{"id":3146,"date":"2025-04-04T15:00:50","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T15:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/04\/preview-martha-graham-deaths-and-entrances-at-the-joyce-theater\/"},"modified":"2025-04-04T15:01:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T15:01:02","slug":"preview-martha-graham-deaths-and-entrances-at-the-joyce-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/04\/preview-martha-graham-deaths-and-entrances-at-the-joyce-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: Martha Graham, \u2018Deaths and Entrances\u2019 at The Joyce Theater"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lloyd Knight and Xin Ying. Photo by Steven Pisano<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThere are so many little deaths,\u201d wrote<\/a> American modern dancer and choreographer Martha Graham<\/a>, \u201cthose moments of doubt, loneliness, fear\u2026 moments when one ceases to be for a short time. Then there is the entrance again into the real world of energy that is the source of life, that is the immortality.\u201d She was writing to David Zellmer<\/a>, a friend and Company member serving in the Air Force during the Second World War, about her new work, Deaths and Entrances<\/i>. The then-new ballet, a stream-of-consciousness psychodrama inspired by the lives of the three Bront\u00eb sisters, initially baffled yet moved audiences and is now regarded as a modern masterpiece.<\/p>\n

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Martha Graham Dance Company is bringing back Deaths and Entrances<\/i> (1943) to include in its 99th anniversary season as part of the eclectic Dances of the Mind<\/i><\/a> program running April 1-13 at The Joyce Theater in New York City.<\/p>\n

Graham choreographed many masterworks during her long and illustrious career. But Deaths and Entrances<\/i> is special for several reasons. \u201cIt\u2019s her first psychodrama,\u201d artistic director Janet Eilber<\/a> told Observer. \u201cIt\u2019s the first time she uses the stream of consciousness as a narrative form. Memories flow from the heart, as Graham says. They just come and go and certainly not in chronological order.\u201d Graham returned to this idea of choreographing memory and the subconscious in later works like Night Journey<\/i> (1947) and Clytemnestra<\/i> (1958).<\/p>\n

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SEE ALSO: One Fine Show \u2013 \u2018Tamara de Lempicka\u2019 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston <\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In the 1930s, when Graham\u2019s company was made up entirely of women, her ballets were geometric and abstract. She was \u201cmanipulating the space to bring the emotional message forward,\u201d Eilber explained. In the late \u201830s and early \u201840s, she brought men into her company and began experimenting with narrative structures. \u201cThe \u201830s in America had been very much about social activism, the community coming together,\u201d said Eilber. \u201cIn the \u201840s, it becomes about the individual and the psychology of the ego and the id.\u201d It was similar to what Hitchcock was doing with film and Faulkner with literature. \u201cIt was in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deaths and Entrances<\/i> is also important because it is an insight into Graham\u2019s psyche. Eilber, who danced in the ballet\u2019s 1977 revival, said that now\u2013from a distance\u2013she can see how personal this piece was for Graham. While the work was inspired by the Bront\u00eb sisters, it\u2019s about more than them. It\u2019s about what it means to be a female artist, about societal and familial expectations for women\u2014Graham was born into a strict Presbyterian family where dancing was not allowed, was unmarried when she created the work and never had children. It\u2019s about sisters\u2014Graham was also one of three sisters. And it\u2019s about having to make a life-changing decision that might disappoint those you love\u2013themes that are as relevant today as they were in Graham\u2019s or the Bront\u00ebs\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

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Martha Graham, Erick Hawkins and Merce Cunningham in Deaths and Entrances<\/em>. Photo by Barbara Morgan<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the original 1943 cast, Graham, Jane Dudley<\/a> and Sophie Maslow<\/a> played the Three Sisters. Ethel Butler<\/a>, Nina Fonaroff<\/a> and Pearl Lang<\/a> were the Three Remembered Children, Erick Hawkins<\/a> (Graham\u2019s future husband) played the Dark Beloved and Merce Cunningham<\/a> played the Poetic Beloved. The 2025 cast will be entirely new, except Lloyd Knight<\/a>, who played one of the Cavaliers in the 2011 revival and will now take on the role of the Dark Beloved. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to see it fresh on these new bodies and new brains,\u201d said Eilber.<\/p>\n

Anne Souder<\/a> and Xin Ying<\/a> will both dance Graham\u2019s role at The Joyce. I spoke with them in the weeks leading up to the premiere about their experiences stepping into the shoes\u2014they actually do wear shoes\u2014of the iconic character.<\/p>\n

