Mayor to join Martha Graham Dance Company at the Phillips Center on Feb. 8

January 30, 2008

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan will join the Martha Graham Dance Company as a special guest when the world-renowned troupe performs at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 8.

Using text from the exchange between Aaron Copland and Martha Graham as they collaborated on their signature work, “Appalachian Spring,” Mayor Hanrahan will narrate “A Sense of Place.” This spoken and musical introduction will be followed by a performance of the complete ballet with music by Copland, choreography by Graham and the original set by sculptor Isamu Noguchi. The text was arranged by Janet Eilber, the company’s artistic director.

In addition to “A Sense of Place” and “Appalachian Spring,” the company will also perform the Graham classics “Diversion of Angels” and “Sketches from Chronicle.”

Founded in 1926 by dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, the Martha Graham Dance Company is the oldest and most celebrated contemporary dance company in America.

Since its inception, the Martha Graham Dance Company has received international acclaim from audiences in over 50 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The company has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, the Paris Opera House, Covent Garden, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as at the base of the Great Pyramids of Egypt and in the ancient Herod Atticus Theatre on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. In addition, the company has produced several award-winning films that have been broadcast on PBS and around the world.

As a choreographer, Graham was prolific. Starting with 1926’s “Chorale” and ending nearly 75 years later with 1990’s “Maple Leaf Rag,” she choreographed more than 180 works during her lifetime. Among the most well-known are the ballets “Heretic” (1929), “Lamentation” (1930), “Frontier” (1935), “Deep Song” (1937), “Appalachian Spring” (1944), “Night Journey” (1947), “Diversion of Angels” (1948), “Clytemnestra” (1958), “Embattled Garden” (1958), “Phaedra” (1962), “Frescoes” (1978), “Acts of Light” (1981), “The Rite of Spring” (1984) and “Temptations of the Moon” (1986).

Though Graham herself is the best-known alumna of her company, having danced from the company’s inception until the late 1960s, the company has provided a training ground for some of contemporary dance’s most illustrious performers and choreographers. Former members of the Company include Merce Cunningham, Erick Hawkins, Pearl Lang, Elisa Monte, Paul Taylor, Glen Tetley, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Donlin Foreman and Pascal Rioult. Among celebrities who have joined the company in performance are Mikhail Baryshnikov, Claire Bloom, Margot Fonteyn, Liza Minnelli, Rudolf Nureyev, Maya Plisetskaya, and Kathleen Turner. The Martha Graham Dance Company has commissioned works from Twyla Tharp, Robert Wilson, Susan Stroman, Lucinda Childs, and Maurice Béjart, which have been enthusiastically received by audiences and critics worldwide. The company even numbers among its alumnae one Betty Bloomer, who, after dancing with the Company in 1938, became better known as First Lady Betty Ford.

The Martha Graham Dance Company will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 8 at the Phillips Center. Tickets are $35, front orchestra, mezzanine and mid-orchestra; $30, rear orchestra; and $25, balcony.

Tickets are available by calling the Phillips Center Box Office at 352-392-ARTS (2787) or 800-905-ARTS (toll-free within Florida) or by calling Ticketmaster at 904-353-3309 or toll free at 800-277-1700. Orders may also be faxed to 352-846-1562. Tickets are also available in person at the Phillips Center Box Office, University Box Office at the Reitz Student Union, all Ticketmaster outlets and online at www.ticketmaster.com. Cash, checks, Visa and MasterCard are accepted. Group tickets are also available.

The Phillips Center Box Office is open Monday-Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. and two hours prior to the performance. Performance dates, times and programs are subject to change.