Special guests from the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Performing Arts were welcome as the openers at Summerstage for the Martha Graham Dance Company on July 24th 2013. The MACPA dance trio, clad in white, performed a piece called “If”, choreographed by Maeghan McHale, that was somewhat brief, but given the importance of the 90-year-old MGDC, that was understandable. The interesting performances scheduled by the MGDC were (in order) “Acts of Light” from 1981, “Lamentation Variations” (from the 1930 work) and “Chronicle” from 1936. The red costumes worn by the dancers in the first piece fueled the “lovers” desires, and you could see the passion on their faces. On the flip side, the costumes for the “Chronicle” piece evoked militaristic themes in their stark black or white scheme and there were a few moments at the beginning when I thought of Stormtroopers (from Star War, though the color distribution was flipped). Given that the piece is described as “Graham’s stirring response to the rise of fascism in 1936 and to the unmatched power of the collective will”, its fitting that I thought of the (fictional) empire. Overall it was a nice evening and a nice way to catch something different, one of the great things Summerstage promises.
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Summerstage will have another dance event on August 9th with the Harlem Dance Caravan at Marcus Garvey Park preceded by an open class. More information can be found on the City Parks Foundation website here.