Modern marvel

The Martha Graham Dance Company didn't have to sell out the IU Auditorium to make its audience applause ring like it had done that very thing.\nThe New York-based dance company captivated about 1,500 attendees Tuesday night, showcasing a modern dance history that company dancer Blakeley White-McGuire said represents a part of American legacy.\nMartha Graham's choreography is well-known for its storytelling ability, along with the emotional expression of the dancers who play characters throughout their performances, said Anne Posluszny, company manager.\nAs the curtain rose on the opening piece, a male and female duet came to life -- "Errand into the Maze." Based on a Greek myth, Graham reversed the story to reflect the female's perspective, showing that women have power and control, IU Contemporary Dance Coordinator Liz Shea said.\nLight, innocent flutes and string music rapidly shifted to dark, deep music as the dancers transformed into characters remnant of a silent film.\nGraham's choreography allowed the performers to hold long, powerful positions in which one performer rested on the other with arms and legs extended into the air, all while maintaining perfect balance and stillness. A split second later, the couples' bodies would face off in a battle, but minutes later the woman was again back to her peaceful, smooth movements, sweeping her arms and legs about her. \n"Diversion of Angels," which company dancer David Zurak described at the start of the show as "love in a world without gravity," added several more dancers to the scene, including men in nude-colored tights unable to hide the strength in the muscles throughout their legs and back.\nThe piece swung from passionate love in which a pair sat close in an embrace with the woman's arms wrapped around the man to a flirtatious scene with couples leaping across the stage in synchronized, light movements. \nThree different couples represented a different type of love based on the color of their costumes. According to the program, the couple in white represented mature love, while red signified erotic love and yellow symbolized young love.\nThe audience remained nearly motionless, even as the second piece rounded out in time for an intermission. \n"You can just feel the excitement in the audience and feel the appreciation and the love coming from the audience," Shea said. "It's just amazing."\nGraham's technique is something a general dance background wouldn't prepare a student for, she said. \nAs Graham's work continues to be performed even after her 1991 death, dance history is at an exciting moment when it can relish Graham's work and find new meaning in it, said Selene Carter, an IU dance instructor. \n"The work does change through time," she said. "We have to reinvent it."\nGraham's dances are told in the woman's point of view -- something groundbreaking in Graham's time, White-McGuire said.\n"She took from life, so it grew with her," White-McGuire said. "And as she became a bigger presence, her company became a bigger presence."\nThe company performs nationally and internationally, with its most recent stop in Greece, Posluszny said.\nMost remarkable about the group is that it changes roles with each performance.\nDance major and sophomore Esther Widlanski said the dance company's use of modern dance allowed the performers to freely express themselves.\n"You can do anything you want with it," she said. "If (students) weren't here, they missed out."\nGraham's choreography has an ability to do more than just show movement but tell a story, White-McGuire said.\n"I think the beauty is that she's not telling you a specific story, but she's opening up the possibility to find a story -- your story," she said. "(She's) opening up the doorway for you to feel and experience it. That's great art"