It’s official at Martha Graham

Revving up for a whole new phase of its existence, the Martha Graham Center for Contemporary Dance made official this week the working arrangement that had placed longtime Graham dancers Terese Capucilli and Christine Dakin at the head of the recently reconstituted Martha Graham Dance Company. Capucilli and Dakin both now carry the title of artistic directors of the company while remaining on the faculty at the Graham school in New York.

Also prominent in the center’s plans will be Los Angeles-based Janet Eilber, a former Graham principal who was the leading candidate to be artistic director during the center’s wrangles with Graham heir and former company artistic director Ron Protas. Eilber will be artistic director of the newly created Martha Graham Resources, organized to license and stage Graham’s works for other companies and to preserve and make available a 76-year collection of sets, costumes, audio and video recordings, photos and correspondence. Eilber plans to stay in L.A.

The center’s legal conflicts with Protas culminated earlier this year with a federal judge awarding ownership of most of Graham’s choreography and production materials to the center. A Protas appeal is still in progress, but this new spate of center activity reflects a desire for what executive director Marvin Preston calls “increased public awareness and participation. Our goal is financial strength and durability which will support a growing amount of artistic risk taking.”

-- Lewis Segal