This weekend, the University Musical Society will welcome the Martha Graham Dance Company to Ann Arbor for “GRAHAM100,” a celebration of the legendary troupe’s centennial season.

The three-day program, Jan. 16, 17 and 18, at the Power Center will include a lineup of both iconic and contemporary performances. On two of the three days, Jan. 16 and 18, U-M dance students will also step into the program, bringing Graham’s high-impact “Panorama” to life.

For the students, the opportunity is both rare and demanding, built on months of rehearsal and shaped by the guidance of several key figures at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance:

• Jillian Hopper, interim chair of the dance department and clinical assistant professor of dance.
• Kara Roseborough, a lecturer in training to become certified as a Martha Graham certified teacher.
• Peter Sparling, U-M professor emeritus and a former principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company.

The weekend also reflects a long-running relationship between the Martha Graham Company and UMS. Now in its 147th season, UMS has presented the Martha Graham Dance Company in Ann Arbor since 1970, said Mark Jacobson, UMS vice president of programming and production. The upcoming program marks UMS’ 29th, 30th and 31st productions with the company.

It started with a phone call

U-M’s participation in “GRAHAM100” began last spring with a call from Jacobson to Hopper.

“Mark asked if we might have students available and able to perform a Graham repertory in January, and I jumped at the chance,” Hopper said.

Jacobson had been in talks with Janet Eilber, the artistic director of the Martha Graham Company, about ways to make the “GRAHAM100” performance in Ann Arbor feel special — and they determined that involving students in the production felt like an appropriate addition.

Another catalyst for the U-M and UMS collaboration was Sparling’s legacy.

“Peter was a long-time Martha Graham dancer,” Hopper said. “He had a close relationship with Martha and really helped bring her technique here to Michigan.”

Sparling taught at U-M for decades, beginning in the 1980s, eventually rising to chair of the dance department. He retired from the university in 2018. During his time at U-M, Sparling helped embed Graham’s approach and aesthetic into the university’s dance culture. Jacobson said Sparling has also long served as a connective thread between UMS, the university and the Martha Graham Company.

In fact, Sparling played a key role in the first U-M student performance of “Panorama” more than 30 years ago.

“In 1994, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Martha’s birth, UMS hosted the Martha Graham Centenary Festival in Ann Arbor, and Michigan students learned and performed ‘Panorama’ for that program as well,” Sparling said.

Why first-year students were tapped for the performance

The cast for “Panorama” includes 31 student dancers, 22 of whom are first-year students.

First-year dancers typically don’t have an opportunity to perform in any major concerts, Hopper said, which makes this collaboration an early and exceptional milestone.

The decision to lean heavily on new students was both practical and strategic, Hopper said. When the call came from Jacobson, most upper-class dance students were already committed to other projects for the 2025-26 academic year.

But Hopper said she knew the incoming first-year cohort was especially strong, with some coming from high schools where the Martha Graham technique had been part of the curriculum.

“I knew our new dancers would be hungry and ready,” Hopper said.

Staging ‘Panorama‘

Graham created “Panorama” in 1935 as a large-scale, propulsive ensemble work, one Hopper describes as a challenging athletic test.

“It is very physically demanding — 10 minutes of jumping and running,” she said. “But the students have attacked every rehearsal. Even when they’re tired, they just push and go,” she said.

Roseborough said the work’s physical demands are matched by its bold intent. “Panorama,” she said, is rooted in a 1930s “call to action,” tied to the era’s labor movement and the idea of mobilizing the working class. She has used this context to help students connect their energy to the piece’s purpose.

To kickstart prep for the performance of “Panorama,” SMTD hosted a concentrated, four-day staging residency in Ann Arbor in October with Kim Jones, a retired Martha Graham company member and certified regisseur who has performed “Panorama” multiple times. Jones is also a professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

With the dance script in hand, Jones worked closely with both Hopper and Roseborough.

“She gave me part of the dance, and she gave Kara, our rehearsal director, part of the dance,” Hopper said. “The three of us tackled the dance in four days — I think the first time the dance has ever been restaged in such a short time period.”

Since then, the work has continued in tightly packed pockets of time with half-hour rehearsals in between technique classes and weekly two-hour rehearsals.

Roseborough has led much of that process, though she said preparation has been a department-wide effort.

“It takes a village,” she said, noting that SMTD faculty across disciplines, from ballet to conditioning to Pilates, have helped reinforce the mechanics and strength the dancers will need to perform.

Infusing Graham’s aesthetic

Sparling has also been an active presence in the studio, primarily as a steward of style.

“Peter understands Graham’s aesthetic and approach, and he is able to pull that power and presence out of the students,” said Hopper.

Describing his role as a Graham “ambassador,” Sparling said he tries to offer historical context for the students, as well as emphasize specific qualities in their movement.

In rehearsal, Sparling said, he has worked to help the dancers adopt a “body language specific to Martha Graham,” as well as learn to connect physical gestures that conjure the “feeling” of a piece. With “Panormana,” for instance, that might mean moving your body “as if you’re shouting something repeatedly at a political rally.”

For Roseborough, too, the focus has also been on teaching Graham’s specificity and embodiment, the details that make a movement read as “Graham” rather than simply modern dance.

“There are so many specifics with Martha Graham, like how you hold the hands and what the ‘feeling’ should be — in your legs, in your stomach, in your chest, in your face,” she said.

Over time, Roseborough said, she’s been most impressed with the students’ ability to evolve from dancing as individuals to dancing as an ensemble.

Also on tap

Jacobson said the three-program weekend was built to place Graham’s foundational works alongside newer choreography, reflecting a company that continues to evolve rather than functioning solely as a repertory troupe.

“They’re not only a repertory company that looks back on Graham’s work,” he said. “They continue to add to the repertoire by engaging up-and-coming, exciting choreographers.”

Several works will also feature original sets by Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi, a major Graham collaborator, with designs being shipped to Ann Arbor for the performances.

UMS also co-commissioned “En Masse,” a new work created for the centennial tour. The piece was choreographed by Hope Boykin, with music expanded by composer Christopher Rountree, a U-M alumnus, using recently discovered Leonard Bernstein material.

The collaboration extends beyond dance, too. Sunday’s program will include live music, with several U-M student musicians performing Aaron Copland’s score for Appalachian Spring, as well as a live solo piano for “Lamentation,” performed by a SMTD graduate fellow.

In addition, UMS has coordinated a number of educational and outreach events this week, leading up to the “Graham 100” performances, including master classes for SMTD students and school visits in the region.

During the performances, Sparling will also mark the visit with an installation of his own: “Doom Eager: Paintings for Martha,” a series of large-scale murals inspired by Graham’s “Night Journey” and other classic Graham works. The exhibit will be available for viewing in the Power Center lobby.

For Hopper, the collaboration is both a celebration of Graham’s impact and a vivid example for students about rising to a rare and magical opportunity.

“It’s really exciting,” she said. “We’re so happy to be partnering with UMS.”

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