[NoHo Arts District, CA] – The final season of Martha Graham Dance Company’s (MGDC) three-year centennial celebration premieres at The Soraya with three monumental pieces: The world premiere of En Masse; Graham’s 1947 Night Journey with
music by William Schuman, a rarely seen work based on Oedipus; and We the People, by choreographer Jamar Roberts with a folk score by Rhiannon Giddens, a 2024 creation inspired by Graham’s longstanding sociopolitical critique.
En Masse, choreographed by Hope Boykin, will be a centerpiece of the Martha Graham Dance Company’s 100th Season. It will be danced to new musical arrangements of excerpts from Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, as well as another Bernstein inspired piece of music entitled For Martha composed by Christopher Rountree. For this new composition, Rountree used unknown musical themes written by Bernstein, found in his correspondence with Martha Graham in the 1980s. The musical selections were reviewed and approved by the Leonard Bernstein Organization, making official this first ever posthumous partnership between two of
the 20th Century’s greatest artists. Rountree’s ensemble Wild Up will perform the new score.
The pairing of Wild Up and MGDC marks The Soraya’s continuing commitment to Graham’s collaborations with composers.
GRAHAM100, an event selected as one of the Los Angeles Times’ “10 can’t-miss dance shows” this fall, is one of five Soraya 15th Anniversary events specially produced to celebrate The Soraya’s signature work in Los Angeles.
About GRAHAM100 at The Soraya
The Martha Graham Dance Company’s three-year 100th anniversary celebration is designed to include three major commissions from some of today’s top choreographers. These new works are presented alongside some of Martha Graham’s most important and iconic masterworks. Jamar Roberts was commissioned for the 2023-24 season, and the choreographic duo Baye & Asa created a new work for the company in the 2024-25 season. While considering what would be notable and celebratory for the
Company’s 100th season, Artistic Director Janet Eilber turned to the Company’s longtime collaborators Thor Steingraber, Executive & Artistic Director of The Soraya in Northridge, CA, and Christopher Rountree.
Thor, Christopher, and I were keen to find music by Bernstein,” Eilber said. “Garth Sunderland at the Leonard Bernstein Office researched a variety of possibilities for music and when the discovery of the Graham/Bernstein collaboration surfaced, we decided on the idea of reigniting a never-completed collaboration between Graham and Bernstein. These two giants of the 20th-century began working together to create a new work based on Graham’s lost dance from 1939, American Document. For unknown reasons, the collaboration was never completed, and Graham used an existing score by John Corigliano. Graham’s centennial seemed like the perfect time to bring this posthumous/new collaboration together.”
Of this world premiere event, Soraya Executive and Artistic Director Thor Steingraber said, “With this year’s centennial performance, The Soraya’s collaboration with the Martha Graham Dance Company over the last 10 years includes four world premieres as well as four new musical scores, each commissioned by The Soraya. Martha Graham herself played such a pivotal role in 20th-Century music that it only seemed fitting to build upon that tradition by facilitating the partnership between the
Graham company, composer/conductor Christopher Rountree, and his ensemble Wild Up. Likewise, we have revived some of the original Graham commissioned compositions and recorded them for future touring. To culminate this partnership with a Bernstein/Graham posthumous pairing is an honor and an extraordinary creative undertaking.”
To learn more about En Masse, please listen to Hope Boykin in conversation with The Soraya’s Executive and Artistic Director Thor Steingraber here.
The GRAHAM100 Lineup
En Masse by Hope Boykin (2025)
Music by Leonard Bernstein and Christopher Rountree
Journalists, to learn more about the connection between Graham and Bernstein, click here.
Night Journey by Martha Graham
Music by William Schuman
Set by Isamu Noguchi
Costumes by Martha Graham
One of Graham’s greatest masterworks. A chilling reinvention of the tragedy of Oedipus told through the eyes of his mother and wife, Jocasta.
