This content contains scenes that may shock an uninformed audience.
Do you still want to watch it?
Appalachian Spring
Appalachian Spring tells the story of a young frontier couple on their wedding day. Created as the war in Europe was drawing to end, the ballet captured the imagination of Americans who were beginning to believe in a more prosperous future, a future in which men and women would be united again. Themes from American folk culture can be found throughout the dance. Aaron Copland weaves a Shaker tune, “Simple Gifts,” throughout his luminous score, while Martha Graham’s choreography includes square dance patterns, skips and paddle turns and curtsies, even a grand right and left. The spare set by Isamu Noguchi features a Shaker rocking chair. With its tale of a new life in a new land, the dance embodies hope. Critics called Appalachian Spring “shining and joyous,” “a testimony to the simple fineness of the human spirit.”
Source: Martha Graham Dance Company
More information: www.marthagraham.org
(This press article is in french)
________
“Avoir peur de la sorcière Graham“, Entretien avec Noemi Lapzeson, Propos recueillis et mis en forme par Hervé Gauville, Annie Suquet, dans Repères, cahier de danse 2012/2 (n° 30), pages 9 à 12.
