Martha Graham Dance Company Smiles at the Joyce

I've seen the company now four or five times--once when She was still alive. One time--I think it was at BAM--I had to hold back laughter at the melodrama and intense seriousness of the piece (this was during the funny Mark Morris era and when Pina Bausch was full of schtick, so one expected parody at dance and if it wasn't there, one placed it there). But I still think of Clytemnestra piece (with Christine Dakin) that I saw almost 15 years ago.

This reincarnation of the Company occurred at the Joyce, not my favorite theatre, though it is intimate, and under yet another artistic director and management team. I plan on writing AD Janet Eilber a letter.

Francis Mason, a venerable writer/reviewer of dance, was charming in introducing the evening but didn't really say anything to illuminate the dance or Martha Graham though it was interesting to hear that they drank bourbon together, no soda, in thick glasses with ice. He spoke how he was charmed by Martha when she appeared on his radio show in the early 70s, but forget to give us an example of her wit or verbal acumen. There was no insight or poignant remembrance.

The company is made up of strong dancers (I use strong deliberately as many of the male dancers are quite muscular, with admirable thighs and 6-packs). Yet not all of the dancers have entirely embraced the dances beyond getting all the steps and as a result sell the dance by tring to show exuberance in their faces, and even smiling! Imagine smiling in a mid-century modern dance piece! The point is to leave your face blank and perform the dance through your gestures and contractions and extensions, the dance is realized through the body not the face. At one point during "Diversion of Angels" I wanted to jump on stage, become Martha, and slap two of the dancers who were smiling. They looked like imbeciles. As D remarked being in such a small theatre made the smiles all the more annoying, for if we were looking down on the dancers we might not have seen their pasted on grins. At one point it became like the Cheshire cat, all smiles and no body.

Luckily when Cave of the Heart (a retelling of the Medea myth from 1946) was performed no one smiled, though I will say that Medea relied again too much on her face to show her rage rather than letting her inhabiting a Noguchi sculpture do the work. The other performers in this piece however kept their faces solemn and silent. Jason (Tadij Brdnik) was particularly intense and how about that fetishy costume! I love you Martha.

Now, the Times critic has repeated what is often said about Martha Graham's choreography--her best work was created before 1956. I don't exactly agree. The first piece last night--Acts of Light (from 1991)--contained some beautiful ritualistic moments when 5 male (and later female) moved across the stage without music in complete unison in simple lateral steps. When the women appeared to repeat the men's steps (much later in the piece), draped in mustard-colored fabric, I got goosebumps--the vision was so clear, a procession of the deepest layer of the psyche, ancient and current at once.