UMS Concert Program, November 5, 1979: International Presentations Of Music & Dance -- Martha Graham Dance Company

Season: 101st
Concert: Twenty-second
Power Center For The Performing Arts Ann Arbor, Michigan

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THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Martha Graham Dance Company
MARTHA GRAHAM, Artistic Director
RON PROTAS, General Director and Associate Artistic Director LINDA HODES, Associate Artistic Director
Settings: Isamu Noguchi, Ming Cho Lee, Marisol
Lighting: Jean Rosenthal, Gilbert V. Hemsley, Jr., Nicholas Cernovitch Costumes: Martha Graham, Halston
The Dancers:
Christine Dakin Yuriko Kimura Peggy Lyman Susan McLain
Thea Nerissa Barnes Charles Brown David Brown Jacqulyn Buglisi Terese Capucilli Donlin Foreman Judith Garay
Elisa Monte Bert Terborgh Tim Wengerd George White, Jr.
Helen Jones Kevin Keenan Jean-Louis Morin Jeanne Ruddy Philip Salvatori Sharon Tyers Allen Von Hackendahl
Monday Evening, November 5, 1979, at 8:00
Power Center for the Performing Arts
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tonight's performance is one of three by the Martha Graham Dance Company com?prising a dance residency with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Michigan Council for the Arts.
101st Season -Twenty-second Concert Ninth Annual Choice Series
FRESCOES
Music by Samuel Barber Choreography by Martha Graham
Lighting by Nicholas Cernovitch Costumes by Halston
Premiere: December 9, 1978
First Fresco
Isis................................................ Christine Dakin
Osiris ............................................... Charles Brown
Second Fresco, "Give me some music. . . ."
Cleopatra .............................................. Peggy Lyman
Antony................................................Tim Wengerd
Third Fresco
Isis................................................ Christine Dakin
Osiris ............................................... Charles Brown
Fourth Fresco, "Give me my robe, put on my crown. . . ."
Cleopatra .............................................. Peggy Lyman
Antony................................................Tim Wengerd
Isis................................................ Christine Dakin
Osiris ............................................... Charles Brown
Chorus: Thea Barnes, David Brown, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Terese Capucilli, Donlin Foreman, Judith Garay, Helen Jones, Kevin Keenan, Susan McLain, Jean-Louis Morin, Jeanne Ruddy, Philip Salvatori, Bert Terborgh, Sharon Tyers, Allen Von Hackendahl, George White, Jr.
Two Arias from Antony and Cleopatra by courtesy of G. Schirmer, Inc.
Frescoes was commissioned by Drs. Arthur M. Sackler, Mortimer D. Sackler, and Raymond R. Sackler to mark the dedication of the Sackler Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, Inc. wishes to express its deep appreciation to Halston for his contribution of the costumes for this production.
INTERMISSION
ERRAND INTO THE MAZE
Music by Gian Carlo Menotti Choreography and Costumes by
Set by Isamu Noguchi Martha Graham
Original Lighting by Jean Rosenthal
Premiere: February 28, 1947
This is an errand into the maze of the heart's darkness in order to face and do battle with the Crea(,ure of Fear. There is the accomplishment of the errand, the instant of triumph, and the emergence from the dark.
Peggy Lyman George White, Jr.
Used by arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc. Choreography copyright 1976 by Martha Graham
INTERMISSION
ECUATORIAL
Music by Edgar Varese Choreography by Martha Graham
Set by Marisol; Costumes: Capes by Marisol,
Associate designer, Karen Schulz Executed by Halston
Other costumes by Halston
Lighting by Gilbert V. Hemsley, Jr.
Premiere: June 27, 1978
As long as the tribe shall live. . . .
Celebrant oj the Moon .................................. Elisa Monte
Celebrant oj the Sun.................................... Tim Wengerd
Used by arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc., agents for E. C. Kerby, Ltd. Choreography copyright 1978 by Martha Graham
Martha Graham has dedicated Ecuatorial to a dear and cherished friend, Alice Tully. Deep appreciation is expressed to Halston for his contribution of the costumes for this production.
