Martha Graham | Photo by Barbara Morgan

This spring the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance will join the LA Dance Project and Lula Washington Dance Theatre for LA Dances Graham100, a multi-year celebration of the Martha Graham Dance Company, America’s longest running dance company, and part of the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya) 2024-2025 performance season. Featured is the repertoire of dance pioneer Martha Graham from among her catalog of more than 180 pieces of choreography. USC Kaufman will perform one work by Martha Graham and a newly commissioned work by USC Kaufman alum Jakevis Thomason (BFA ’20) in a special one-night-only performance taking place on Saturday, April 26, 2025 at 8:00 PM at The Soraya in Northridge, California. 

“It is a privilege to be part of this special celebration honoring one of the great artists of the 20th century,” said USC Kaufman Dean Julia M. Ritter. “We pride ourselves on being in a unique position to present a singular work of dance by Martha Graham and a premiere from talented alum Jakevis for the LA community. It’s a milestone occasion, and we look forward to making the most of it.”

USC Kaufman’s appearance at The Soraya is part of the theater’s second contribution to the Graham100 centennial celebration, the first of which began during the 2023-2024 season. It includes masterpieces rarely seen on stage. USC Kaufman will be performing Ritual to the Sun, the final section of Graham’s Acts of Light, a neoclassical work in three parts that premiered in 1981 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC (the excerpt was danced by USC Kaufman BFA students with members of the Graham Company in the spring of 2016). 

Lamentation Variations is an event that was originally conceived of by the Martha Graham Company to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11. The work opens with a film of Martha Graham dancing movements from her then new, and now iconic solo, Lamentation. The variations that follow are developed under specific creative conditions with each choreographer creating a short, spontaneous movement sketch of their reaction to the Graham film. Though it was planned to be performed on only one occasion, the audience reception for Lamentation Variations was such that it has become an ongoing creative project for the Graham Company. For the Soraya performance, three new Lamentation Variations have been commissioned by artists of the LA Dance Project, Lula Washington Dance Theatre and the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. Alumni Jakevis Thomason (Class of 2020) will be creating USC Kaufman’s Lamentation Variation.

Martha Graham’s storied career began in Los Angeles in 1916 at Denishawn, the schools of dance founded by Ruth St. Dennis and Ted Shawn, who would later go on to found the prestigious Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Graham moved to New York City in 1926. There, she forged a reputation as one of the most daring choreographers of her time, experimenting with exotic costumes, themes of revolt and avant-garde music that both impressed and polarized the public. She established the Martha Graham Dance Company in that same year. Today, the Martha Graham Dance Company continues to foster its founder’s spirit and ingenuity by embracing new programming that showcases masterpieces of the Graham repertoire while incorporating contemporary artistry in the field. 

Performance and Ticket Information for LA Dances Graham100

Saturday, April 26, 2025, 8:00 PM
Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts
Northridge, CA

Tickets for LA Dances Graham100 are available now.