Lesson Overview:

This lesson examines four of Martha Graham's dance-dramas built on Greek myths, legends and Greek tragedy—Cave of the Heart, Errand into the Maze; Night Journey, and the evening-long choreography, Clytemnestra.

It gives special attention to specific ways each dance-drama aligns with the narrative and themes of its seminal source. Activities focus on having students probe the ingenious structural designs and textural devices Graham uses in her work to articulate the wrenching emotions hidden in the deep fissures of the human heart.

Length of Lesson:

Six 45-minute class periods

Notes:

Lesson length will vary based on whether they include close study of the seminal source. (Ex: Night Journey studied in conjunction with Sophocles' Oedipus Rex; Cave of the Heart studied in conjunction with Euripedes' Medea.)

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

• research the background of the seminal sources of the four dance-dramas.
• extrapolate specific ways Graham draws from these sources to build her choreographic texts.
• trace specific ways symbolic images reinforce narratives, characterization, and themes.
• document how Noguchi stage sets and props are intrinsic to the presentation of the dance-dramas.
• analyze structural patterns of each choreographic text.
• define specific ways dance movements articulate deep emotion, build narrative, and project theme.
• assess specific ways music scores support the structural and textural development of the choreographies, enhancing their artistic impact.
• develop written responses to various topics of analysis.
• prepare a vignette of dance movement that projects intense emotion.

Instructional Plan:

Background

Psychology and emotion are prevalent in Martha Graham's choreographies. Graham uses a variety of provocative structural patterns to present these elements, including the:

• interplay of memory in individual consciousness;
• recognition of the conflicts and tensions of the divided self;
• confrontations of the "outer" and "inner landscapes" of the mind; and
• pull between logic and passion, expectations, anticipation, and actuality.

The deepest recesses of human consciousness are externalized in Graham's works that are shaped tightly around a preponderant emotion—particularly those built on ancient Greek myths and Greek tragedies.

Examining these four dance-dramas will help students define specific ways Graham draws from Greek sources to construct powerful emotion-laden profiles of women.

Part I

Preparing to analyze selected emotion studies based on ancient Greek sources.

A. Share with students that the work of many late 19th century and 20th century artists and writers—Picasso, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Henry James, Virginia Woolf James Joyce, William Faulkner—was developed in stream of consciousness patterns. The patterns varied; each was distinct.

Note: The distinctiveness had a lot to do with the positioning of the consciousness' voice within the structure of the mind.

In some works, the voice drew from multiple or cubed layers of the mind (Faulkner; Picasso and Graham in some of their works). However, in Graham's Cave of the Heart, Errand into the Maze, Night Journey, and Clytemnestra, the choreographies are shaped by positioning the consciousness' voice deep within the complex recesses of one overriding, searing layer of emotion.

Help students gain understanding of Graham's passionate thrusts into the labyrinths of the human mind and heart by engaging them in a stream of consciousness-type activity.

• Ask students to close their eyes and visualize an event, situation, encounter or a prevailing state of mind that evoked a strong emotional response—jealousy, envy, fear, the desire to get even, the desire to escape, the desire to be confrontational.
• Have students write about the event, situation, encounter or anxiety that they've visualized. Suggest some initial elements:
• Where did it take place?
• Who was involved?
• What time of year was it?
• What were they anxious about?
• Urge students to mentally reconstruct, as closely as possible, the intensity of the emotion they experienced.
• Raise a series of questions:
• Did the emotion gradually fade or is it still dominant in their consciousness?
• Was the emotion re-ignited by memory?
• Was a decision made that was a turning point in the emotional trauma?
• Did the decision ignite other emotions?
• Was the decision carried out?
• What was the result?
• Have students write how they actually felt in the heat of the emotion. Ask them to capture their feelings as completely as possible. Suggest that their writing be in the form of a prose or poem vignette.
• Ask for volunteers willing to share details of these emotional experiences.

