Peter Sparling in rehearsals
The following entries are from a journal kept by former Graham dancer, Peter Sparling, while teaching and coaching for the Clytemnestra Project at Skidmore College. Sparling is presently Thurnau Professor of Dance at University of Michigan; he performed with the Graham Company from 1973-87 and was artistic director of the Graham Centenary [...]
The following entries are from a journal kept by former Graham dancer, Peter Sparling, while teaching and coaching for the Clytemnestra Project at Skidmore College. Sparling is presently Thurnau Professor of Dance at University of Michigan; he performed with the Graham Company from 1973-87 and was artistic director of the Graham Centenary Festival in [...]
Rehearsing Clytemnestra
The viewing of Clytemnestra was surprising for me in more ways than one. I have always been told by teachers that the camera can never truly capture the essence of movement or that it has a tendency to diminish the power of movement. This was not the case at all with the [...]
Seeing the company rehearse Clytemnestra and seeing it on DVD have really brought Graham technique and repertoire alive for me. I’ve seen many Graham works on video throughout college, but had never seen any performed live. In my first week here, I watched the company rehearse Night Journey, and I was in awe.
First of [...]
During the first week of classes, students were split into groups to learn sections of Clytemnestra as taught to them by members from the company. I had the fortunate experience to learn Electra’s name-calling, taught by principal dancer Blakeley White-McGuire. We learned about the character and how she was short-changed by her mother, instigating her [...]
I am so grateful that we had the opportunity to meet with company members and discuss the characters and themes involved with Clytemnestra before we viewed the full performance. I think the discussions we had with Peter Sparling and Janet Eibler and especially the work we did with individual company members involved with the Name-Calling, [...]
