a note on Graham's Primitive Mysteries

Yuriko in Martha Graham's Primitive Mysteries.

At the beginning of her career as independent dancer and choreographer, Martha Graham created more than one piece on the Virgin Mary, probably as the result of her fascination with Catholicism. From her infancy, in fact, she had somehow been in contact with its liturgy thanks to her Irish nanny Lizzie and during her adolescence in Santa Barbara, she probably had the chance to know more about it due to the Spanish community living there. The most notable example of these pieces is Primitive Mysteries (1931), which was also influenced by Native Americans' sense of space and ritual. The work was reconstructed by Sophie Maslow, one of Graham's historic dancers, in 1964, as a homage to Louis Horst, Graham's mentor and friend, who had composed the music and who died on that year. It was again re-presented in 1984 and, since 2005, it has become again part of the Martha Graham Dance Company repertoire.