Martha Graham Dance Company: A Dual Centennial Event!

TICKET PRICES
$63/ $52/ $35

February 3, 2026 at 7:30 PM

With Special Guest, Tony Award-winner John Rubenstein, and with an ensemble featuring members of the Sunderman Conservatory of Music lead by Dr. César Leal.

Celebrate 100 years of the 'grandest small-town theater in America', and the oldest dance company in America with this double centennial event! This program, which features iconic works of Graham's alongside newly commissioned dances by some of the most dynamic choreographers working today, celebrates our cultural heritage and looks to the future as part of a nation-wide celebration of America 250.

Martha Graham (1894-1991) is recognized as a primal artistic force of the 20th century, alongside Picasso, James Joyce, Stravinsky, and Frank Lloyd Wright, single-handedly defining contemporary dance as a uniquely American art form. The Martha Graham Dance Company has been a leader in evolving that art form since its founding in 1926. It is both the oldest dance company in the United States and one of the most celebrated on the planet.

This program includes Appalachian Spring (1944), Immediate Tragedy (1937/2020), We the People (2024), and a new work commissioned by MGDC as part of America 250. Appalachian Spring, Graham's beloved masterpiece that won Aaron Copland the Pulitzer Prize for the score, takes place in a 19th Century Pennsylvania Settlement and captures a sense of American optimism and folk culture. Immediate Tragedy was originally created as a solo for Graham in 1937 as a reaction to the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War and the rise of Fascism. Recreated in 2020 from historic photographs and new music by Christopher Roundtree, Immediate Tragedy remains a powerful work and testament to determination and resilience. We the People is a powerful new work by acclaimed choreographer, Jamar Roberts set to music written by the Grammy, Pulitzer, and MacArthur prize winning folk musician, Riannon Giddens.

The program will conclude with a newly commissioned work in celebration of America 250. En Masse (2025) was commissioned to celebrate GRAHAM100, the 100th anniversary of the Martha Graham Dance Company.

This performance is made possible in part by the J. William Warehime Fund of the Majestic Theater Centennial Endowment, a special gift from the J. William Warehime Foundation, and the Lydia Ziegler Clare Fund.

This performance will be dedicated to Karl Held, who was instrumental in saving the Majestic, and produced its grand reopening twenty years ago. The evening will conclude with a marquee dimming and a moment of silence outside the Majestic Theater. 

Program 

Choreography by Hope Boykin

Music by Leonard Bernstein†

Additional music by Christopher Rountree

Costume design by Karen Young

Lighting design by Al Crawford

Assistants to the Choreographer: Cameron Harris and Terri Ayanna Wright

En Masse was commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, University of Michigan, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons, Music Director, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts and the California State University of Northridge.

By arrangement with Boosey and Hawkes, Inc., Sole Agent for Leonard Bernstein Music Publishing Company LLC, publisher and copyright owner. 

^†“For Martha (Variations on a Theme by Leonard Bernstein)”

Original music by Leonard Bernstein

Additional composition by Christopher Rountree

“Suite for Dance from MASS”

By Leonard Bernstein

Lyrics for ‘A Simple Song’ by Stephen Schwartz and Leonard Bernstein

Arranged by Christopher Rountree