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| Photo by Christopher Duggan | (l-r) Catherine Cobeen, Richard Move, Lisa Kron and Katherine Crockett
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Making Martha Matter
Richard Move transports us to Martha Graham
By QUINN BATSON
Offoffoff.com
Healthy obsession can be remarkably productive. Richard Move, in one evening, conveys more about Martha Graham than hours of dance films and books of writing ever could.
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| | | RICHARD MOVE: MARTHA 1963 | Choreography by: Martha Graham and Richard Move.
Dancers: Richard Move as Martha Graham
Lisa Kron as Walter Terry
Katherine Crockett and Catherine Cobeen.
Costumes by: Pilar Limosner with Connie Fleming and Joy Havens.
Lighting design by: Donnalee Katz.
Production stage manager: Donnalee Katz.
Video design: Gabriel Barcia-Columbo.
Dance film in lobby: Charles Atlas.
| | SCHEDULE | Dance Theater Workshop
March 30-April 2, 2011
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Certainly he does an immaculate job of channeling Martha to the audience in his latest presentation at DTW, Martha@... The 1963 Interview, based on an interview Walter Terry did with Graham at the 92nd Street Y. Actress Lisa Kron does an excellent job as Terry, too: in mid-midstage interview, a portion of the original interview is played as the action freezes, a clever touch that both confirms the accuracy of the Martha-ness onstage and breaks up the evening artfully.
Katherine Crockett, currently a principal dancer in the Martha Graham company, and Catherine Cobeen, formerly a company member, also break up the evening artfully, with small bursts of choreography referred to in the interview, like live animation or further incarnations of Martha.
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| Photo by Christopher Duggan | Katherine Crockett, with Lisa Kron and Richard Move
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The beauty of the evening, though, is the way it makes us rediscover — or more likely, discover — Martha Graham, a woman and an icon that everyone thinks they know. We "feel" Martha in every sense of the word; her words, coming with such precision through another mouth, land fully on our ears and make us want to see her in Move. The active effort this takes gives everything significance, and Move does an excellent job of choosing moments, movements, and motifs that keep our attention glued.
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| | The passion that burns through [Martha Graham] is unmistakable, and missed. |
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Between his/her voice, the gifted Graham dancers and actual footage of Martha dancing in movies (in the lobby), Martha Graham begins to really make sense. It is hard to offhandedly refer to "Graham" this and "Graham" that when one gets the bigger picture and realizes how important she actually was, and is, to dance as we know it. The passion that burns through her is unmistakable, and missed.
In a fast food world of soundbite culture, passion and lifelong commitment like Graham's seem almost anachronistic, and that is deeply sad. Thank the dance gods or god that Richard Move has felt this and done something about it; may he start a church of Martha and rouse the sleeping souls in all of us.
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APRIL 14, 2011
OFFOFFOFF.COM • THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK
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