"The way she walked, talked, stood to dance, and stopped the breathe, is evident as Move poignantly exhibits the very essence of Graham"

Martha Graham, the mother of modern dance, has been brought back to life. Richard Move delivers an endearing performance of Martha@…the 1963 Interview by MoveOpolis! as they take on the challenge of using an archival audio tape to create their own verbatim rendition of the historical life of Martha Graham in an interview with dance critic Walter Terry.

The meticulous research on her life, her presence,  her impact, and scrupulous attention to every detail of the way she walked, talked, stood to dance, and stopped the breathe, is evident as Move poignantly exhibits the very essence of Graham. With each aspect of Graham as a collage piece, Move effortlessly combines them into a precise contemporary performance.  Graham enters in spirit as Move arduously prepares and cocoons himself, wrapped and caged, ready to birth; to become the very embodiment of Graham. Move’s performance as Graham blends two elements that are in the least way obscure to the viewer’s eyes: historic contribution and innovative parody.

While maintaining respect for the historic dance figure, subtle changes were made to the original interview to reveal wit. Throughout the interview, we hear Graham responding to questions posed by Terry. Then there are moments when we hear Graham’s mind trailing off as her words diverge on a tangent, leading to a beautiful, unexplored, and undiscovered place inside her mind. Other times, we witness Graham’s eagerness to dance as she sits, antsy. She fidgets and fights the urge to stand up, only to find that when she does stand up, she exhibits dance movements that correlate to the current discussion question. These mini events that take place during the interview allow the audience to grasp an enhanced understanding of the workings of Graham’s mind and longings of Graham’s body. An array of  jokes resulted in laughter from the audience’s undivided attention to words, pauses, and slight changes in voice tone.

However, as a critic, I must warn anticipatory viewers that it is best to be knowledgeably equipped with information of the dance world before watching this performance. With an interview-structured performance, audience participation is essential. Although the performance contains innovative wit, it is not understood by all. Many jokes were remarks pertaining to dance. If you were not familiar with certain aspects of the dance world, you would not understand half the jokes made throughout the performance.

Move’s historic, yet innovative interpretation cultivated a unique rendition that is only capable of being performed by Move and his performers. Move’s homage to Martha Graham serves as a justified contribution to the mother of modern dance.  Move creates a performance which incorporates humor and adoration with great ease. Based on the concrete praise received from this production, it seems that the task was not challenging at all, but rather pleasurable. It was once said–and I assure you that Move himself would agree–that work is not considered work if one takes pleasure in what he or she does.

Watch a preview of Martha@…the 1963 Interview