B. Discuss the term "seminal source".

• Encourage students to share examples of paintings, music, poems, novels and films that use seminal sources.
• Consider expanding the conversation by discussing some of the assertions T.S. Eliot's makes in his essay, Tradition and the Individual Talent:

" ..if we approach (an artist) without this prejudice (only looking at aspects that least resembles anyone else), we shall often find that not only the best, but the most individual parts of his work may be those in which the dead poets, his ancestors, assert their immortality most vigorously."



"No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists."

• Explain that Eliot emphasizes that using past sources does not equate to imitation. Using "dead poets and artists" works as a springboard to help shape unique creative extensions of these sources.

• Share with students that much of Martha Graham's genius lies in her creative vision—building unique extensions of myths, legends and works of the past. Many of her works take inspiration from other art sources, particularly poetry, Greek mythology and Greek Tragedies.

Part II

Four Graham choreographic masterpieces, drawn from ancient Greek sources, that project intense emotional states.

Cave of the Heart (1946)

"No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone... the emotion of art is impersonal...{an artist} lives in what is not merely the present, but the present moment of the past..."

T.S. Eliot
Tradition and the Individual Talent

Combine these words with Carl Jung's theories of archetypal myths buried in the collective unconscious to help unlock the mystery of the powerful works—based on ancient Greek myths and Greek Tragedies—developed by Martha Graham in the 1940's.

Cave of the Heart is the first of these compelling dance-dramas. It has two sources—the myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece and the sorceress Medea.

This Graham work has several exciting classroom possibilities.

It could:

• reinforce the study of Greek myth.
• enrich study of Euripides' tragedy Medea.
• be the springboard for a creative writing assignment on point of view.
• be part of a discussion about the use of symbolism in art and literature.
• serve as inspiration for the development of a written interior monologue on or of an original student choreography projecting an intense emotion.

A study of the incredibly provocative Noguchi set could launch a discussion about the relationship of set design to the development of the narrative, characterization and theme of Cave of the Heart. Another topic of discussion might be how set design assists a choreographer in handling space and projection of time.

Prepare students for an examination of Cave of the Heart by having them complete this assignment:

• Divide the class into collaborative groups.
• Write each of six suggested topics (see below) on note cards. Have each group select a card/topic.
• Advise students to research their topic individually.
• Give students limited time, in class, to draw from their individual research and write a brief summary about their topic.
• Have students share their summaries orally in large group format.


Suggested Topics
• Detail the myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece. Include a specific explanation of how Medea helped Jason to secure the Fleece.
• Detail Medea's background as a sorceress (daughter of Aeetas; granddaughter of the Sun god, Helios)


Note: In Blood Memory, Graham refers to the Sun-god as Medea's father.
• Summarize the basic narrative of Euripides' Medea.
• Identify some prevailing symbolic images of jealousy, betrayal, revenge.


Possible responses for jealousy:
• the color green (emanating from the spleen);
• a green-eyed monster;
• a dragon or serpent;
• a fiend of Hell spouting venom.
Possible responses for betrayal:
• "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned;"
• a snake in the bosom:
• eating one's heart out.


Possible response for revenge—an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
• Describe in detail Noguchi's set design for Cave of the Heart.


Note: Encourage students to read Noguchi's explanation of the set on the Noguchi at the Noguchi Garden Museum Web site. He explains that he used stone steps to symbolize the stony Greek islands that Jason traveled through on his search for the Golden Fleece. The voyage was the bridge to events that follow. Noguchi also placed a black heart aorta shape on the horizon to suggest a volcano. On top of a coiled green serpent, he put a wire structure that serves different purposes in the choreography.

Note: After a group presentation on this topic, inform students that in Euripides' text there are several lines that include stone and heart images. Also, the serpent image is reminiscent of the serpent dragon whose teeth must be sowed (from the original Golden Fleece myth.
• Review what role(s) the Chorus serves in Greek Tragedy.

If time allows, read a few passages of Euripides' Medea, particularly some of the Medea's vengeance speeches and/or the exchanges between Jason and Medea.

If possible, show a film or clips of Euripides' Medea.

