E
From "Ecstatic Dance" to "Every Soul Is a Circus" (6 works)
- Ecstatic Dance
- 1932
Performed to music by Tibor Harsányi, Ecstatic Dance premiered on June 2, 1932, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The solo work was danced by Martha Graham.
NOTE: there are no documents in the collections pertaining to this dance.
- Ekstasis
- 1933
Performed to music by Lehman Engel, Ekstasis premiered on May 4, 1933, at New York's Guild Theatre. The solo work was danced by Martha Graham. The New York Telegraph (May 6, 1933) noted that the work was the "most appealing of the premiers" [sic and Musical America (May 25, 1933) said it "was an impressive dance suite on a much more heroic scale— a work in which Miss Graham was led to exploit her best resources to the full."
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- Martha Graham and Dance Group, Guild Theatre, May 4, 1933
- Martha Graham in New Dances
- Martha Graham Ends Dance Series
- Martha Graham and Her Group
- Martha Graham
- Martha Graham, State Teachers College Auditorium, Buffalo, NY, December 6, 1935
- Martha Graham, Young Men's Hebrew Association, January 5, 1936
- Martha Graham
- Ekstasis, No. 1
- Ekstasis, No. 2
- Elegiac
- 1933
Performed to music by Paul Hindemith, Elegiac premiered on May 4, 1933, at New York's Guild Theatre. The solo work was danced by Martha Graham. The Brooklyn, New York, Eagle (May 5, 1933) said it was a "mournful song which creatively does not project anything entirely new."
- El Penitente
- 1940
Performed to music by Louis Horst, El Penitente premiered on August 11, 1940, at the Bennington College Theater, Bennington, Vermont, with costumes designed by Edythe Gilfond and a set created by Arch Lauterer. (Isamu Noguchi later designed new sets and an additional mask.) The original cast included Graham, Erick Hawkins, Merce Cuningham, and other members of Martha Graham and Group. Irving Kolodin, writing for the New York Sun (January 21, 1941) said, "The work is as parched, dry and sunbaked as the locale of its origin and, despite the fine performances of Erick Hawkins, Merce Cunningham and Miss Graham, decidedly limited in its interest." The New York Times critic John Martin (April 8, 1941) noted, "It has a simple charm of form, telling its ancient tale with a ritualistic remoteness that is yet touched with humanity and a quiet beauty."
- Errand into the Maze
- 1947
Performed to music by Gian-Carlo Menotti, Errand into the Maze premiered on February 28, 1947, at New York' Ziegfeld Theater. 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."
- Esquisse Antique
- 1927
Performed to music by Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht, Esquisse Antique premiered on October 16, 1927, at New York's Little Theatre. The cast included Evelyn Sabin, Betty Macdonald, and Rosina Savelli. Dance Magazine (December 1927) commented that it was "a dance done by the three girls; in mood design, and rhythm as charmingly quaint as the melodies that rippled from the piano as they danced."
- Every Soul Is a Circus
- 1939
Performed by the Martha Graham Dance Group to music by Paul Nordoff, Every Soul Is a Circus premiered on December 27, 1939, at New York's St. James Theatre. Costumes were designed by Edythe Gilfond and the set was created by Philip Stapp. This work marked the first appearance of Merce Cunningham, who became the second male dancer (after Erick Hawkins) to join Graham's ensemble. Composer/critic David Diamond, writing in Modern Music (December 1939) said, "The circus she creates is one of silly behavior and ridiculous situations, its theme, the desire of woman to be the apex of a triangle, the beloved of a duet, who, as the spectator of her own actions, becomes the destroyer of experiences necessary to her essential dignity and integrity. It represents the fullest consummation of Miss Graham's conceptions. She has unified her entire dance vocabulary into a simple and direct theatrical means of projection and communication. The perfection of her techni[que], the warmth of personality make this performance a piece of the most poignant clowning seen in the dance."