MEDIOCRITY IS GRAHAM’S SOLE NO-NO

To 92-year-old Martha Graham, the grande dame of modern dance, rules were made to be broken--all except one.

“There’s only one sin in the dance world,” she said in an interview in her San Diego hotel suite, “and that’s mediocrity.”

That credo has made Graham a tyrant and taskmaster to her troupe of dancers for more than 60 years. But as she observed--and some of her dancers confirmed--”I’m a little more tolerant now. At least, I’m willing to take a longer time to develop somebody, because I realize how hard it is.”

Company manager Ron Protas, who sat in on the interview, had other ideas on the subject.

“Don’t you believe it. She’s a killer,” he said, with a knowing laugh.

Undaunted by Protas’ observations, Graham continued:

“I give more leeway in (interpreting) the roles, because the dancers are better now. In the beginning, I had to practically say which foot went where. Now I don’t have to do that much, and I don’t want patterns of me, I want individuals .

“When other people do ‘Cave of the Heart’ (a quintessential Graham role), it looks different. The choreography is exactly the same, but like two violinists playing the same sonata, ‘one (plays it) one way, and the other another.’ ”

Graham, whose Martha Graham Dance Company performs at the Civic Theatre tonight and Friday, has a special place in her heart for San Diego, because she made her professional debut here, back in those formative years with modern dance pioneers Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn.

“I was a student and teacher with ‘Denishawn,’ ” she said. “I don’t know why I was a teacher, I wasn’t very good, but they were trying out dancers at a submarine base here, and I said I would dance one of Shawn’s pieces.

“They had never taught me any of the dances, and (Shawn) didn’t think I knew the choreography, but I did it for him and he was absolutely silent. Then he said, ‘You can do it.’ I didn’t know anything about choreography then.”

Graham, considered one of the greatest choreographers of all time, was a mesmerizing dancer as well--and would rather be remembered for her dancing.

“I love to dance more than anything,” she said. “I had to choreograph, because there was nothing for me to dance.

“When I said that to Anthony Tudor (the British-born dancer and choreographer), he said, ‘How unfortunate.’ So I kicked him.”

Graham brushes off her achievements as a choreographer with the simple observation:

“I just make dances; I don’t ever do creating. I don’t dare speak about creativity and genius. They’re very holy words. And when people ask me where I get my inspiration, I just don’t answer.”

After 60 years of making dances, Graham’s reverence for her art form has not diminished:

“The dance is dedication. You must honor the body and love it--and you must train it like a little animal. It’s not just taking movement off the street. You must glorify it. Dance is doing things other people might have experienced.”

When Graham heard that the San Diego Symphony season was in jeopardy, she was appalled.

“That’s barbaric. It’s very naughty to cancel the symphony. How can you combat the supreme enemy--terrorism--if you don’t have (culture)?”

Graham has a ready answer for people who claim they don’t understand her dance dramas: “I say, ‘Don’t worry about understanding it, just feel it.’ ”

Works to be performed in San Diego include “Cave of the Heart,” a retelling of the Medea legend; Graham’s recent creation, “Temptations of the Moon,” an exuberant abstract work, and “Plain of Prayer,” an Oriental-style dance that dates to 1968.