Hartt Composers, Kathryn Swanson and Lief Ellis, have teamed together with Martha Graham Company Principal dancer, Miki Orihara, to create a world premiere arrangement of Graham's 1952 work "Canticle for Innocent Comedians." Together they have arranged existing material from the legendary choreographer, Martha Graham, and the composer, Thomas Ribbink, to create a piece which accentuates the significance of the corps dances interspersed with references to the original solo sections. The team has been developing this new interpretation since January, researching the original work which Orihara danced as a member of Graham's company from 1987-2015.
Graham's original work was centered in the idea of the five elements, earth, fire, water, moon, and sun with each element being personified by a solo dancer and the narrative thread being carried by the group dances. The original musical score by Ribbink had been lost to time and only existed as a fragmented rehearsal recording. Through artistic collaboration Swanson was able to devise new music to Orihara's deeply researched arrangement of the original choreography, while Ellis devised acoustically modulated versions of remnants from the extent recordings.
The resulting work, "Suite of Dances from Canticle for Innocent Comedians", has been sanctioned by the Martha Graham Resources and will become part of their catalogue after its premiere by The Hartt School Dance Division at Lincoln Theater on April 11.