PAUSE
DIVERSION OF ANGELS
Music by Norman Dello Joio Choreography and Costumes by-
Original Lighting by Jean Rosenthal Martha Graham
Premiere: August 13, 1948
"The city seemed to stand in Eden or to be built in Heaven. . . . The dust and stones of the streets were as precious as gold . . . Eternity was manifested in the light of day and something infinite beyond everything appeared, which talked with my expectation and moved my desire . . . The Men! Immortal Cherubim! And young men glittering, and sparkling angels, and maids seraphic pieces of life and beauty. Boys and girls, tumbling in the streets and playing, were moving jewels. I knew not that they were born or should die ... The streets were mine, the temple was mine, their clothes and gold and silver were mine, and so were the sun and moon and stars, and all the world was mine, and I the only spectator and enjoyer of it."
Thomas Traherne
Diversion oj Angels is a lyric ballet about the loveliness of youth, the pleasure and playfulness, quick joy and quick sadness of being in love for the first time. It tells no story, but like a lyric poem, simply explores its theme.
Susan McLain Christine Dakin Terese Capucilli
Donlin Foreman Charles Brown Bert Terborgh
Judith Garay Helen Jones Sharon Tyers Kevin Keenan
Used by arrangement with Carl Fischer, Inc. Choreography copyright 1976 by Martha Graham
On March 5, 1979, Martha Graham traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the National Endowment for the Arts appropriations. Following are excerpts from her statement to the Subcommittee:
I am a dancer. I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one's being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes in some area an athlete of God.
I think the reason dance has held such an ageless magic for the world is that it has been the symbol of the performance of living. Many times I hear the phrase ... the dance of life. It is close to me for a very simple and understandable reason. The instrument through which the dance speaks is also the instrument through which life is lived . . . the human body. It is the instrument by which all the primaries of experience are made manifest. It holds in its memory all matters of life and death and love. Dancing appears glamorous, easy and delightful. But the path to the paradise of that achievement is not easier than any other. There is fatigue so great that the body cries, even in its sleep. There are times of complete frustration, there are daily small deaths. Then I need all the comfort that practice has stored in my memory, and a tenacity of faith that Abraham had wherein he "Staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief."
It takes about ten years to make a mature dancer. The training is two-fold. There is the study and practice of the craft in order to strengthen the muscular structure of the body. The body is shaped, disciplined, honored and, in time, trusted. Movement never lies. It is the barometer telling the state of the soul's weather to all who can read it. This might be called the law of the dancer's life . . . the law which governs its outer aspects.
Then there is the cultivation of the being. It is through this that the legends of the soul's journey are re-told, with all their gaity and all their tragedy, the bitterness and sweetness of living. It is at this point that the sweep of life catches up the mere personality of the performer and while the individual (the undivided one), becomes greater, the personal becomes less personal.
And there is grace. I mean the grace resulting from faith . . . faith in life, in love, in people, in the act of dancing. AH this is necessary to any performance in life which is magnetic, powerful, rich in meaning.
It has not been an easy path for me to work to present my ballets before the public while maintaining a standard of honor to my craft. I know very well what it is to scrub my own studio floors and to teach eight hours of class a day so that at the end of the year I might give one Broadway performance a year; a performance which was of necessity given on a Sunday, the then dark night of the theatre. From that period I certainly did not emerge with a belief that there was a virtue in poverty. And yet at that early period of my career, something gave me the wisdom or common sense to understand that if subsidy came too soon, it would weaken me, prevent me from practicing dangerously my craft.
Today there is more dance practiced in the world, more highly trained dancers than ever before. It gives me great joy to see this happen and to know that an audience might night after night, rather than once each year, experience a dance performance.
There is a fragment of poetry which has always had deep meaning for me. It referred to a long lost civilization:
"They had no poet and so they died. For the record of history lives in the Arts."
Even as I write this statement time has begun to make today yesterday . . . the past. Even the most brilliant scientific discoveries will in time change and perhaps grow obsolete, as new scientific manifestations emerge.
But Art is eternal; for it reveals the inner landscape which is the soul of man.
Martha Graham
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 Phones: 665-3717, 764-2538