In March, PBS is set to premiere a two-part doc about the Martha Graham Dance Company as the storied group nears its milestone 100th anniversary.
Martha Graham Dance Company: We Are Our Time explores Graham’s legacy and ventures inside the dance company, with Partisan Pictures embedded for three years during rehearsals, performances, and at dancers’ homes.
Meryl Streep serves as narrator, bringing Graham’s words to life.
“We are not making a sacred altar to Martha Graham,” said artistic director Janet Elber. “We are honoring her appetite for the new.”
“PBS is honored to celebrate one of America’s most groundbreaking artistic institutions,” said Sylvia Bugg, chief programming executive and GM for general audience programming at PBS. “Martha Graham Dance Company: We Are Our Time offers audiences a rare window into the creative legacy that reshaped modern dance, while highlighting the artists who continue to carry Graham’s vision forward. We are proud to share programming that reflects PBS’s mission to broaden the national conversation about such an important subject.”
“Capturing the athleticism and breathtaking elegance of each dancer in intimate settings, both in their homes and backstage, was a challenging yet thrilling experience,” said directors Peter Schnall and Cyndee Readdean. “It was also a first for the Graham company: never before had a documentary team been granted unrestricted access to the day-to-day operations of the company and its dancers. In filming them, we came to understand what Graham meant by being ‘born to the instant.’ Whether through movement on stage or through a camera’s lens, we were both capturing the moment.”
