Worldwide Lamentation Variations

How to produce Lamentation Variations for your company

Lamentation Variations is an ongoing creative project of the Martha Graham Dance Company. In 2007, For the anniversary of the 9/11, we asked three important young choreographers to create short dances for the company inspired by a film of Martha Graham dancing her iconic solo, Lamentation. We allowed them to choose any number of Company dancers for their variation, but they were required to adhere to the following conditions:

  • Make a dance under 4 minutes long (the length of Lamentation)
  • Use only 10 hours of rehearsal with the dancers
  • Choose public domain music, silence, or other rights free music
  • Use basic costumes and simple lighting design

At the premiere, the audience saw the film of Martha Graham followed by three remarkable gems of contemporary choreography. The experiment was so successful that Company has commissioned many more variations from artists such as Larry Keigwin, Aszure Barton, Richard Move, Doug Varone, Yvonne Rainer, Lar Lubovitch, Michelle Dorrance, Liz Gerring, Sonya Tayeh, Kyle Abraham. On any given performance, the film of Martha Graham is shown and three variations follow.

(FYI, every choreographer has broken at least one of the rules. We tend to be lenient with these wonderful artists.)

Producing the Lamentation Variations for your company is a distinctive, creative and economical way to connect to Graham100.

We anticipate a network of participants and hope to produce a worldwide festival of these creations.

Questions?

Please don’t hesitate to be in touch with Joyce Herring, Director of Martha Graham Resources: jherring@marthagraham.org