Martha Graham's Greek Myth-Based Dances and Her Collaboration with Isamu Noguchi

(Hardback)

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Shining a light on an understudied avenue of classical reception in the performing arts, this book considers how the long artistic collaboration between one of the greatest dancers and choreographers of recent times and the designer with whom she worked most often, can inform a deeper understanding of how artists today refashion and retune their audience's appreciation of classical antiquity. In her many classicaly inspired dances, all of which are discussed in this book, Martha Graham transformed Greek myth creating a woman-centered reception of antiquity. In Night Journey, her dance based on the Oedipus myth, Jocasta is the central figure, not Oedipus. In "Errand of the Maze" Ariadne takes centre stage. It is Clytemnestra and not Agamemnon, who dominates Graham's retelling of the Oresteia.

This interest in female figures is an important part of Grahams re-visioning of classical antiquity and grew, at least in part, out of her interest in choreographing specifically for herself, as a dancer. Her interpretations provide a provocative view of Greek myth that counters the traditional privileging of the male, and result in a special resonance for contemporary audiences. But the effect of these transformations of Greek mythology is magnified particularly by the influential set designs and stage creations of Japanese-American sculptor and designer, Isamu Noguchi. Ancona therefore considers each dance through the lens of their collaboration, considering how in every case Noguchi reinforces Graham's particular interpretations of her ancient material.

Informed by traditional classical and dance research, as well as by interviews with people from the dance and art worlds who curate the legacy of these dances and their creation, this is a vital work of interdisciplinary scholarship that introduces the classicist to a rich new chapter in classical reception, while informing dance specialists about the classical background of Grahams use of Greek myth.

Author Bio

Ronnie Ancona is Professor of Classics at Hunter College and City of New York Graduate Center, USA. Her books include Time and the Erotic in Horaces Odes (1994), textbooks on Catullus and Horace, and co-editor of Gendered Dynamics in Latin Love Poetry (2005).