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El Penitente is a modern dance work by Martha Graham performed to music by Louis Horst. It premiered on August 11, 1940, at the Bennington College Theater, Bennington, Vermont, with costumes by Edythe Gilfond and a set by Arch Lauterer. Isamu Noguchi later redesigned the set and created a new mask.
Horst's score for flute, oboe and pianoJack Anderson, The American Dance Festival, Duke University Press, 1987, p. 98 is 20 minutes in length. The bold, stark and stylized choreography tells of piety and ecstasy in ten brief vignettes. The ballet opens with the entrance of a troupe of strolling players. Donning simple costumes, they present a primitive panorama of flagellation, revelation, temptation, contrition, crucifixion and redemption. The trio ends the performance in a joyful "festival" dance.Martha Graham Dance Company press kit, 2013 http://www.shaganarts.com/images/MGDCpresskit2013%20(no%20prices).pdf
Through his motions, the Penitent embodies spiritual longing; he jumps, turns and whips himself in hopes of achieving union with God. The Christ figure moves stiffly, arms outstretched to strike cruciform poses and gestures of blessing or rebuke. The Mary figure presents a three-fold portrait: the tender virgin, the sorrowful mother, and the erotically writhing, then repentant, Magdalene.
The stage props are more literal than those used in most Graham works. They include a cross, which at times supports a sail-like square of cloth, another length of fabric carried by the Virgin Mary as a portable niche, a death cart representative of sin, and an apple/heart-shaped fruit proffered by the seductive Magdalene. Abstract masks and hoods are also employed to help define the characters.Deborah Jowitt, Time and the Dancing Image, University of California Press, 1989, p. 207
Not all reviews were as favorable. The New York Sun's critic wrote, "The work is as parched, dry and sunbaked as the locale of its origin and, despite the fine performances of Erick Hawkins, Merce Cunningham and Miss Graham, decidedly limited in its interest." A reporter for Dance Magazine described the work as "monotonous and unpalatable despite some fine dancing..."
In 1964, the piece was reconstructed for the American Dance Festival in New London, Connecticut. The performance was part of a program dedicated to Louis Horst and danced by David Wood, Marnie Thomas and Gene McDonald. The program also included the Horst-scored Graham ballets Primitive Mysteries and Frontier. El Penitente had not been in repertory for decades and Graham forbid notation of her dances. Seventeen dancers and the choreographer herself were needed to recreate the work.Marcia B. Siegel, Are Graham's Gods Dead?, New York Magazine, June 24, 1968, p. 54 The dance was performed into the mid-1970s, then abandoned again.
In 1986, El Penitente was revived for a performance dedicated to Arizona State University's Centennial. Steve Rooks appeared as the Penitent, George White Jr. as the Christ Figure and Terese Capucilli as the Marys. During the first week of the Graham troupe's 1988 season, Mikhail Baryshnikov appeared as a guest artist in the penitent's role,Tobi Tobias, Dance, Passing Fancies, New York Magazine, Oct 24, 1988, p.118 alongside Joyce Herring as the Mary Figure and Pascal Rioult as the Christ Figure. In 1991, Baryshnikov reprised the role with the Graham company and with his own ensemble the White Oak Dance Project.Donna Perlmutter, Baryshnikov Steps Modernly Tonight, Los Angeles Times
El Penitente has been staged relatively frequently since its 1986 revival. The work is part of the Martha Graham Dance Company's current repertoire.
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