Lloyd Knight News

At the elegant Soroya Theatre in Northridge, CA, Martha Graham's Dance Company, under Artistic Director Janet Eilber's seasoned guidance, performed a most incredible group of works.  Some were originally created approximately 80 years ago, by Martha Graham, a true icon in the Dance world.  The EVE Project, as this evening, March 2nd, 2019 was entitled, gave us a wide variety of themes within a theme, that being Women and their significance, their power, their passion and their strength.  It was polished to perfection, and each piece carried many meanings and concepts and was just so beautifully performed and articulated. The Martha Graham Dance Company is the oldest contemporary dance company in the United States, founded in 1926.  Since it's inception it has explored and encompassed political and humanitarian issues, as well as affairs of the heart and human interactions, while creating a prolific dance technique that is unequaled in it's scope.  Graham created a total of 181 ballets during her long career, and is recognized as a primal artistic force of the 20th century, being named in 1998 as 'Dancer of the Century' in Time magazine, and labeled one of the female 'Icons of the Century' by People Magazine.

The world-renowned Martha Graham Dance Company returns to The Joyce Theater April 2–14, 2019, with The EVE Project, the Company's season theme celebrating female empowerment and the upcoming 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which secured women's right to vote in the U.S. The season focuses on both historical and contemporary ideas of the feminine. Commissioned works from five of today's top choreographers will be presented, and the classic repertory features Martha Graham's heroines and anti-heroines—all with an underlying statement about female power.

The fourth annual 'American Dance Platform' is now on stage at The Joyce from January 3-7 2019. The performances feature six of our nation's captivating companies in three inspired, shared programs.

The January GrahamDeconstructed focuses on the extraordinary partnership between Martha Graham and sculptor-designer Isamu Noguchi and two of their collaborations, Herodiade (1944) and El Penitente (1940). The evening will include a rehearsal run-through of both works introduced by a conversation about the Graham/Noguchi collaboration. Following the presentation, the audience will have a chance to explore and photograph the Noguchi set pieces/sculptures.

Jack Ferver's critically acclaimed Everything Is Imaginable returns to New York Live Arts' mainstage as the finale to the 2019 Live Arteryplatform during the annual Association of Performing Arts Professionals conference, January 7, 2019 at 10pm and January 8-12 at 8pm. Presented in collaboration withAmerican Realness, Ferver's radiant and evocative dance-theater piece juxtaposes the lives, virtuosity, and fantasies of its five queer performers.

The Martha Graham Dance Company's 2018-19 Studio Series begins in November with Martha's Men, a program that focuses on the role of men and the masculine in Martha Graham's work. Martha's Men will take place on Tuesday, November 13, and Wednesday, November 14, at 7pm, at the Martha Graham Studio Theater, 55 Bethune Street (11th Floor), in Manhattan.

Dancers for Good, a glitzy gala benefitting The Actors Fund brought top dance talents from Martha Graham, Paul Taylor Dance Companies and more to East Hampton in a flawless, echanting evening of dance honoring two legends and true 'dancers for good': Bebe Neuwith & Chita Rivera.

Bill T. Jones, MacArthur Genius Award and National Medal of Arts awardee and Artistic Director of New York Live Arts, and Janet Wong, Associate Artistic Director, announced the New York Live Arts' 2018-2019 season today. "We look to artists to reflect, reframe, reimagine, and represent the world to us. We hope that in turn we respond with empathy and, dare we say, compassion," states Bill T. Jones. "New York Live Arts will premiere eight New York and/or world premieres this season including the much anticipated "Y" by Randjelovi?/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist RoseAnne Spradlin," says Janet Wong. "We will also bring back Jack Ferver's highly successful 'Everything Is Imaginable,' which premiered at New York Live Arts' this past season. For the 2019 edition of the Live Ideas Festival we will look at artificial intelligence and our role in shaping the future," she adds.

Beamish presents the Vancouver premiere of his first evening of solos, each exploring facets of his persona, both public and private, to reconfigure and superimpose creative perspectives.

It's the talk of the town! Delight your choreodrama senses by experiencing Martha Graham's Dance of Life, the pinnacle of the South Florida Symphony Orchestra's 20th Anniversary Season led by Founder Music Director Sebrina Maria Alfonso.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Lamentation Variations project- LamVar10: A Festival for New Work. Since its founding in 2007 by Graham Company Artistic Director Janet Eilber, the company has commissioned some of today's most noteworthy choreographers to create new works inspired by Graham's signature solo, Lamentation, originally created in 1930, on dancers of the company. These choreographers have included Lar Lubovitch, Michelle Dorrance, and Doug Varone, among others.

Good news: we are finally seeing same sex couples in dance. A rarity is now becoming something of a mainstream occurrence as we move into a new realm of sexuality actually being presented on stage. For gay men, and I include myself, we have waited a long time to see this, free from any kind of misrepresentation that smacks of hypocrisy, insensitivity or comic put-downs. We can now examine ourselves in the art of Terpsichore -not only on small stages, but in the repertory of New York City Ballet, the company where women were on pedestals and men their adoring cavaliers.

Choreographer Joshua Beamish's MOVETHECOMPANY made their first appearance at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Wednesday night with the New York premiere of a full-length piece, Saudade.

New York Live Arts, under the artistic leadership of MacArthur Genius Award and National Medal of Arts awardee Artistic Director Bill T. Jones and Associate Artistic Director Janet Wong, announced the organization's 2017-2018 season today.

The NYC Dance Alliance Foundation (NYCDAF), a forward-thinking charity committed to shaping the future lives and training of young dancers, celebrated fireworks of their own on July 3, at the organization's 23rd Annual National Finale. An applicant pool of over 200 young dancers, seeking scholarship funds for further education, participated in a National College Audition at the Sheraton New York Hotel, nestled in the heart of Times Square. The audition consisted of a ballet class taught by New York City Balle tPrincipal Ballerina Tiler Peck, and a contemporary class taught by Martha Graham Principal Dancer Lloyd Knight. NYCDAF awarded a total of $275K to 30 recent High School graduates, already committed to a college program from September 2017.

New York Live Arts, under the artistic leadership of MacArthur Genius Award and National Medal of Arts awardee Artistic Director Bill T. Jones and Associate Artistic Director Janet Wong, announced the organization's 2017-2018 season today.

New York Live Arts, under the artistic leadership of MacArthur Genius Award and National Medal of Arts awardee Artistic Director Bill T. Jones and Associate Artistic Director Janet Wong, announced the organization's 2017-2018 season today.

Jack Ferver is a New York-based writer, choreographer and director.  His genre-defying performances explore the tragicomedy of the human psyche. Ferver's works integrate and induct an array of psychological and socio-political issues, particularly in the realms of sexual orientation, gender and power struggles. 

The Martha Graham Dance Company's two-week season at The Joyce Theater, February 14-26, 2017, will feature three diverse programs organized under the season theme Sacred/Profane. Classics by Martha Graham and works by four contemporary choreographers, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Annie-B Parson, Pontus Lidberg, and Nacho Duato, will be presented, highlighting the mystical, spiritual, and humorous aspects of magical thinking.

On Monday, April 18, the Martha Graham Dance Company celebrated its 90th anniversary with a special Gala performance at New York City Center followed by dinner and dancing for 250 guests at a private venue in Manhattan.