Hurricane Sandy hits Martha Graham Dance Company

Posted on November 23, 2012

When Hurricane Sandy hit New York, the Martha Graham Dance Company was among those affected. The company’s basement warehouse was flooded, damaging the collection of sets, costumes and artifacts. The company has launched a recovery fund to repair the damage.

The basement warehouse held a historic collection, built up over eight decades and valued at $4 million. It included the famous Isamu Noguchi sets for Night Journey, Cave of the Heart and Errand Into the Maze (pictured),  along with hundreds of costumes. Some of the costumes were worn on stage only days before the storm landed. Others had been worn by Graham herself.

With the help of volunteer conservators, the company is working to rescue the damaged material. To support the Hurricane Sandy Recovery Fund for the Martha Graham Dance Company, see http://marthagraham.org/support.

Picture: Miki Orihara in Martha Graham’s Errand Into the Maze. Photograph: Costas

Copyright Costas

Zoe Anderson

Zoë was born in Edinburgh, and saw her first dance performances at the Festival there. She is the dance critic of The Independent, and has also written for The Independent on Sunday, The Scotsman and Dancing Times. In 2002, she received her doctorate from the University of York for a thesis on “Nationhood and epic romance: Ariosto, Sidney, Spenser”. She is the author of The Royal Ballet: 75 Years and The Ballet Lover’s Companion.