MORE GRAHAM MEMORABILIA: The Library of Congress now has a collection of videotapes and a film documenting the ballets and techniques of the modern dance pioneer Martha Graham. The 44 videotapes and films were paid for by the largest grant for dance documentation and preservation ever awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts - $250,000.
Three Graham masterpieces - "Acts of Light," "Cave of the Heart," and "Errand into the Maze" were given the layered treatment - consisting of recordings of the entire performance plus a full rehearsal of the work and a segment demonstrating specific Graham techniques employed in the performance. "It's a unique way of filming dance so that it could be learned by a new student, and it's our commitment to the future,"said Ron Protas, general director of the Graham Company.AN EXCERPT from Martha Graham's 181st work will highlight the program for the appearance of the Martha Graham Dance Company, at the City Center in New York Oct. 8-20. It will have its premiere at a gala Oct. 8, opening the season, with Jaqueline Onassis as honorary chairman. Mikhail Baryshnikov will dance in "El Penitente."
The dance, "The Eyes of the Goddess," was commissioned by the Spain '92 Foundation for the celebration of the quincentenary of Columbus's first voyage to America. The work will have its European premiere in June 1992 at the World Exposition in Seville, Spain, after which the company will tour Spain, one of three European tours next year. Graham left notes enough to finish the dance, but the company will only present the part that was videotaped in rehearsals.
Graham was exploring the theme of the eternal goddess, from Sumer to Spain, in the new work, which she described as dealing with "the terror of discovery and the fear of searching for the unknown."
GRAHAM LEFT HER ESTATE to Ron Protas, artistic director of her company. It was small, consisting mostly of jewelry, personal possessions and household effects, as well as costumes and art created by sculptor Isamu Noguchi for 17 of her dances. She lived simply, on income from her school. Protas has instructions to give mementos to many people, including co-artistic director Linda Hodes, Diane Gray, director of the Graham school, and such personal friends as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jacqueline Onassis, Jerome Robbins, and Yuriko, a former Graham dancer who has been named associate artistic director of the company.
- ELIOT FELD, who heads his own Feld Ballets/NY, celebrates 25 years in American ballet this season. Feld has a career total of some 70 ballets to his credit, including four premieres that his company is preparing for its February season at the Joyce Theater in New York. Feld Ballets/NY will tour throughout Wisconsin and Indiana this fall, and in Arizona and California in the spring.