Martha Graham Dance Company
The legendary Martha Graham Dance Company, the oldest American modern dance company, takes to the stage of La Fenice – fifty-one years after its last appearance in the lagoon city – to celebrate the centenary of its foundation. Acclaimed for their exceptional technique and expressive depth, the dancers present three of Graham’s creations, all of which have gone down in the history of modern ballet, offering the rare opportunity to enter the visionary world of the great choreographer, whose legacy continues to fascinate audiences around the world. Diversion of Angels (1948), to the music of Norman Dello Joio, investigates – through three pairs of dancers – three different modes of love: romantic, mature and adolescent. Lamentation (1930), to the gloomy notes of Zoltán Kodály, is a choreographed solo, during which, with stylised movements, the dancer’s body expresses the very essence of pain. Chronicle (1936), to music by Wallingford Riegger, depicts the reaction to the threat of fascism in Europe by Martha Graham, who had previously refused to participate in the Olympics in Nazi Germany. In addition to these historic choreographies is Imagine, a new production by the American choreographer Hope Boykin, with music by Leonard Bernstein, proposed in an arrangement by Christopher Rountree.