It was a privilege to watch the infamous Martha Graham
tonight in her newest work Night Journey. Night Journey is the re-telling of
the famous Grecian myth containing Oedipus and his wife Jocasta, who is also
his mother. This work demonstrates Martha’s ability to take an already told
story and adapt it to be expressed not only through movement but also a
different way of seeing the story. The piece is focused around the moment of
death of the wife and mother of Oedipus. Death is a brief moment but this work
takes you on a night journey through her life leading up until her death. What
made this piece so effective in my opinion was her well thought out use of
props, lighting and costumes. For this piece the female lead and ensemble women
were dressed in all black that gave an eerie and dark feel to the piece. The
flowing skirts balanced out the stiff and clunking movement that the
choreography contained. The black dresses did contain a few seams that were a
contrast in color. These lines contoured the body and showed off the musculature
of the dancers without having to reveal the skin. The ensemble women wearing
the same dress made their movement look uniform, as if they were one unit. What
I did not quite understand about the costume choice was the use of headpieces.
The ensemble women had twig-like silver pieces coming out from the crown of
their head while Martha had a statement headpiece. Martha’s headpiece (pictured
below) was stunning and useful but the ensembles were personally distracting.
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