this remarkably satisfying evening.
~ Oberon