Martha Graham Dance Company returns to Sadler’s Wells Theatre for the first time in over 20 years to commemorate their 100th birthday and celebrate the indelible legacy of their namesake – Martha Graham. GRAHAM100: The Centennial Celebration features two diverse mixed bill programmes including iconic pieces choreographed by Graham herself as well as new works by acclaimed current artists commissioned by Artistic Director Janet Eilber.
American choreographer and dancer Graham’s groundbreaking techniques and signature style are recognised across the world and have earned the company acclaim from audiences in over 50 countries globally. Graham has been credited with transforming contemporary dance throughout the 20th century, evolving the artform with works rooted in social, political and psychological subjects of the day.
In the course of its 100 years, the Company has been fertile ground for experimentation and has worked with many leading artists of the 20th and 21st century, including Merce Cunningham, Anna Sokolow, Erick Hawkins, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Margot Fonteyn, Nacho Duato, Hofesh Shechter, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Twyla Tharp, and many others.
Janet Eilber has been artistic director of the Company since 2005, having worked closely with Graham in her early career. Her direction of the Company is acclaimed for creating new ways to appreciate the legacy – especially by pairing the Graham classics with new works by today’s top choreographers.
Eilber said, “Our return to London after more than two decades is a highly anticipated highlight of GRAHAM100, the Martha Graham Dance Company’s centennial celebration. Graham’s radical discoveries are at the roots of contemporary dance in the UK, and we feel deeply connected to the dance community here.
We are excited to bring programmes to London that offer the great Graham Classics alongside extraordinary contemporary works by some of today’s top artists. And our Company dancers, recognised as among the most powerful and expressive in the world, are not to be missed. We are so looking forward to reconnecting with London audiences at Sadler’s Wells in January!”
Sir Alistair Spalding CBE, Sadler’s Wells Artistic Director and Co-Chief Executive, said ” We are proud to welcome back the Martha Graham Company for the first time since 2003 as part of its centenary celebrations, we are thrilled to have these iconic works back on our stage alongside new pieces inspired by Graham’s legacy.”
The Centennial Celebrationmixed bill programmes will include Graham classics alongside new works by Baye & Asa, Xin Ying and Mimi Yin and Jamar Roberts.
The Inner Landscape programme includes Graham’s Night Journey, a ground-breaking transformation of the Oedipus story which puts Queen Jocasta in the spotlight. In Cortege by Baye & Asa, inspired by Graham’s anti-war themed Cortege of Eagles, the responsibility of conflict is transferred to the ensemble.
Premiered last year in New York City, Xin Ying and Mimi Yin’s Letter to Nobody is based on Graham’s 1940 work Letter to the World, which takes inspiration from the Emily Dickinson poem “I’m Nobody! Who are you?.” Through archival footage manipulated using AI, Graham is present as Xin’s partner. The programme closes with Graham’s Diversion of Angels, a joyous, lyrical work from 1948 celebrating different aspects of love.
The Dancing Our Times programme includes Graham’s beloved Appalachian Spring with its Pulitzer Prize winning score by Aaron Copland. Graham’s Immediate Tragedy was created in 1937 in response to the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War, and the recovery of archival references led to it being reimagined by Eilber in 2020, with a new score by Christopher Rountree.
Jamar Roberts’s We the People premiered in 2024 and features a score written by Rhiannon Giddens. Graham’s Chronicle is performed ninety years since its premiere at the Guild Theatre in New York City – a still potent response to the 1930s rise of fascism in Europe.
The Martha Graham Dance Company brings GRAHAM100: The Centennial Celebration to Sadler’s Wells Theatre from 20–23 January 2027, with Inner Landscape on Wednesday 20, Friday 22 and Saturday 23 January, and Dancing Our Times on Thursday 21 January and Saturday 23 January. Tickets start at £15. For full program details and tickets, visit sadlerswells.com.
