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| Diversion of Angels | |
|---|---|
| Title | Diversion of Angels |
| Choreographer | Martha Graham |
| Composer | Miriam Gideon |
| Premiere | 1948 |
| Ballet company | Martha Graham Dance Company |
| Genre | Modern dance |
Diversion of Angels is a modern dance work choreographed by Martha Graham with music by Miriam Gideon that premiered in 1948. The piece blends modernist choreography, mid‑20th century American music, and theatrical design traditions linked to figures such as Isamu Noguchi and institutions like the New York City Center and the Metropolitan Opera House. It has been performed by companies including the Martha Graham Dance Company, the Joffrey Ballet, and the Royal Ballet and studied in curricula at institutions such as Juilliard and the New York University dance programs.
Graham created Diversion of Angels during a postwar period influenced by contemporaries such as Merce Cunningham, José Limón, Hanya Holm, and composers like Aaron Copland and Earl Kim. The conceptual frame drew on a Graham interest shared with artists like Isamu Noguchi and writers such as T. S. Eliot and Gertrude Stein in mythic narrative and psychological archetype. The work synthesizes ideas present in earlier Graham pieces including Lamentation, Appalachian Spring, and Night Journey, yet it diverges into a lyrical abstraction akin to pieces by Paul Taylor and Alwin Nikolais.
Gideon’s score employs mid‑century tonal language resonant with composers Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, and Darius Milhaud. Scored for chamber forces, the music features motifs and harmonic progressions that parallel rhythmic phrasing found in works by Igor Stravinsky and Olivier Messiaen. The structure is sectional and episodic, reflecting formal strategies used by George Balanchine in neoclassical ballet while remaining rooted in Graham’s modern idiom associated with Rudolf von Laban and Loie Fuller movement theories. Orchestration and tempi invite contrasts reminiscent of collaborations between choreographers and composers such as Jerome Robbins with Leonard Bernstein.
The premiere at venues associated with the New York City Center featured principal dancers from the Martha Graham Dance Company and production collaborators linked to the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Subsequent revivals have taken place at festivals like the Spoleto Festival USA, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival with guest casts drawn from companies such as the Royal Danish Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet, and the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo alumni. Notable interpreters have included performers trained in programs at Sarah Lawrence College, Barnard College, and Boston Conservatory, while staged reconstructions have involved archivists from the Library of Congress and curators from the New York Public Library.
Graham’s choreography for the work integrates motifs from her technique exemplified in pieces performed at Carnegie Hall and staged with scenic ideas comparable to works by Isamu Noguchi and designers associated with the Federal Theatre Project. Stagers and répétiteurs from the Martha Graham Dance Company and guest artistic directors from ensembles like the Joffrey Ballet and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater have adapted the piece for different cast sizes and venues such as the Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center. Interpretive approaches reference dramaturgy from innovators including Maxine Powell and production practices appearing in companies like the Ballet Hispánico.
Critics from publications tied to institutions such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Washington Post have debated the work’s lyrical vs. dramatic qualities, drawing comparisons to the aesthetic debates involving Martha Graham and contemporaries like Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor. Scholarly analysis appears in journals connected to Columbia University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Los Angeles examining themes also explored by historians of dance at the Dance Research Journal and commentators at the American Dance Guild. Debates often contrast Graham’s psychological expressivity with neoclassical tendencies observed in choreographers linked to George Balanchine and pedagogy from institutions such as The Juilliard School.
Audio recordings of Miriam Gideon’s score have been issued by labels collaborating with ensembles tied to the New York Philharmonic and chamber groups associated with artists who worked with Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber. Video documentation is held in archives at the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and university collections at Yale University and UCLA. Published notations and editions used by répétiteurs derive from materials preserved by the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance and editions consulted by scholars at the Smithsonian Institution.
Category:Ballets by Martha Graham Category:1948 works