In February, the Interlochen Arts Academy Dance Ensemble took the stage at Corson Auditorium and performed the Martha Graham masterwork, Diversion of Angels. They had the best teachers possible for the project - members of the Martha Graham Dance Company.
"Diversion is about the love of life and the love of love; the meeting and the parting of a man and a woman," said Janet Eilber (IAC 62-68, IAA 64-69, IAC Fac 70, 72), artistic director of Martha Graham Dance Company. The work explores the nature of love and features dancers wearing yellow, red and white representing youthful, erotic and mature love, respectively.
"Working and performing with the Company has improved my technique and strength," said Kenna Tuski, a junior who danced the role of the woman in red. "I feel a lot more grounded in dance; I can put so much more into my dancing now having had that experience."
Eilber and eleven dancers from the Company served as artists in residence and worked with Academy dancers and the dance faculty to offer insight into the innovative themes of Martha Graham’s choreography. "I think it fed right into this year’s campus-wide theme: The Artist as Citizen," said Eilber. As a major force in the modern dance movement, Graham used her artistry to speak to social and political issues, many times drawing controversy.
Mark Borchelt, director of dance and instructor of ballet for the Academy, said the residency turned out to be everything that Janet Eilber and he had hoped. "It was a creatively vital event that provided a rich educational experience for everyone involved."
The residency was not limited to dance, however. It provided a cross-disciplinary experience for students in other arts areas as well. The performance included "Appalachian Spring," set to the original score by Aaron Copland and performed by Interlochen Arts Academy students and faculty.
Academy students in the motion picture arts division filmed the entire residency and created a documentary about the project. Visual arts students had a rare opportunity to see and study the original Isamu Noguchi set. Eilber was principal dancer with Graham’s company and is now its artistic director and a trustee on the board of Interlochen Center for the Arts.
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