Graham100 Programming

The Elusive Practice of Framing Motion
Peter Sparling, Rudolf Arnheim Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Dance and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus of Dance at University of Michigan.

As a dancer/choreographer, video artist, painter and CTAC guest curator, I attempt to locate the intersection of my many roles as a still point of suspended animation, one that I can circle around and bring to a halt long enough to talk about. The vibrating juxtaposition of dance, music, and the visual arts featured in Dance Legends: Little Traverse Bay Celebrates Graham100 takes us on a wild ride while hovering between stillness and motion, the art gallery and the stage, the “pose” and the “move”. What does the gallery visitor or audience member bring to these acts of kinetic engagement in order to meet the artist halfway? Who’s zooming who? My informal talk proposes ways of looking at the legendary dance photography of Barabara Morgan, the contemporary visual art of In Motion in the adjoining gallery, and how they invariably awaken the same kinesthetic empathy that moves us while watching or performing dance.

This event is in-person and online via Zoom and Facebook. No registration required.

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Presented by the CTAC School of Ballet

This event is part of a global celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Martha Graham Dance Company, the country’s oldest dance company.

This performance features two of Graham's iconic works, Appalachian Spring Suite (1944), starring CTAC School of Ballet dancers and alums, and Lamentation (1930), starring Marie Millard as the dancer and Thomas Nickell on piano. This performance also includes Our Own American Document, an original work of Peter Sparling 's modeled after Graham's 1938 masterwork, American Document. Our Own American Document features the oral histories of local citizens.