Follow with a discussion of:

• The specific role of the Chorus
• The chorus is made up of the women of Corinth who try to comfort and dissuade Medea from Revenge.
• Students' perceptions of Princess Glauce, Creon's daughter
• Possible responses: young, golden-haired, naive, unsuspecting
• Students' perceptions of Jason

Possible responses:

• arrogant;
• self-centered;
• driven to achieve power, fame, and wealth without thinking of others;
• seems to love his children, but is focused on how they'll support his image.
• Students' sympathy level for Medea and her predicament.

Point of View Assignment

Divide the class into four groups. Assign each group a persona from Medea: The Chorus; Princess Glauce; Jason; Medea.

Ask students to write a brief, first-person monologue that reflects the thinking and emotions of their assigned persona as he/she confronts his/her predicament in Euripides' narrative.

Request that some students share these interior monologues.

Then, ask one or more volunteers from each group to express, through movement, aspects of what they've written. This physical expression can be as simple how the person would walk while experiencing interior thoughts and emotions. It could be complex articulating the thoughts and emotions, kinetically, in a more elaborate design.

If possible, show the class a tape or clips of Cave of the Heart, especially Medea's Dance of Vengeance (an incredible piece!).

Ask students, in open discussion or collaborative groups, to explain the tape or clips.

Pass out Assignment A: Cave of the Heart Discussion Questions. Remind students to consider all points of view while working on the questions. You may wish to refer to the teacher version of Assignment A: Cave of the Heart Discussion Questions.

Errand into the Maze (1947)

The name for Errand into the Maze was inspired by a poem of the same title by Ben Belitt from his collection, Wilderness Stairs. (This information is recounted in Graham's autobiography, Blood Memory). Belitt was a colleague of Graham's at Bennington College.

Graham builds on a Greek source—mythology—to develop a compelling profile of deep emotion. This time she draws on aspects of the myth of Ariadne, Theseus, and the Minotaur, but makes the protagonist a heroine, instead of a male.

Studying Graham's Errand could be used to enrich a study of mythology, helping to:

• illuminate variations in narrative structural patterns;
• document the impact of provocative set designs and props as non-linear
structural forces that help to project theme;
• affirm the power of human determination to overcome deep anxieties; and
• experience the artistic force of a compelling Graham choreography.

Consider initiating a study of Errand into the Maze with the following activities:

• Ask students to develop a brief definition of what they think the term maze means.
• If time allows, ask a few volunteers to go to the board to sketch a graphic display of their concept of a maze.
• Request students to define, in writing, what they think an "errand into a maze" could be.
• Ask students to develop a brief summary of the myth of Ariadne, Theseus, and the Minotaur. Tell them to include a definition of a Minotaur and a labyrinth.
• Generate a discussion about the word fear, encouraging students to share anecdotal statements of their personal fears and how they succumb, fight against and/or try to overcome them.
• Ask students to make a drawing or sketch that personifies their most dominant fear, including a representation of how they try to deal with this fear.
• Request that volunteers share their sketches with other members of the class.
• Explain to students that Graham's choreography is a symbolic statement of how a woman dealt with fear.

If possible, show students video clips from Martha Graham's Errand into the Maze.

• Arrange students in collaborative groups of three.
• Provide students with Assignment B: Errand into the Maze Questions
• Ask each group to work together to:
• describe the structural design and textural development of the choreography, and
• identify special effects in the choreography's presentation.
• Have students record, in writing, their answers to questions in Assignement B.
• Use Assigment B: Errand into the Maze Answers as a guide for possible answers.

Night Journey (1947)

Martha Graham's Night Journey is based on the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. It offers rich opportunities for reinforcing and supplementing classroom study of the basic text.

Suggested activities provide ways that analysis of the choreographic text, in conjunction with the play, can:

• reinforce explanation of the original source;
• promote fresh understanding of the sustained power of seminal sources;
• sharpen students' grasp of point of view as a structural force;
• open new avenues of exploration on how dance movement, setting and props
can be used as symbolic reinforcement of narrative and theme; and
• raise students' consciousness about how dance movement can dramatize emotional and psychological conflict.

Explain to students that Graham's Night Journey builds from Sophocles' Oedipus Rex.

