blog entry

Martha Graham in Columbia

We’re featuring a former Graham company member--Miriam Barbosa--in our May issue. 

I just saw Miriam dance, tonight, only because I happened to click by SCETV and caught the last half of Carolina Stories.

Miriam is wonderful, dancing the role that Martha Graham originated.  It’s also great to watch her teach and hear her speak about Graham’s work with such eloquence.

The program shows how she trained a group of USC dancers to perform Sketches from Chronicle last year.  You can catch their entire performance on ETV on Monday night.

The show also told how Martha Graham came to Columbia in 1974, something I’d heard about before but not in such detail.  Graham had finally stopped performing in 1970 and had sunk into a depression.  In her memoir, Graham writes:  [When I stopped dancing] I had lost my will to live. I stayed home alone, ate very little, and drank too much and brooded. Finally my system just gave in. I was in the hospital for a long time, much of it in a coma."

Graham’s time in Columbia seems to have helped her re-imagine herself. Several people interviewed on Carolina Stories speculate that Graham’s career was revived by her weeks in Columbia as an artist in residence.

Now, a Graham dancer calls Columbia home and brings Graham’s work with her.  Look for Miriam next week, on SCETV and in skirt!.