Souder said her preparatory research has included reading Wuthering Heights<\/i> as well as the \u201cbeautiful poetry\u201d of the Bront\u00eb sisters and watching old films of the work (\u201cblack and whites of Martha performing, up-close rehearsal footage of Phyllis [Gutelius], then Terese [Capucilli], Blakeley [White-McGuire], Miki [Orihara], watching the lineage.\u201d) She also reached out to the women who had danced the role before for guidance. \u201cThere was a lot of discussion about what it means to be a female artist,\u201d she told Observer. \u201cSo that\u2019s where I started to dive in, looking at the role from that angle.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the most helpful tips she received was to pay attention to the other dancers when watching the archival footage, not just her own role. A common interpretation of the piece is that most of what happens on the stage is in the lead woman\u2019s mind\u2013it\u2019s all just memory triggered by objects and thoughts. \u201cSo knowing where everyone is, even if behind me, knowing their choreography and emotional journeys was really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An\"An<\/a>
So Young An, Xin Ying and Ane Arrieta. Photo by Steven Pisano<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Souder has also been listening to Hunter Johnson<\/a>\u2019s musical score, which she describes as \u201chard, with a lot of quickness to it and deep suspension\u201d repeatedly. \u201cThat\u2019s my subway background.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ying has been reading Graham\u2019s autobiography Blood Memory<\/i> and Neil Baldwin<\/a>\u2019s biography Martha Graham: When Dance Became Modern<\/i> as part of her research, taking inspiration from Graham\u2019s real-life complicated relationships with Hawkins and her own sisters.<\/p>\n

When I asked Ying if she believed that what was happening on stage was real or just a memory, she said, \u201cWhen you remember, it is<\/i> real.\u201d She shared a quote from Blood Memory<\/i> that had stuck with her: \u201cWe are living through the present to discover the past in us.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was able to watch the piece live in 2011 right after joining the Company. \u201cI remember the feeling of Woah<\/i>! It\u2019s so theatrical, and the air is different. Once the curtain opens, you feel the tension between all the characters.\u201d She is thrilled to be able to dance the role now. \u201cYou don\u2019t often get the opportunity to be on stage for 30 minutes and tell someone\u2019s interior story. A role can sometimes be two-dimensional, but not this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Souder is also grateful to take on the challenge. \u201cIt\u2019s a deeply psychological piece where you have to drop in and then make sure, after you run it, that you drop out because it\u2019s quite intense.\u201d She has enjoyed rehearsing with her two \u201csisters\u201d (Leslie Andrea Williams<\/a> and Laurel Dalley Smith<\/a>), who joined the Company with her 10 years ago. \u201cWe\u2019ve grown up together,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t fight like that, but the dynamic of sisterhood and being 125 percent committed to each other was immediately present.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An\"An<\/a>
(l. to r.) Richard Villaverde, Ethan Palma, Jai Perez and Lloyd Knight. Photo by Steven Pisano<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Besides the new cast, most of the work\u2019s revival will be the same as it\u2019s always been. Though the 2011 costumes and set were drowned in Hurricane Sandy, Oscar de la Renta<\/a>\u2019s exquisite Victorian-esque gowns (reimagined but very similar to the 1943 originals) have been restored and Arch Lauterer<\/a>\u2019s original sparse set design (supposed to imply an \u201cancient house\u201d) impeccably replicated.<\/p>\n

When I asked Eilber what she loves about Deaths and Entrances<\/i>, she said that despite Graham being 49 when the ballet first premiered, the choreography is \u201cso deeply physical and visceral, especially for that lead character. The character\u2019s \u2018mad scene\u2019 is pull-out-all-the-stops physical.\u201d She also mentioned that now, as a viewer and not a performer, she enjoys being able to go on the journey with that character who reminds her so much of Graham. \u201cIt\u2019s such a satisfying conclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

And when I asked what it was like to learn this work from Graham herself, if she\u2019d given any insight into its many mysteries, Eilber said, \u201cShe rarely talked about subtext or dramatic intent. Her direction was always about the physicality\u2013stronger spine, deeper focus, a more animalistic walk across the stage\u2026 Martha\u2019s philosophy is that the movement will give you the emotion. Everything you need is in the choreography.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deaths and Entrances<\/i><\/b> will be performed as part of <\/b>Dances of the Mind<\/i><\/b>\u2019s Program C at The Joyce Theater <\/b><\/a>on Saturday, April 5 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, April 6 at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 8 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, April 11 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 13 at 2:00.<\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Deaths,<\/p><\/div>\n