Hybrid Conference featuring Lecture-with-Dance Presentation

Co-organized by Tyler Jo Smith (University of Virginia) and Nina Papathanasopoulou (College Year in Athens)

 

Welcome
Bonna Wescoat, Director of the ASCSA

Opening Remarks
Tyler Jo Smith, Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology, University of Virginia

Keynote Speech

Zoa Alonso Fernandez, Assistant Professor of Classical Philology, Universidad Autónoma of Madrid
 

Lecture/Performance

Martha Graham & Greek Myth

Produced and presented by Nina Papathanasopoulou (College Year in Athens)

  • restaging of Graham repertory: Penny Diamantopoulou
  • dancers: Konstantinos Argyriou Evangeloudis, Stavros Ikbal, Marianna Papakonstantinou, Mara Tsourma

 

Panel Discussion “100 Years of Graham & the Greeks”

moderated by Tyler Jo Smith (University of Virginia)

 

Panelists:

Zoa Alonso Fernandez, Assistant Professor of Classical Philology, Universidad Autónoma of Madrid

Nina Papathanasopoulou, Professor of Classical Studies, College Year in Athens

Penny Diamantopoulou, former Martha Graham Ensemble soloist, Graham Technique and Repertory instructor

Artemis Ignatiou, Choreographer and Artistic Director of the Lighting and Handover Ceremonies of the Olympic Flame for the Olympic Games 

Stergiani Tsintziloni, Assistant Professor of Theater Studies and History of Dance, University of Athens

Vaios Liapis, Professor of Classics, Open University of Cyprus



One of the most transformative figures in twentieth-century dance, Martha Graham founded her company in 1926. From her very first performance, on April 18, 1926, ancient Greece was central to her artistic vision. Among the many works performed was also Trois Gnossiennes, a work set to the music of Erik Satie that drew inspiration from imagined Minoan rituals, Mycenaean wall paintings, and Tanagra terracotta figurines.

Beginning in 1926 and continuing throughout her entire career, Graham repeatedly returned to the ancient Greek world as a source of artistic inspiration. In the late 1920s she created works loosely inspired by Greek drama, while in the 1930s she choreographed for productions of Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes and Sophocles' Electra. In the 1930s she also created works inspired by Dionysiac ritual and the collective spirit of Greek choruses, while later she engaged with the philosophical thought of Empedokles and Socrates to explore the workings of the soul. In the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s she created a remarkable series of myth-based dances centered on female figures from Greek tragedy and myth: Medea, Ariadne, Jocasta, Clytemnestra, Phaedra, Circe, and Hecuba. In the 1970s and 1980s, Graham continued to reimagine the Greek world through figures such as Calypso, Helen, Andromache, and Persephone.

In 2026, one hundred years after the founding of the Martha Graham Dance Company, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens brings together classicists, archaeologists, dance historians, choreographers, and performers for a one-day interdisciplinary event exploring “Martha Graham, Greek Myth, and Modern Performance: 100 Years of Graham and the Greeks.” Through talks, live performances, and discussion, the event examines how Greek myth, ritual, philosophy, and art shaped Graham's creative vision, and how, in turn, Graham helped reimagine the ancient world for modern audiences. The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, the University of Virginia, College Year in Athens, and private donations.