FRIDAYS MARCH 27 & APRIL 3 at 8:30PM
Celebrating 100 years of innovation from America’s oldest contemporary dance company, MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY: WE ARE OUR TIME offers a rare behind-the-scenes portrait of the company, exploring Graham’s legacy through the dancers who embody her work today. For more than three years, Partisan Pictures embedded within the dance company, filming from rehearsal to premiere, across a global tour, and at home with family.
Woven throughout are the words of Martha Graham herself, spoken by Meryl Streep: “No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time.”
Graham’s singular vision revolutionized dance. Often listed alongside artistic forces such as Picasso and Stravinsky, she upended classical tradition with a striking vocabulary of movement that favored emotional truth over beauty. “I was a heretic,” Graham wrote, “I showed on stage what most people came to the theater to avoid.” With one of the first racially integrated companies, dances that explore the female psyche, and works of political protest, Graham challenged mid-20th century audiences. She believed dance should be vital, not decorative, describing it as “an arrow pointing to life at an instant.”
Through stunning dance sequences, verité storytelling, and interviews with dancers across generations – those who studied with Graham and those who’ve followed – the series reveals the devotion and sacrifice of a dancer’s world. Graham interrogated the American identity, relentlessly questioning what it means to create “American” art. Today, the company continues her pursuit. “We are not making a sacred altar to Martha Graham,” explains artistic director Janet Elber. “We are honoring her appetite for the new.”
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