Consider breaking up students into collaborative groups and having them briefly review and record, in writing, key aspects of the play.

For instance, have students:

• negotiate a statement of the central conflict of the narrative.


Possible inclusions:
• The curse of a plague has been put on Thebes.
• Oedipus' determination to find the cause and rid Thebes of the plague.
• develop a skeletal overview of the structural development of the drama.


Tell students that the search to find the reason behind the curse unfolds like a detective story.
• construct brief assessments of the personalities of Oedipus, Jocasta, and Tireias.


Have them include the position each character takes concerning the Oracle's message of how to rid Thebes of the plague.
• create a list of ironies highlighted in play's development.
• The central irony is that Oedipus, himself, is the guilty party.
• He has unwittingly killed his father and married his mother.
• He pushes himself toward disaster by insisting on uncovering the reason behind the plague.
• negotiate a statement summing up the group's perception of the play's overriding message.
• Possible response—Man cannot outwit the gods; Fate will prevail.

Share conclusions in large group discussion.

Ask students to:

• recap the events just before Jocasta cries out and flings herself through the Palace doors;
• read Oedipus' speech, prior to rushing into the palace, about discovering his guilt;
• discuss the Messenger's long account following his announcement, "The Queen is Dead."

Remind students that in Greek drama, acts of violence take place off stage. And that they are described in several ways:

• by laments and movements of the Chorus.
• reported by a messenger; or
• relived in the agonizing of a wounded protagonist.

Explain that in Night Journey, Graham builds on the subtext of the emotional/psychological violence going on behind the Palace doors. Violent acts are portrayed on stage in brief, horrifying episodes of action.

Consider providing students with a summary of the choreographic text before showing a film of the work.

• Martha Graham gives an excellent detailed explanation of the choreography in Blood Memory, pp. 212- 218.)
• Below is a brief account of the development of the dance-drama:

The dance initiates with Jocasta standing at the foot of the marriage bed with silken cords in her hands raised high above her head, readying to strangle herself.

Graham's vision is that preceding this moment, Jocasta has paced the columned halls "in a frantic fury to reach the great doors" that open into the chamber where the inadvertent sin of her life—as both mother and wife to Oedipus -was consummated. The silken cord, destined to be the cord of Jocasta's last deed, takes on symbolic identification with an umbilical cord.

At the moment she starts to slip the cord over her head, Tiresias enters, pounding his wooden staff on the floor—a reminder that she must relive, in her consciousness, her entire past before she can get relief from death.

The rest is a stream-of-consciousness flashback in which Oedipus enters and Jocasta reenacts—through symbolic gesture—memories of Oedipus as both son and husband—as well as her burning passions and guilt.

The dance-drama ends with Jocasta strangling herself, sprawling backwards into a heap, having perceived the instrument of her death—the umbilical cord—as having brought beauty, as well as anguish, into her life. Throughout, Tiresias incessantly pounds his heavy staff.

Ask one or two volunteers to research and present the details of the Noguchi stage set to the class. Encourage them to support their presentation with a graphic display.

• A photograph is available on the Noguchi Garden Museum Web site.
• Volunteer(s) may want to make a sketch to include:
• a tilted bed, crafted as the abstract (primitive) representation of a man and a woman, resembling—at one level—a torture rack;
• sculpted stepping stones, reminiscent of Stonehenge, forming a stairway to the bed;
• a swag of fabric hanging high above the stage augmented with a stream of light;
• the "hanging rope" that becomes an umbilical cord.

If time allows, reinforce the power of point of view as a structural control by asking students to consider other subtexts of Oedipus Rex that could be developed in some other art form.

Some possibilities could include a:

• monologue of the Shepard's inner thoughts when he is first given the baby Oedipus;
• dialogue between the Messenger and the Shepherd at the time the latter hands over the baby Oedipus to the former;
• dance of lament that articulates the condition of Thebes as enunciated in the play's opening.

If possible, show students the film of Martha Graham's Night Journey.

After a brief discussion of the film, provide students with Assignment C: Night Journey Questions to help them explain the film.

