Old, New Phases of Martha Graham’s Work in S. D.

In 1935, Martha Graham began exploring the nature of the American sensibility and designing a new dance lexicon to express it. Now, more than half a century after her solo work “Frontier” broke new ground, the modern dance pioneer continues to sift through our cultural roots to find inspiration for her dances.

Tonight and Saturday night, when the Martha Graham Dance Company

returns to the Civic Theatre for two different repertory programs, you can expect to see something old and something new on the Americana theme from the prolific Graham.

“The San Diego performances are very representative of different phases of Martha’s life,” said Graham’s assistant artistic director, Linda Hodes. “You’ll also see her oldest work, ‘Deep Song,’ and her newest, ‘Night Chant.’

“Three of the pieces we’re dancing in San Diego, including ‘Night Chant,’ ” she said, “are part of her Americana period. Martha is a product of this country. She’s lived in the West, grew up in California and has a New England connection. She’s also read a lot about it.”

“Night Chant,” a ritualistic dance that delves into the American Indian experience, is featured on tonight’s program, along with two vintage masterworks, “Letter to the Word” (1940) and the long lost “Deep Song” (1937).

The month-old “Night Chant” comes to San Diego with mixed reviews. The New York Times gushed at “this wondrous new piece,” but Donna Perlmutter of the Los Angeles Times early this week stated that “the cave of the choreographer’s heart is nowhere to be seen.”

In any event, the two classics from Graham’s most productive period have provided enough incentive to make tonight’s concert a hot ticket.

“Deep Song,” the definitive anti-war dance Graham designed as an outcry against the Spanish Civil War, is an anguished evocation of grief with universal implications. It was recently rescued from decades of oblivion by a painstaking collaborative effort with principal dancer Terese Capucilli, and will be showcased at both local performances.

“ ‘Deep Song’ hasn’t been done since 1944,” said Capucilli, who said she learned the angst -filled solo from Graham “by having her mold it on my body.”

“There was no record and no video of the piece,” Capucilli said. “Even the original music was lost. The music we’re using now is by the same composer, but it has to be repeated twice to fit the seven-minute dance.

“Martha reconstructed the entire dance from photographs,” she said, “and I tried to get the feeling of time and place--just as she felt when she created it. It’s important to have the passion and the pain. It’s a very stark piece, and so is the music.”

“Letter to the World,” a dance drama about the New England poet Emily Dickinson, had faded from the Graham repertory for years before this revival. Consequently, San Diego aficionados have never experienced its powerful embodiment of the Puritan spirit or its deep psychological insights--at least not on home turf.

Juxtaposed against Dickinson’s moving stream-of-consciousness poems, Graham’s “Letter” is a wellspring of dance images that have become familiar signatures of the veteran dance maker.

“It’s very fulfilling to know that what you’re doing on stage has validity,” said Capucilli. “I never felt that way with any other choreographer. Martha makes the difference.”

Is it intimidating to know that some of the greats of modern dance, including Graham herself, have interpreted the same roles?

“No,” said Capucilli, confidently. “Fortunately, Martha encourages each of us to bring something of herself to the role. She doesn’t want us to copy anyone else, so you can really get into it.”

Principal dancer Julian Littleford is just as turned on by the Graham oeuvre , but not quite as adept at shrugging off comparisons with his predecessors.

“You’re constantly being measured against people who have done it before,” he said, “and very often the critics slaughter you. But you have to follow your gut instincts. Still, Martha’s work is so satisfying. It enables you to do a character from A to Z. You don’t get that from anybody else.”

Littleford will take the lead in “Temptations of the Moon” tonight, and if this recent attempt at pure movement takes a back seat to Graham’s early legacy, it still offers tremendous challenges to the talented dancers of the troupe.

“That’s a killer role,” said Littleford, taking a deep breath as he spoke. “It’s only 18 minutes long, but it’s all dancing and partnering lifting. And it should be danced like a romp--without showing any of the effort.”

The centerpiece of Saturday’s program is Graham’s universally acclaimed “Appalachian Spring,” considered the choreographer’s most positive statement on the triumph of the human spirit. Don’t look for interior landscapes in this frontier story--only striking dance designs that use movement and gesture with clarity and economy to create fully-realized characters from America’s rich past.

Graham was lauded as a “national treasure” by President Ford, and “Appalachian Spring” is considered the jewel in her crown. In fact, revered critic John Gruen predicted that “Appalachian Spring,” with its beloved Copland score, would “outlast most of the other Graham works.”

Sharing the bill with “Appalachian Spring” are “Circe” (1963), which reflects Graham’s ongoing love affair with mythological themes, and “Seraphic Dialogue,” a drama that focuses on Joan of Arc in her moment of exaltation.