Graham Firm Declares Season of In-Individual Performances

The Martha Graham Dance Company will debut new works by Andrea Miller and Hofesh Shechter in their upcoming season in New York, the troupe announced on Thursday. Miller’s first will be performed at the Joyce Theater this fall. Shechters Tanz will be premiered in April 2022 as part of the first City Center Dance Festival.

A third new piece, inspired by Graham’s mostly lost “Canticle for Innocent Comedians,” premieres in March 2022 at the Soraya Performing Arts Center in Northridge, California, and performed at the City Center Festival.

While the company made brief appearances this spring – they did a short program at the Guggenheim in April and on a mixed bill at the Kaatsbaan in May – the season opener at the Joyce from October 26th to 31st will be their full live performances. “I believe the exhilaration of being in the physical presence of our audience – experiencing this deeply personal and emotional connection with heightened appreciation – will be the unmistakable highlight of this season,” said Janet Eilber, the group’s artistic director, in a statement.

Miller’s dance, still untitled, is performed by eight dancers and set to music by the composer Will Epstein, with whom she previously worked. Shechter’s work, currently called “Convergence,” will use all of the company’s dancers; Daniil Simkin, soloist of the American Ballet Theater and the Staatsballett Berlin, will be present at selected performances.

Sonya Tayeh directs the new version of “Canticle for Innocent Comedians” from 1952. She will create the prelude, the finale, the transitions and “Sun”, one of the eight nature-related vignettes. Micaela Taylor, Yin Yue, Juliano Nunes, Kristina and Sadé Alleyne, and Jenn Freeman will do five more. The remaining sections were created by Robert Cohan, a member of the original cast who died in January; and Graham, whose choreography for “Moon” has been preserved. The piece is set to music by jazz pianist Jason Moran.

The Graham season will also feature a repertoire from its founder and inspiration, from “Appalachian Spring,” one of her best-known works, to “Acts of Light,” which has not been shown in New York since 2007.

The company tours between the two stops in Manhattan: in the USA as well as in France, Germany and Turkey. After the City Center Festival, it’s off to Greece in April and China in May.

More information is available at marthagraham.org.