Graham, interrupted.

Martha Graham Dance Company City Center New York, New York May 9, 2002

In a dancer's career, a two-year layoff can seem like a lifetime. The anticipation surrounding the return of the Martha Graham Dance Company had been rising, given that the company had been denied the right to dance Graham's ballets for two years. Although by May 9 no judgment had yet been handed down in the court case initiated by Ron Protas and the Graham Trust, the defending Graham company went ahead with a gala performance. One hopes that further interruptions will never plague the company.

What was most impressive was the cohesion the company demonstrated in pulling off a difficult evening of Graham repertoire with only a few months of rehearsal. Both veteran dancers and younger members of the troupe danced with an unyielding commitment and mature understanding of Graham's choreographic intentions. Terese Capucilli and Christine Dakin, acting as artistic coordinators, steered the performance along, not only with their wise supervision but also with their vivid portrayals in Seraphic Dialogue (1955) and Night Journey (1947).

The dynamic aspects of Joan of Arc--maid, warrior, and martyr--are detailed in Graham's majestic Seraphic Dialogue. Divinely inspired by the whisperings of a trinity of saints, Joan recalls the stages of her life up to the moment of her exaltation. With Capucilli as the transfigured saint looking back at her life, the ballet took on an exceptional brilliance and gravity. Alessandra Prosperi danced the role of Joan as Warrior with a zealous buoyancy, and the invaluable Kenneth Topping portrayed Saint Michael, whose sturdy support leads her into battle.

The great surprise of the evening was the superbly danced Embattled Garden (1958), performed by a cast of four young company members with a stunning supply of technique and conviction. Miki Orihara, the sort of Graham dancer who comes along once in a generation, danced the role of Eve, parlaying each contraction into an emotional outcry. Tadej Brdnik lent his marvelous physicality to the role of the conflicted Adam, and Christophe Jeannot slithered maliciously as the Stranger.

Night Journey, like Embattled Garden, uses a wonderfully imaginative landscape designed by the sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Placed against Noguchi's set, Graham's starkly dramatic choreography from 1947 intensifies the theatrical scenario of Jocasta's union with her son Oedipus in a way that seems radical today. Dakin and Topping, both in peak form, embodied the sensuality and guilt that riddle the tragic family. The Daughters of the Night, a phalanx of women that acts as a chorus throughout the ballet, were boldly led by Prosperi.

Closing the program was one of Graham's greatest ensemble works, "Steps in the Street," an excerpt from the suite Chronicle (1936). The powerful group of twelve women, who march, jump, and kneel in unison, was corralled by the indomitable Orihara. Evoking the wake of devastation left by war, this essay on the spiritual ability of humans to rally their resources proves to be timeless. Given the two-year absence of the Martha Graham Dance Company, the work that night took on extra meaning.