Martha Graham Company

The usual take on the choreography of modern dance legend Martha Graham (1894-1991) is that it’s harsh and implacable—after all, her signature movement involves contracting your stomach muscles hard enough to hollow out the space between your pelvis and your ribs, an aesthetic version of vomiting. But it’s a mistake to assume that it’s all pain and misery—Graham’s work has an austere beauty that can knock you sideways, and Diversion of Angels is one of the best examples of that. The trio of couples exploring love in its various guises—ardent, impetuous, and sublime—rush at life and movement headlong, and their passion hurtles us along as well. In an echo of their 1936 concert at the Moore, the Martha Graham Dance Company will perform Diversion alongside other classics from her repertory, including the lost and recently-reconstructed Ardent Song (Redux).
Sat., Sept. 29, 8 p.m., 2007