Martha Graham’s Ekstasis is a “lost” solo no longer! Virginie Mécène’s meticulous research uncovered photos and writings - reimagined by Virginie Mécène for PeiJu Chien-Pott.

Performed to haunting new music by the Catalan composer Ramon Humet.

In a 1980 interview about Ekstasis, Martha Graham said that she was experimenting with the thrust of the pelvis. This lead her to explore “a cycle of distortion” that she found deeply meaningful. “Before Ekstasis, I had been using a more static form, trying to find a ritualistic working of the body,” she concluded.

Ekstasis contains the initial discovery that gave birth to Martha Graham’s technique, based on the center of the body, the pelvis. Mécène envisioned a series of movements deeply connected to the earth, with slow departure as well as moments of ecstasies, all committed to the moment. Humet’s music fits organically with Mecene’s choreography, being both intriguing, deep, mysterious, earthy, sacred, and transporting.

Ekstasis will be featured in the Joyce Theater as part of the Martha Graham Dance Company New York Season, celebrating its 90th birthday.

Virgine Mécène is a former Principal Dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company and served as director of the Martha Graham School from 2007-2015. She has directed numerous works of Martha Graham and has taught the Graham Technique at multiple national and international conferences. Ms. Mécène holds a License Professionnelle in Artistic and Cultural Management from the University of Bourgogne and a C.A.E. in Jazz from the Fédération Française de la Danse. She is currently the Program Director for the Two-Year Certificate Program at the Martha Graham School and the Artistic Director of Graham 2.

Ramon Humet (composer) – After studying composition with Josep Soler, he met the British composer Jonathan Harvey, an encounter that deeply marked his creative path. Awarded the Olivier Messiaen International Composition Prize 2007 and the Queen Sofia International Composition Prize 2006, and guest composer at the Palau de la Música Catalana in 2014, Mr. Humet has premiered works with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, and the Spanish National Symphony Orchestra. His opera-oratorio “Sky Disc” was commissioned by Halle Oper, Germany. His recent double CD “Homenaje a Martha Graham”, produced by the Neu Records label, has been recorded with a special surround 3D system.

Exquisitely simple, but endlessly deep.

Andy Gill. The Independent

Meditative atmospheres, harmonic refinement, and an equilibrium between sound, resonance and silence.

Stefano Russomanno. ABC Cultural

Delicate and subtle, with high poetic imagination.

Jonathan Harvey