Most small contemporary dance companies are supported by a variety of small dance foundations. These dance companies need dancers and, in turn, the dancers float from company to company, looking to perform with their favorite choreographers.
But this year is different. The Martha Graham Dance Company is celebrating its 100th anniversary as a small, talented dance company known and admired throughout the United States and all over the world.
One hundred is a special number connected to timelessness, but as I recently waited for the curtain to rise on a Sarasota performance of members of the Martha Graham Dance Company — sponsored by Sarasota Ballet — I found myself remembering quick, small moments of my own youthful days in the Graham Studio.
Among the Sarasota performances was Immediate Tragedy, Graham’s response to the Spanish Civil War. Originally performed in the 1930s, it has been reconstructed by artistic director Janet Ellber. The work is a halting, frenzied response to Graham’s fear and her underlying need to find a place where she belonged.
Henry Cowell’s original piano music had been reconstructed for it. Anne Souder, who has inherited Graham’s own focused performance, conveyed the strength and the simplicity of the connection between the sculptural, bold movements of the choreography and the halting sounds of a single piano.
The next piece on the program — We The People — was choreographed by Jamar Roberts to an inspired folk-sounding score by Rhiannon Giddens (arranged by Gabe Witcher). First performed two years ago, We The People has the contemporary, now-energy of young people dancing in clubs.
Roberts has peppered this work with stunning solos that eventually merge into the larger group of 12 dancers as they spread across the stage. This pattern continues highlighting both individual and group dynamics.
Clearly, Jamar Roberts is as gifted a choreographer as his dancers are in their movements. They demonstrated focus, strength and agility.
This ballet was both the surprise and the delight of the afternoon. Members of the audience added their voices as a barrel of bravos filled the air.
The last ballet on the program was Errand into the Maze, choreographed by Graham in 1947. It uses the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur as a narrative about a woman’ search for her own fears and understanding,
A two-episode documentary about the Martha Graham Dance Company will be shown on PBS on March 27, for dance aficionados who wish to learn more about her and her works.