Excavation Site: Martha Graham U.S.A.
Co-presented by the New Museum, within the Spring 2016 R&D Season: LEGACY; Martha Graham Dance Company, as part of its 90th season; and Performance Space 122, as part of the COIL 2016 Festival.
Choreographer: Michael Klien
Dramaturge: Steve Valk
Curator: Travis Chamberlain
Dancers: Martha Graham dancers, past and present; alongside administrators, guest artists, and audience members
In this one-time-only dance event, a multigenerational group of performers from the Martha Graham Dance Company’s past, present, and future will excavate their relationships to Graham and the underlying “movement forces” that bind them to one another, to Graham, and to the Company. Excavation Site: Martha Graham U.S.A. bypasses the institutionalized social structures of the Company to uncover new paths of organization and potential between its participants. The work utilizes strategies of social choreography developed in collaboration with dramaturge Steve Valk, who has organized a complementary discursive component that will unfold alongside the performance in adjacent spaces. Audiences will be invited to explore the work for any length of time and will be encouraged to move freely between spaces.
