Dancers Get Standing Ovation

After 85 years of performances, the Martha Graham Dance Company continues to produce standing ovations.

The dancers' brilliant and sophisticated techniques prove that contemporary dance is a form of expression that transcends time and appeals to its audience by capturing the emotions of social issues such as war and solitude.

Tuesday night’s performance in Reynolds Performance Hall was no different. Accompanied by the Conway Symphony Orchestra, the show included nine masterpieces presented by Janet Eilber, the artistic director. Eilber gave a brief explication of each piece and compared Graham’s achievements to those of Picasso, Stravinsky and Frank Lloyd Wright. The show also incorporated Graham’s voice recordings and videos.

One of the pieces was "Serenata Morisca" danced by Blakeley White-McGuire. Her skirt, clad with jingles on the edges, captivated the audience into a regal arabesque-style dance.

Perhaps the most intriguing performance was "Lamentation." This masterpiece, created by Graham, depicts sorrow, entrapment and solitude. The wave of emotions that emerge from this art form caused critics to fume over Graham’s audacity to revolutionize dancing.

"Steps in the Street" is a denunciation of war and the dancers slid onto the stage in swift movements while the orchestra began its drumming. Marching to the crescendo, the performers extended their arms forward in a sleep-walking motion and diverted in powerful ways to show that strength is needed in order to live in the streets.

"Diversion of Angels" was a performance broken into three stages of love: adolescent, erotic and pure love represented by the colors yellow, red and white, respectively. The progression of love was fluctuated through sudden, harsh movements followed by the graceful sweeps across the stage.

The longest piece, "Appalachian Spring," combined theatrical elements and told the story of a bride and groom who forgo difficulties before receiving the preacher’s blessing. The set had wood-like structures and the costumes of the dancers were much more elaborate with hats, ruffle dresses an bonnet hats. Through gestures and facial expressions the audience could see the hope of the American frontier represented in the couple. The music was composed by Aaron Copeland.

“My favorite piece was "Lamentation Variations" because it seemed more like an inner examination of the human soul," senior Catlin Ware said “It got really deep.”

The company was composed of Tadej Brdnik, Katherine Crockett, Jennifer DePalo, Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch, Maurizio Nardi, Miki Orihara, Blakeley White-McGuire, Jacqueline Bulnes, Lloyd Knight, Mariya Dashkina Maddux, Samuel Pott, Ben Schultz, Andrea Murillo, Lauren Newman, Xiaochuan Xie, PeiJu Chien-Pott, Iris Florentiny and Grace Song. The music director/conductor was Aaron Sherber.

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