 
Martha Graham’s Diversion
of Angels
Performed by American Ballet Theater
June 8, 2000
Metropolitan Opera House
by Chriselle Tidrick
One June 8, I had the opportunity to attend
American Ballet Theater’s performance of Martha Graham’s Diversion of Angels. Diversion is one
of Graham’s lighter works, exploring three aspects of first love— its
youthfulness, its passion, and its purity— without the looming sense of doom or pain
typical of many of her other works. While this was
certainly a better choice for ABT than the dark intensity of a work like Clyemnestra, the company’s performance left me
largely unfulfilled. And this mediocre performance
had an enormous impact on me in light of the recent closing of the Martha Graham Company
and School.
While the dancers of American Ballet Theater
are highly trained and do take modern dance classes to supplement their ballet training,
they are most accustomed to dancing in a style radically different from that developed by
Martha Graham. Generally speaking, ballet tends to
favor external movement. The center of the body is
held as still as possible to emphasize the positions of the arms and legs, as well as the
dancer’s use of dynamics, focus, and facial expression. Graham technique, on the other hand, is deeply internal,
both in the movement itself and in intention.
Movement is motivated from the center of the body and radiates outward. Thus, the movement of the pelvis and torso are central to
the technique. This reflects the idea behind the
movement— that passion and other psychological or emotional factors cause reactions
in the center of the human body, and these reactions then affect the rest of the body. The meaning, initiation, and sensation of movement in
ballet and Graham technique are then radically different, creating a challenge for the ABT
dancers.
In its performance of Diversion of Angels, ABT dancers executed the
movement smoothly and gracefully, exhibiting excellent extension and turnout. The design of the piece, including brilliant patterns in
space, was clearly maintained. However, the
intensity and impetus of the movement were largely lost by these dancers. The dancers were
not fully able to use their centers to motivate the movement they were performing,
resulting in an absence of emotional depth and sensitivity.
There was one exception, however. As The Woman in Red, Sandra Brown managed to capture the
sense of Graham’s technique. Her movement and
energy worked on a deeper level, as she utilized her center more fully and made the shift
from ballet to modern dance. Unfortunately, she alone could not carry the piece. |
This led me to
wonder whether it is reasonable to expect ballet dancers to successfully perform works in
Martha Graham’s style. This is not to blame
the dancers or to give the impression that they are shoddy performers; American Ballet
Theater is a brilliant company for ballet. Their production of Giselle brought me to tears. This season, Julio Bocca and Paloma Herrera’s Don Quixote was breathtaking as was Irina
Dvorovenko and Maxim Belotserkovsky’s Swan Lake. In Romeo and
Juliet, Julie Kent was the perfect embodiment of the teenaged Juliet, and in Le Corsaire Jose Carreņo hardly seemed to touch
the floor as his jumps and leaps soared with magnificence.
Moreover, Alessandra Ferri and Julio Bocca were brilliantly funny in their
impeccably timed performance of Taming of the Shrew,
a piece that is not strictly classical. However, the
dancers were simply ill equipped to handle a piece in such a radically different style as Diversion of Angels.
It takes many years of training for dancers to begin to truly understand and execute
movement in the Graham technique. How can these
ballet dancers possibly manage to include this sort of intensive training in their busy
schedules for the sake of a 20-minute piece? It is
simply too great a demand. Again, this is not to
accuse the dancers of a lack of effort or concern for the work. To understand my point, imagine turning to the dancers
of the former Graham Company to put on a production of Giselle, pointe shoes and all. It is an impossible and rather ridiculous proposition. Furthermore, even if the dancers agreed to it, I doubt
very much that the performance would come close to that of ABT. The dancers of ABT were
simply unable to come close to the performance of Diversion
of Angels that the Graham Company was capable of giving.
Perhaps it may seem unimportant
for a ballet company to perform a piece by Martha Graham as the Graham Company might. Is it not sufficient that these dancers are broadening
both their own horizons and those of their ballet-going audiences? I found it distressing
to hear audience members describing the piece rather confusedly as “different”
or “interesting”. They seemed entirely
unaware that the power and depth absent from the movement and intent of the piece may have
hindered their understanding of the work. Perhaps I
would have found this lack of intensity more tolerable had I been secure in the existence
of the Graham Company, maintaining the stylistic integrity of Martha Graham’s works. However, considering the closing of the company and
school, I was left wondering if this mere shadow of Graham’s revolutionary style and
technique is all that will remain. I wondered how anyone with artistic sensibility could
be satisfied with the production of works that fail to meet the creator’s standards. I was left with the profound awareness that the world
has lost the only company with the ability to perform a work like Diversion of Angels as Graham must certainly have
intended.
One of the great American
contributions to the arts is modern dance. Martha
Graham was not only an innovator in this field, but she also had the ability to create
work that continues to have resonance for audiences today.
The capability of the Graham Company’s dancers to perform the beautifully crafted
works of their creator is unmatched by anyone, including American Ballet Theater. Let us hope that the Graham Company can be resurrected
now that artistic director Ron Protas has been dismissed.
Because if the performance by American Ballet Theater is any indication of the future of
Graham’s great body of works, it will be a very bleak future indeed. |
