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Next Gen

Around the corner from the crowds, billboards, Bubba Gump Shrimp and the Hard Rock Cafe, one can now find a decidedly more refined respite in the midst of midtown Manhattan. The new Martha Graham Studios in the historic Paramount Building include an intimate performance space, outfitted with bleacher seating and a white curtained backdrop, against which the dancers of Graham 2, the junior company, performed their spring program.

Performance

Graham 2: “Clair de Lune” by Virginie Mécène / “Weaving” by Michael Mao / “Stars” and “Moon,” “Secular Games,” “Appalachian Spring,” and “Steps in the Street” by Martha Graham

 

Place

Martha Graham Studios, New York, NY, May 22, 2026

Words

Rebecca Deczynski

Maylissa Jean (right), Emmy Lebrun (left), Madison Kotch (far left), and Emelyn Urdahl (far right) in “Claire de Lune” by Virginie Mécène. Photograph by Brian Pollock

The six-work presentation primarily—expectedly—featured the work of Graham herself (particularly fitting amid the company’s 100-year celebration). But it starts with a brand-new piece by Virginie Mécène, a former principal dancer with the Martha Graham Company and the current director of Graham 2. “Clair de Lune,” set to the Debussy work that shares its name, is inspired by an original Graham piece, she explains at the top of the performance, which, like others, has been lost to time. Only a photograph, which may or may not have depicted the original “Clair de Lune,” remains, showing four dancers under a veil. This, Mécène says, was her starting point.

It is a dreamy image, as the dancers—Maylissa Jean, Jacqueline Lee, Emmy Lebrun, Madison Kotch—dressed in flesh-toned unitards, position themselves underneath the sheer white fabric, one standing and the other three in seated repose. Despite the early Graham inspiration, the reference that comes to mind is that of Isadora Duncan, draped in a toga, veil flying behind her. Still, the movements of the dancers, when they emerge, are decidedly from the schoolings of Graham, reaching and contracting. The work is simple and pretty, and at times a touch too sentimental with lyrical stretches of the arms. It’s most interesting when the dancers move through their own individual sequences, creating a more layered effect.

Aspen Mason and Julian Myrland in “Moon” by Martha Graham. Photograph by Brian Pollock

Aspen Mason and Julian Myrland in “Moon” by Martha Graham. Photograph by Brian Pollock

Two pas de deuxs, both from Graham’s 1952 “Canticle for Innocent Comedians,” follow. “Stars,” performed by Johana Gracia Morales and Eddy Pérez Trimiño, is a delicate swishing piece. Trimiño repeatedly lifts Morales above his head and to his side; she extends out a leg in développé or attitude. The pair have a light and easy quality to their movement; Trimiño has clear strength but has a particular grace that’s most apparent when he turns in attitude or arabesque. “Moon,” performed in this show by Aspen Mason and Julian Myrland, is the more intense of the two. Where the “Stars” couple repeatedly come together, the “Moon” duo often perform chest-to-back. Mason bends her body over Myrland’s torso. In the most striking moment, he lifts her with the soles of her feet pressed together, her chest and arms open as if making an offering. It’s a difficult work both technically and stylistically; the dancers rise to the occasion. 

“Weaving,” a 1999 work by Michael Mao, however, is the standout of the first act. It’s acrobatic and athletic, with two pairs of dancers moving, insistently, to a percussion-driven score by Leonardo Eto. It was, the program notes, “originally conceived as a series of body alignment exercises,” but it developed into a complex, woven piece. At this performance, Kotch, Emelyn Urdahl, Myrland, and Lucas Sverdlen are exacting in their movements. They repeatedly pike and cartwheel. They find unexpected ways to interact with one another; at one point, Urdahl folds her body over Sverdlen as he crawls sideways in downward dog. What prevents the work from feeling like a parade of spectacles is the careful pacing of the choreography and the dancers’ musicality as they linger in postures and port de bras before snapping into the next part of the sequence. 

Jose Manuel Esteban (center), Lucas Sverdlen (left), Julian Myrland, Eddy Trimiño, and Jeffrey Shirbroun (right) in “Secular Games”(“Play with thought- on a Socratic Island”) by Martha Graham. Photograph by Brian Pollock

Jose Manuel Esteban (center), Lucas Sverdlen (left), Julian Myrland, Eddy Trimiño,
and Jeffrey Shirbroun (right) in “Secular Games”(“Play with thought- on a Socratic Island”) by Martha Graham. Photograph by Brian Pollock

The second half of the program is core Graham, covering some of her most signature themes: classicism, Americana, and anti-facism.  

An excerpt from “Secular Games”(“Play with thought- on a Socratic Island”) is a structured yet playful piece, as the six dancers toss around and marvel at a small, silver soccer ball. They stand in contrapposto and cross the space in angular stag jumps. They smile while reaching to grab the object of their attention from the others; the ancient Greeks, after all, did comedies, as well as tragedies.

In this relatively short program, we still get to experience the joy that is “Appalachian Spring,” Graham’s masterwork set to a euphoric score by Aaron Copland. Instead of the full ballet, a narrator walks us through select moments of the work, reading the instructions that Graham gave Copland for the composition. The young cast approaches this great work with gusto. Lebrun is an effervescent Bride, while Trimiño exhibits the same grace he did earlier in the program as he dances the part of the Husbandman. Zoe Ridgell, as the Pioneer Woman, has a notable poise and an elegant posture that gives her movement a mature sensibility. 

Emmy Lebrun and Eddy Pérez Trimiño in “Appalachian Spring” by Martha Graham. Photograph by Brian Pollock

Emmy Lebrun and Eddy Pérez Trimiño in “Appalachian Spring” by Martha Graham. Photograph by Brian Pollock

There is, of course, beauty in contrast, and “Steps in the Street” from “Chronicle” makes a fantastic foil to the optimistic “Appalachian Spring.” The latter was what Graham considered her contribution to the war effort; the former she created in 1936, amid the rise of Nazi Germany. Subtitled “Devastation - Homelessness - Exile,” the piece, “sets forth the fateful prelude to war,” according to original program notes. The cast of nine dancers, all dressed in long black dresses, weave through the space in striking poses—contracting their torsos, wrapping their arms around their bodies—and carry their heads and hands at specifically articulated angles. With its distinctive motifs and emphasis on pedestrian movement (in alternation with repeated, urgent jumps), “Steps in the Street” is a work that demands attention to detail, and more specifically, close accordance with Graham’s signature technique.

Mason, as a soloist, is particularly striking, with wide-open eyes and a strong sense of control. But this is a group effort, wherein each individual dancer adds up to one compelling whole. The inspiration for Graham’s work—and the historical context in which it debuted—only adds to its resonance today.

Rebecca Deczynski

Rebecca Deczynski is a New York City-based writer and editor publishes the newsletter Mezzanine Society. Her work has appeared in publications including Inc., Domino, NYLON, and InStyle. She graduated from Barnard College cum laude with a degree in English and a minor in dance.

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