Celebrating a Century of Martha Graham Dance Company

In 1926, in a small studio in midtown Manhattan, choreographic pioneer Martha Graham began teaching and directing six women dancers. This dedicated group would evolve into the Martha Graham Dance Company (MGDC) — the first contemporary dance company in the world and now the oldest dance company in the United States.

Through MGDC, Graham created a revolutionary movement language that became a cornerstone of modern dance: the Graham Technique. Based on the natural rhythms of breath, contraction and release, the technique incorporates sharp, angular and grounded movements — contrasting with traditional ballet’s light fluidity. This sculptural intensity makes the technique demanding, vulnerable and emotionally expressive. According to former principal dancer Masha Dashkina Maddux, “The greatest challenge [of performing Graham’s work] isn’t just technique: it’s revealing something deeply personal on stage without ever saying a word” (English National Ballet).

Today, MGDC remains “one of the seven wonders of the artistic world” (The Washington Post), continuing to perform Graham’s iconic masterpieces that defined the 20th century alongside new works by Graham-inspired artists that resonate in our current era.

The Northrop program will feature the full range of MGDC repertory, including:

• “Appalachian Spring” (1944): A hopeful dance of post-war American optimism featuring music by Aaron Copland, one of the most respected American classical composers of the 20th century (PBS). 
• “We the People” (2024) by Bessie Award-winner Jamar Roberts with music by Grammy Award-winning banjo phenom Rhiannon Giddens, “a protest dressed in denim” (The New York Times), embodies Graham Technique and social activism. 
• A new work by two-time Bessie Award-winner Hope Boykin, and “Steps in the Street” from Graham’s “Chronicle,” performed by dancers in the University of Minnesota dance program.

Kim Stroud, an MGDC veteran and current Cowles Visiting Artist & Scholar at the University of Minnesota (UMN), brings her professional expertise to the Twin Cities campus by teaching, choreographing and rehearsing repertory with UMN dance students. Their Feb. 7 performance of Graham’s “Steps in the Street” at Northrop is historically significant, as the piece was once thought to be lost forever after disappearing in the late 1930s but later rediscovered on archival film. According to MGDC Artistic Director Janet Eilber, “The geometry of the work is so powerful and evocative, that it’s traveled well through time and speaks to people of any era who are going through a trauma of any kind.”

Additionally, MGDC Rehearsal Director Ben Schultz will teach a free Graham Technique Class at Zenon Dance on Feb. 6, made possible by a partnership between Northrop and Zenon Dance. A limited number of intermediate/advanced dancers will get an insider look at Graham’s famed physical vocabulary.

Graham’s timeless and uniquely American style of dance acknowledges the complex history of the United States, frequently drawing inspiration from Native American culture. In 1932, Graham received a Guggenheim Fellowship to study Native American dances, which inspired her to explore Native American archetypes, incorporate named Native American figures and honor Native American movement, art and beliefs in her later works.

Such inspiration brings into focus questions of identity and what it means to be an American, both historically and as our nation’s story evolves. Martha Graham Dance Company’s Student Matinee at Northrop on Feb. 6 features a student-original version and performance of “Our Own American Document” created by students from South High School in Minneapolis, under the guidance of their teacher Nancy Nair — inspired by Graham’s “American Document” (1938) — responding to the question, “What is America?”

Stewarding the legacy of Graham — a “Dancer of the Century” (TIME) and one of the female “Icons of the Century” (People) — is no easy task. Janet Eilber embraces the challenge as artistic director with finesse, honoring the company’s roots while innovatively modernizing its vision. Eilber has an extensive history with the company, becoming a soloist at just 21 years old and performing many roles originated by Graham herself, as well as pieces created specifically for her. 

Today, Eilber teaches, lectures and directs Graham pieces internationally, “[championing] opportunities to create new and inclusive access points for audiences unfamiliar with the classics of modern dance and the progressive influence of Martha Graham” (The Dance Enthusiast). Learn more at a Performance Preview with Eilber on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m. in Northrop’s Best Buy Theater.