Divide the class into working pairs.

Show the film again, encouraging students to take notes related to the questions in the handout.

Ask the pairs to write brief written responses to the handout questions.

Use Assignment C: Night Journey Answers as a guide as you review and discuss students' answers.

Clytemnestra (1958)

Martha Graham's Clytemnestra is an epic, evening-long choreography.

It is thought, by many, to be her finest dance-drama built on Greek mythology and the great Greek tragedies. She finished the work in 1958 at the age of sixty-four. The dance is based on events in the lives of the star-crossed royal family of Atreus, as chronicled in Aeschylus' The Oresteia.

In the original production, Graham danced the angry, aging queen, Clytemnestra, a role that tapped her superb acting, as well as her dance skills. (Katherine Cornell called Graham the finest actress in America.)

A discussion of the choreographic text of Clytemnestra, could be a valuable enhancement for study of:

• the Trojan War
• Homer's Iliad
• part I of The Oresteian Trilogy, Agamemnon;
• the full Trilogy, or
• ways Greek Tragedy builds off of a curse sustained in a royal family, resulting from an initial violation of one of its members.

Explanation of the structure and development of the dance's choreographic text could also be a valuable support for:

• teaching modern form and examining modern themes in literature;
• probing the use of psychological theory in the development of art; and
• considering (in a drama class) evidence that Graham seems to draw from Far Eastern theater traditions such as Japanese Noh.

Graham uses a variation of dance and drama modes to set the exposition of the Trojan War, narrate the events and capture the essence of the Trilogy. At the same time, the work articulates a wide-range of deep emotional conflicts that could serve as an invaluable text for studying choreographic principles and methods in an elective dance class.

The list of principal characters in Clytemnestra reflects how much the choreographic text is based on seminal figures in Greek mythology and Greek Tragedy. They include:

• Clytemnestra, Helen of Troy's sister and Agamemnon's wife;
• Agamemnon who had inherited the throne of Argos (and with it the curse of Atreus);
• Iphigenia, Orestes and Electra, children of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon;
• Aegisthus, Clytemnestra's lover;
• Helen of Troy;
• Cassandra, a prophetess and Agamemnon's spoil of war;
• Paris, son of Priam, who takes Helen to Troy.

Non-principals include:

• The Messenger of Death;
• Hades;
• the ghost of Agamemnon;
• The Watchman;
• the Elders (Chorus);
• the Furies (Chorus).

Also included is a male and female vocalist.

The score is ambitious and expansive. One critic noted, it is "part ceremony, part dream, part drama"—the most sustained segment of dancing being the "hair-raising beauty" of the Furies dance.

The dance-drama initiates with a formal procession—each character stepping behind a tall Noguchi-designed abstract sculpture with a vertical slit in it, which acts as a mask. As each figure steps behind the mask, a vocalist speaks in first person: "I, Helen...; I, Priam...", setting up the exposition of the Trojan War.

Graham integrates main aspects of all three plays that compose The Oresteia within an innovative structural framework. Clytemnestra's stream of consciousness controls the structure of the choreographic text. She has been banished to the Underworld for her vengeful murder of Agamemnon.

Even in the Underworld, she is dishonored among the dead. Driven with anger and guilt, searching for vindication, she relives in her consciousness—not in linear sequence, but in free association—the traumatic, tempestuous events of her life that have brought her to this end:

• events of the Trojan War;
• Agamemnon's sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia to gain favorable winds to sail to Troy (the centerpiece of her rage and desire for revenge);
• her relationship with her lover, Aegisthus;
• her murder of her husband, Agamemnon.

Again, Graham's use of props is ingenious. An enormous red velvet cloak takes on many properties, culminating as a river of blood as Clytemnestra murders Agamemnon.

Graham's Clytemnestra, like many of her dance protagonists, torments herself by replaying traumatic events of her life—seeking self-revelation and self-understanding in an effort to come to terms with her heinous deeds and her condemnation to hell. In this this deeply probing examination of Clytemnestra's inner consciousness, Graham again demonstrates her genius for capturing the emotional context of the archetypal Everywoman caught in the net of rejection, jealousy, hatred and revenge.

