Jesse Factor was still in high school, and not yet a dancer, when his parents took him to see the Martha Graham Dance Company perform. He didn’t know much about Graham, but his idol was Madonna, and Factor knew Madonna was a fan.
“I thought, ‘If it’s good enough for Madonna, it’s good enough for me,’” Factor said.
Factor had grown up mostly in Mercer County, but the family now lived in Bangkok. The Graham Company’s mid-1990s concert there blew him away.
“I have just an amazing memory of being shocked by the power of the bodies,” he said. “It had been [unlike] anything I had ever seen, and I was very inspired.”
Madonna and modern-dance pioneer Graham remained linked in Factor’s mind. This week, he debuts “The Marthaodyssey,” a solo dance work in which the Pittsburgh-based dancer and choreographer honors the legacy of both artists.
“I like to say that it’s 34% high art of modern dance, 33% pop spectacle and 33% drag extravaganza,” said Factor.
There are two performances, Fri., Nov. 8, and Sat., Nov. 9, at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater.
Graham, born in 1894 in Allegheny City (now Pittsburgh’s North Side), was perhaps the key figure in the creation of what’s now called modern dance. Her “Graham technique” created a movement vocabulary distinct from ballet that sought new ways to explore the human experience.
Graham and Madonna actually knew each other. As a young performer in New York, a pre-stardom Madonna trained at the Martha Graham School, and she later wrote of her admiration for Graham; a famous photo documents their meeting at the premiere of a Graham work in New York, in 1990, the year before Graham’s death.
“They were both mavericks, and they were both unafraid to be unapologetically themselves, and to carve out a space, a new space, for them as artists,” Factor said.
Factor, 45, also liked the idea of bumping Graham’s high-modern dance into Madonna’s chart-toppers.
“The Graham theater is theater that has a sense of occasion and also there are big events happening,” he said. “It’s about life’s tragedies and joys, in a way that goes beyond daily life, and I think great pop songs do that too.”
The 45-minute “Marthaodyssey” features Factor, costumed to evoke Graham, dancing in her signature style to an original soundtrack inspired by Madonna’s songs. That soundtrack, by composer Andy Hasenpflug, contains brief snippets of actual Madonna hits as well as audio clips of Graham speaking.
According to press materials, Factor’s costume contrasts “a hyper-feminine mask and hair with an exposed masculine chest, bulge, and hairy legs” to summon “a third space that is neither ‘masculine' nor ‘feminine.’” One of the stage outfits is a voluminous purple dress sporting the acres of fabric that Graham was noted for incorporating into her pieces.
Factor trained at New York University’s Tisch School of the Art and the University of Iowa before studying at the Martha Graham School and dancing with the Graham Dance Company.
He now teaches modern dance, including the Graham technique, at Point Park University. His works have been performed at dance festivals around the country, and he has a long association with the Kelly Strayhorn, where he’s developed pieces as part of the Freshworks program.
"Marthaodyssey" was created with support from National Center for Choreography Akron, The Space Upstairs, Point Park University, Martha Graham Center, Slippery Rock University and Kelly Strayhorn Theater.
The Fri., Nov. 8, performance will include an afterparty featuring queer DJ collective Jellyfish. The Nov. 9 program includes a post-performance discussion.
