Night Journey

Night Journey

5.3

Jan 01 1960

0h 29m

Music, Drama

Night Journey, the dance, had its premiere only two and a half years after Appalachian Spring, and it is a close cousin. It too has a stream-of-consciousness narration: Jocasta, as she is about to kill herself, remembering what has happened to her. It too contains soul-delving solos, broken up by ensemble dances. Here, however, the ensemble is a darker element. As the story was taken from Greek tragedy, so the corps is the equivalent of Greek tragedy’s chorus. They tell us how to feel: afraid mostly. In this piece Graham pushed her habitual economy to its limits.

Martha Graham

Martha Graham

Queen Jocasta

Bertram Ross

Bertram Ross

King Oedipus

Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor

Tiresias

Helen McGehee

Helen McGehee

Chorus Leader