Errand into the Maze

Errand into the Maze is a dance premiered in 1947. I believe this dance showed the fear into people’s hearts. The strong movements and the maze of rope reflects the dancer’s clutter mind. Costumes were designed by Graham and the set was created by Isamu Noguchi. The work was performed by Martha Graham and Mark Ryder. Walter Terry, writing for the New York Herald Tribune (March 9, 1947) noted, "…the demon is fear, the deity is courage. Aspects of the evil and the good, then, in humankind, are given substance for us to regard in that pantheon which is Miss Graham's theatre of dance…It is a distinguished and appealing work." Modern dances is more about impression and psychology concepts compare to classical ballet, and I believed if I catch the feeling of fair in the Errand into the Maze, it’s not hard to perform the marrow of the dance.

Video: Errand into the Maze

Other Links: NY Times: Review/Dance; Graham's 'Phaedra' and 'Errand Into the Maze'

“Picasso of Dance” and her company

Martha Graham was an America modern dancer who also been termed as the “Picasso of Dance.” Her dancing career was unprecedented. In 1926 when she was 32, she established the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary. She stated that her peculiar dances was influenced by Denis Hawn. In that period her dance focused on depression and influenced by the Wall Street Crash and the great depression. In 1958 her company performed the ballet Clytemnestra, which is the only full length perform in her career. She not only brought the modern dance into 20^th century, but also influenced the music and custom of modern dance. In the article The Harsh and Splendid Heroins of Martha Graham, Sigel mentioned that Graham’s theater is priceless because her theater “is more than a vehicle for her own performing power and intelligent, more than her psychological insights or particular way she developed nonverbal structures.” she was also the first dancer to perform at the White House and received the award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Her works impressed me the most, compare to other pre-modern and modern artists.

                                              
                                             Link to Martha Graham's Dancing Company

Critical Review of Martha Graham:
Martha Graham Lives, and Is Interviewed

This is about a 70-minute re-enactment of a 1963 conversation between Graham and the dance critic Walter Terry of New York Times.