Imagined Wing is a ballet choreographed by Martha Graham to Jeux de Printemps by composer Darius Milhaud. The piece was first presented on October 30, 1944, in the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Costumes were designed by Edythe Gilfond; the set was created by Isamu Noguchi. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge commissioned the work, along with two other Graham dances, and musical scores for all three dances. Also on the program were Mirror Before Me set to music by Paul Hindemith (later renamed Herodiade) and Appalachian Spring performed to music by Aaron Copland.[ Imagined Wing (Ballet choreographed by Martha Graham), Performing Arts Encyclopedia, Library of Congress, http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200182840/default.html] Imagined Wing's initial showing was also its last. Following tepid reviews, the piece was never performed again.[Alice Helpern, Martha Graham: A special issue of the journal Choreography and Dance (Choreography and Dance: An International Journal, Vol 5 Part 2), Psychology Press, 1999, p. 34]
Theme, structure and original cast
Described in program notes as "a fantasy of theater with several characters in various imagined places." The Prompter sets the stage with a phrase from William Shakespeare. The subsequent spoken passages are also excerpted from his writings.
[John Martin, Announcement of previously unscheduled Martha Graham Performance at the Library of Congress, The New York Times, October 29, 1944 http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200153489/default.html] Most details of
Imagined Wing's structure have been lost, but one reviewer jotted down a few of the various settings: the woods, the market place, the castle hall, as well as the name of the castle hall scene,
The Lady Distracted in Her Dream.
[Patricia Simmons, Graham Group Dances Trio of New Works, Washington Star, October 31, 1944 http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200153477/default.html]
Graham did not appear in the work, which was danced by the Martha Graham Dance Company.
The original cast members were:
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The Prompter - Angela Kennedy
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Chorus - Yuriko
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The Performers: Erick Hawkins, Merce Cunningham, May O'Donnell, Nina Fonaroff, Pearl Lang, Marjorie Mazia
[ Program of the Tenth Festival of Chamber Music, The Library of Congress, October 28, 29 and 30, p. 11 1944 http://lcweb2.loc.gov/natlib/ihas/service/graham.1/200153473/200153473.pdf]
Critical reception
The fact
Imagined Wing premiered alongside two now-acknowledged Graham masterpieces likely contributed to its poor reception.
New York Times critic John Martin thought the piece the weakest of the three works on the program. Despite having "bits of amusing stage directions," as a dance composition, "it lacks body and point."
[John Martin, Graham Dancers in Festival Finale, The New York Times, November 1, 1944 http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200153478/pageturner.html] The
Dance Observer 's reviewer made similar observations, "Some of the sketches were ingenious," but as a whole the work was "rather slight and improvisational."
[Robert Sabin, Dance at the Coolidge Festival, Dance Observer, December 1944 http://lcweb2.loc.gov/natlib/ihas/service/graham.1/200153494/200153494.pdf] Theatre Arts Magazine's reporter expressed puzzlement and the conclusion that perhaps the work would reveal its importance during subsequent viewings.
[Ted Dalbotten, To Bear Witness, Xlibris Corporation, Jul 17, 2007, p. 89-92]
Milhaud's score was also generally disparaged, "pleasant, but trivial," according to one critic; "pretty far removed from Miss Graham's style," wrote another.
Backstory
Three years after the piece debuted, Graham dancer Marjorie Mazia Guthrie spoke with dance educator/author Ted Dalbotten about
Imagined Wing's origins. According to Mazia, Graham disliked Milhaud's score and kept postponing the ballet's creation. One week before the performance, Graham gathered her troupe and doled out the various sections, solos, duets and trios, for the dancers to choreograph on their own. Two or three days before the premiere, Graham reportedly viewed the dancers' efforts and quickly composed transitional entrances and exits. To Dalbotten, Mazia's revelation also explained the work's title, which he viewed as a private joke on Graham's part.