We the People by Jamar Roberts
Music by Rhiannon Giddens
Arranged by Gabe Witcher
Costume Design by Karen Young
Lighting Design by Yi-Chung Chen
This dance of 21st Century Americana references and reverberates with our history. It’s new score by Rhiannon Giddens and arranged by Gabe Witcher, offers the historic sound of American folk music. The work is equal parts protest and lament, speculating on the ways in which America does not always live up to its promise. We the People homes to serve as a reminder that the power for collective change belongs to the people.
Generously underwritten by Christopher Sales. Media sponsor: KCRW.
Martha Graham and her Company have expanded contemporary dance’s vocabulary of movement and forever altered the scope of the art form by rooting works in contemporary social, political, psychological, and sexual contexts, deepening their impact and resonance.” — Martha Graham Dance Company
About the Martha Graham Dance Company
Martha Graham has had a deep and lasting impact on American art and culture. She single-handedly defined contemporary dance as a uniquely American art form, which the nation has in turn shared with the world. Crossing artistic boundaries, she collaborated with and commissioned work from the leading visual artists, musicians, and designers of her day, including sculptor Isamu Noguchi and composers Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and Gian Carlo Menotti.
Graham’s groundbreaking style grew from her experimentation with the elemental movements of contraction and release. By focusing on the basic activities of the human form, she enlivened the body with raw, electric emotion. The sharp, angular, direct movements of her technique were a dramatic departure from the predominant style of the time.
Graham influenced generations of choreographers that included Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, and Twyla Tharp, altering the scope of dance. Classical ballet dancers Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, and Mikhail Baryshnikov sought her out to broaden their artistry. Artists of all genres were eager to study and work with Graham—she taught actors including Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Madonna, Liza Minnelli, Gregory Peck, Tony Randall, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, and Joanne Woodward to utilize their bodies as expressive instruments.
The Martha Graham Dance Company has been a leader in the evolving art form of modern dance since its founding in 1926. It is both the oldest dance company in the United States and the oldest integrated dance company.
Today, the Company is embracing a new programming vision that showcases masterpieces by Graham alongside newly commissioned works by contemporary artists. With programs that unite the work of choreographers across time within a rich historical and thematic narrative, the Company is actively working to create new platforms for contemporary dance and multiple points of access for audiences.
The current company dancers hail from around the world and, while grounded in their Graham core training, can also slip into the style of contemporary choreographers like a second skin, bringing technical brilliance and artistic nuance to all they do—from brand-new works to Graham classics and those from early pioneers such as Isadora Duncan, Jane Dudley, Anna Sokolow, and Mary Wigman.
“Some of the most skilled and powerful dancers you can ever hope to see,” according to the Washington Post last year. “One of the great companies of the world,” says The New York Times, while Los Angeles Times notes, “They seem able to do anything, and to make it look easy as well as poetic.” Click here to learn more about the company.
When:
Saturday, October 4 | 8PM
Where:
Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts
18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330-8448
Tickets:
About the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya)
The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for The Performing Arts (The Soraya) is an award-winning, state-of-the-art 1,700-seat theatre that opened in 2011 as the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC). Through a transformative gift by Younes and Soraya Nazarian, the venue was renamed The Soraya in 2017.
The Soraya is located on the campus of California State University Northridge, the intellectual and cultural heart of the San Fernando Valley. Executive and Artistic Director Thor Steingraber, in his 12th year leading the organization, sums up what makes The Soraya a central piece of Los Angeles arts and culture. “At The Soraya, we hold a high standard of excellence for every performance from a vast array of artistic disciplines, and we hold steadfast to our commitment to the value and impact of the performing arts in community-building, for the Valley’s 1.8 million residents and beyond.”
The Soraya’s 2025-26 Season is a journey through the expansive sounds of orchestras, the freestyle vibes of jazz, the innovations of dance luminaries, and a vast array of global voices. The Soraya continues its vigorous commitment to excelling, innovating, and amplifying access for Valley residents, students, and arts lovers across Southern California.
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