She also gives new insight into and reinforces the magnitude of Aeschylus' Trilogy by thrusting to the foreground, through a new idiom, the still-burning social and political questions of subjugation of women and the moral implications of revenge and human justice.

Discrete study of Graham's Clytemnestra, or in conjunction with part or all of Aeschylus' The Oresteia, could help fuel classroom discussions on and questions about topics with undercurrents and/or overt threads in the Aeschylus Trilogy and in other Trojan War sources.

Some sample questions and topics about these works —questions and topics that are constant in human experience—include:

• What role does justice play in society when one human being violates another?
• What is the nature of the code of revenge in a civilized society?
• An eye for an eye or limited retribution negotiated under the law?
• Should the punishment's weight be affected by the ancient rule of violation of blood kinship?
• What level of human sacrifice is justifiable in support of war?
• How does the subjugation of women in a male-dominated society affect emotional and psychological breakdown?
• What is the relationship of free will to divine providence?

A close examination of specific ways that Clytemnestra comments on these issues could add a provocative layer to discussion.

Suggestions for Culminating Assignments

• Encourage students interested in theater to research the influence of Eastern theater techniques on Graham's work.
• Encourage students interested in costume design to explore Graham's designs, or those designed for her, as well as her selection of textiles.


Note: Graham designed and sewed many of her and her dancers' costumes in the early years of her professional life.
• Suggest writing assignments:
• Ask students to explore, in an essay, what life lessons can be learned from the themes of one or more of these four dance-dramas. The essay should discuss how a particular life lesson comes through in one of the works.
• Suggest that students write a creative piece using the concept of maze or errand as its central focus.
• Assign students to write an essay responding to the following assertion:

"Martha Graham is not only the dance world's Picasso, she is also its Freud."

Explain that students must support their analysis with carefully-selected specifics from one or more of Graham's choreographies.
• Ask students to write an essay that defines their personal perceptions about the purposes of art. The piece should use one or more of Graham's choreographies to back up their position.

Assessment:

Use Assessment Rubric to determine each student's progress.

Extensions:

Direct your students' attention to the ARTSEDGE Mini-site: A Dancer's Journal: Learning to Perform the Dances of Martha Graham.

Sources:

Print:

• Aeschylus. The Oresteia, (trans. by Robert Eagles). New York: Bantam Books, 1975.
• Au, Susan. Ballet and Modern Dance. New York: Thames & Hudson Inc (World of Art Series), 1988.
• Cohen, Selma Jeanne, ed. International Encyclopedia of Dance. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
• deMille, Agnes A. . Martha: The Life and Works of Martha Graham. New York: Random House, 1991.
• Euripides. Medea. (trans. By James Morwood. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
• Gardner, Howard. Creating Minds (chapter 8). New York: BasicBooks (a Division of HarperCollins Publishers), 1993.
• Graham, Martha. Blood Memory. New York: POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.. 1991.
• Jowitt, Deborah. Time and the Dancing Image. Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1989.
• Kitto, H.D.F. Greek Tragedy. London: Methuen& Co Ltd, 1970.
• Sophocles. The Three Theban Plays (Oedipus, the King) (trans.by Robert Eagles)

Media:

• Aeschylus. Agamemnon. Produced by Films for the Humanities; directed by Peter Hall and the National Theatre of Great Britain. Videocassette.
• Euripides. Medea. Produced by Films for the Humanities; a Kennedy Center Production. 90 min. Videocassette.
• Martha Graham Dance Company: Cave of the Heart (part of a series). Produced by EmileArdolino; directed by Merrill Brockway. Nonsuch Thirteen/ Wnet: New York, 1976. Videocassette.
• Martha Graham in Performance. Night Journey (part of a series) produced by Nathan Kroll; directed by Martha Graham. Kultur : New York, 1976.

Web:

• The Noguchi Museum
  http://www.noguchi.org/graham.html

Authors:

• Jayne Karsten, English, Grades 9-12
  The Key School
  Annapolis, MD US