Martha Graham 100
Dance Legends: Little Traverse Bay Celebrates Graham100
Presented by the Crooked Tree Arts Center School of Ballet, under the guest direction of former Martha Graham Dance Company Principal Dancer Peter Sparling
This tribute to the Martha Graham Dance Company’s 100th anniversary will engage local audiences through movement, music, words and visual art. This informative and engaging series of events will showcase Graham's impact on America at large, and within the context of Little Traverse Bay's history.
A true radical of her time, Martha Graham transformed American modern dance by inventing a powerful new movement language to express profound, timeless, and universal truths of the human condition. Through biographical insight, behind-the-scenes perspectives on Graham’s creative process, and the embodied act of dance performances, Sparling, the CTAC School of Ballet dancers and guest dance artists will illuminate Graham’s enduring legacy and continued relevance.
Performances and Events
- RADFest - March 7, Kalamazoo, MI
In partnership with the Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival in Kalamzoo, Peter Sparling will be hosting Saturday's "Midday Creative Exchange: A Tribute to Martha Graham Dance Company’s 100th Anniversary in Movement, Music, and Words" with CTAC School of Ballet dancers and alumns. This lecutre-demonstration will feature two of Graham’s most iconic works, Appalachian Spring (1944) and Lamentation (1930), offering audiences a rare opportunity to experience these masterworks through performance, context, and conversation.
- Great Lakes Center for the Arts Next Gen Lecture-Demonstration - May 29, Petoskey, MI
In partnership with Great Lakes Center for the Arts' Next Gen program, Peter Sparling and Artistic Director Heather Raue will be hosting a lecutre-demonstration for area schools. This will consist of the performance of two of Graham's iconic works, Appalachian Spring (1944) and Lamentation (1930), offering students a rare opportunity to experience these masterworks through guided conversation about storytelling through movement.
- Great Lakes Center for the Arts - May 29, Petoskey, MI
This performance features two of Graham's iconic works, Appalachian Spring (1944), starring Taylor Narurkas as the Bride, Sam Epstein as the Husbandman and Benjamin Cheney as the Preacher, and Lamentation (1930), starring Marie Millard as the dancer and Thomas Nickel on piano. This performance also includes the world premiere of Our Own American Document, an original work of Peter Sparling's modeled after Graham's 1939 masterwork, American Document. Our Own American Document features the oral histories of local citizens.
- John M. Hall Auditorium - August 22, Petoskey, MI
This performance features two of Graham's iconic works, Appalachian Spring (1944), starring CTAC School of Ballet dancers and alums, and Lamentation (1930), starring Marie Millard as the dancer and Thomas Nickel on piano. This performance also includes Our Own American Document, an original work of Peter Sparling 's modeled after Graham's 1939 masterwork, American Document. Our Own American Document features the oral histories of local citizens.
On view: May 22 - September 5
Venue: Bonfield and gilbert galleries
View Barbara Morgan photographs in CTAC's Summer Gallery Exhibit
CTAC's Summer Exhibit will feature original, Barbara Morgan photographs of Graham and her company in the 1930s and 40s. Accompanying the Barbara Morgans will be a juried exhibition of movement inspired visual art pieces.
Best known for the vibrancy of her dance photographs, Morgan's choice of abstract photographic styles set her apart from the preponderance of American documentary photographers of the mid-1930s. Equally characteristic of her diverse work is her ability to capture ephemeral gesture, coining her as Graham's primary photographer of some of her most famous and recognized choreographic work.
Project Director, Peter Sparling
Peter Sparling is a living bridge to the Graham legacy. He is former principal dancer with Graham’s company (1973-1987), and was invited to join the company upon graduating from the Juilliard School. As Graham’s assistant, he coached Rudolf Nureyev and collaborated with Graham on many new works. He has performed and staged Graham’s works all over the world and has appeared with the company twice on PBS Dance in America. His video curtain warmers, Beautiful Captives: Martha Graham and the Cinematic Id, Variations of Angels and Sacred/Profane have opened three of the company’s New York seasons. In 1994, he directed the Martha Graham Centenary Festival at University of Michigan under the auspices of University Musical Society, for which he organized an interdisciplinary consortium involving University of Michigan Museum of Art, Classics and School of Music, Theatre and Dance. As well as bridging this rich legacy, Sparling spent his childhood summers in Bay View. For the past five years, Sparling has been a frequent guest choreographer with with the CTAC School of Ballet. He brings to the project a depth of personal experience and a love of both dance and the Little Traverse Bay Communities.
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