About the Event

Known as one of the most influential forces of the 20th century, Martha Graham presented her first performance with a supporting group of dancers on April 18, 1926. Since that date, considered to be the launch of the Martha Graham Dance Company, Graham’s groundbreaking and uniquely American style of dance has influenced generations of artists and continues to captivate audiences worldwide. To celebrate its centennial, the company is organizing GRAHAM100, an extensive series of programs and events from 2023 through 2026 that explore the diversity and depth of Graham’s extraordinary artistic legacy. 

“We are proud to be the oldest dance company in the United States but have discovered that a celebration encompassing 100 years of artistic innovation informed by vast social, political, and technological change, needs a broader canvas than one season can provide,” says Janet Eilber, artistic director for Martha Graham Dance Company. “Three seasons will allow us to curate and organize this unmatched American legacy in ways that highlight not only the company’s timeline of firsts and its historic impact but perhaps more importantly, its continuing relevance and influence.” 

Each season will feature Graham masterworks along with works by some of today’s most exciting contemporary choreographers. GRAHAM100 in the 2024–25 season is curated under the theme Dances of the Mind, focusing on Graham’s psychological works, multifaceted women characters, and longtime artistic partnership with renowned visual artist Isamu Noguchi. Works to be presented—including Phaedra (1962), Errand into the Maze (1947), and Herodiade (1944)—foreground Graham’s command of complex ideas, illustrated in movement and augmented with modernist sets and original scores. Graham’s long and fruitful collaboration with Noguchi will be explored on stage and in audience engagement activities. This program may be subject to slight changes. 

“The 100th anniversary of the Martha Graham Dance Company is more than a red-letter day for Graham—the entire field of American modern dance has reason to celebrate,” says LaRue Allen, executive director of the company. “In an art form known for its ephemeral nature, the continuing success of the Graham Company shows that modern dance can be sustained, that it can evolve and remain relevant to successive generations.” 

Media

Martha Graham (1894–1991) is recognized as a primal artistic force of the 20th century, alongside Picasso, James Joyce, Stravinsky, and Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1998, TIME magazine named Martha Graham “Dancer of the Century,” and People magazine named her among the female “Icons of the Century.” As a choreographer, she was as prolific as she was complex. She created 181 ballets and a dance technique that has been compared to ballet in its scope and magnitude. Her approach to dance and theatre revolutionized the art form, and her innovative physical vocabulary has irrevocably influenced dance worldwide.  

The Martha Graham Dance Company has been a leader in the evolving art form of modern dance since its founding in 1926. It is both the oldest dance company in the United States and the oldest integrated dance company. Today, the company is embracing a new programming vision that showcases masterpieces by Graham alongside newly commissioned works by contemporary artists. During its nearly 100-year history, the company has received acclaim from audiences and critics in more than fifty countries. 

“These men and women easily embody the choreographer’s sense of dancers as angelic athletes.” — Robert Greskovic, The Wall Street Journal 

“This is contemporary dance at its very best.” — Marina Kennedy, Broadway World 

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