Diversion of Angels
To celebrate the centennial of the Queensboro bridge, Queens and Manhattan have “bridged the arts” by presenting the works from the Graham II of the prestigious Martha Graham Dance Company on the east side of the City and Michiyo Tanaka the artistic choreographer of Mad About Dance a multi-ethnic dance company from the other side of the bridge in Queens.
I know very little about dance in general but I got a little bit of both of what I was hoping for - sassy and dramatic both uniting classical and contemporary. It was a marvelous program. I always wanted to see Graham’s company and now I’m thrilled to have finally gotten the chance.
My picks as the best out of 7 programs were Diversion of Angels, Keramos and Steps in the Street. Diversion of Angels was described by Graham as three aspects of love : white in perfect balance, red as erotic and yellow as adolescent. It follows no story.
Keramos
Keramos (the Greek word for "clay") by Tanaka is an elaborate multi-media work that featured dancers joined by a live ceramicist creating a piece onstage, musicians playing on clay chimes and drums, and film. The effect was spectacular – a combination of dancing bodies and projected moving images. The live ceramicist at work provided the dynamic image as part of the story telling and symbolism:
So I went down to the potter’s house
and there he was working on his wheel.
And the vessel he was making of clay
was spoiled in the potter’s hand
and he reworked it into another vessel,
as it seemed good to the potter to do.
(Jeremiah 18:1-6)
Michiyo Tanaka, a dancer, choreographer and ceramicist herself, brought together Western concepts and traditional Japanese ideas and made use of video imagery to narrate the story.
"Steps in the Street" is extracted from an anti-war piece from Martha Graham's ballet Chronicle (1936), the same year that she declined Hitler's invitation to perform at the festival held concurrent with the Olympic Games in Berlin. Thirteen women, dressed in Graham’s classic long-sleeved black dresses, entered the stage one at a time, walking backwards, one elbow protruding out in front of the chest, one hand in front of the belly in a protective gesture. It is simple but striking. Striding, jumping, throwing their legs high in the air - is most thrilling.
An all-female cast which dates back when Graham only had women dancers in her company; this is an expression of her political views portraying the devastation that war can leave. A far cry from the fairy-tale settings of classical ballet, it shows the harsh reality of tragedies in the modern world.
Another stellar dance performance. A political and social message sent through a dance ritual. Simple black dresses unmistakably Martha Graham. The innovative creations by Michiyo Tanaka will certainly make her one of the celebrated choreographers of her time. Exceptional, simple presentation but complex movements, her work is a masterpiece.
After watching these, I will never look at contemporary dance the same way again. We who can't dance, are not athletic and technically strong can only admire the works of both women. So we did just that.
