Martha Graham’s Greek Myth-Based Dances and Her Collaboration with Isamu Noguchi

Shining a light on an understudied avenue of classical reception in the performing arts, this book considers how the long artistic collaboration between one of the greatest dancers and choreographers of recent times and the set designer with whom she worked extensively, can inform a deeper understanding of how artists today refashion their audience’s appreciation of classical antiquity.In her many classically-inspired dances, all of which are discussed in this book, Martha Graham transformed Greek myth, creating a ＂woman-centered＂ reception of antiquity. In ＂Night Journey,＂ her dance based on the Oedipus myth, Jocasta is the central figure, not Oedipus. In ＂Errand into the Maze,＂ Ariadne takes center stage. It is Clytemnestra, not Agamemnon, who dominates Graham’s retelling of the Oresteia, while in ＂Cave of the Heart,＂ Medea eclipses Jason.

Graham’s interpretations provide a provocative view of Greek myth that counters the traditional privileging of the ＂male,＂ and result in a special resonance for contemporary audiences. But these transformations of Greek mythology are also shaped by the influential set designs of Japanese-American sculptor and designer, Isamu Noguchi. Ronnie Ancona therefore considers each dance through the lens of their collaboration, considering how Noguchi’s objects actively participate in the creation of Graham’s interpretations. Informed by classical research as well as research in dance and the visual arts, this is a vital work of interdisciplinary scholarship that introduces the classicist to a rich new chapter in classical reception, while informing dance specialists about the classical background of Graham’s use of Greek myth.

Ronnie Ancona is Professor of Classics at Hunter College and City of New York Graduate Center, USA. Her books include Time and the Erotic in Horace’s Odes (1994), textbooks on Catullus and Horace, and co-editor of Gendered Dynamics in Latin Love Poetry (2005).