L.A.'s Top Dancers Come Together to Celebrate the Legacy of Martha Graham

Yahoo

18-04-2025

One hundred years ago, dancer Martha Graham reinvented her art form and became an American icon. Her modern styles created a whole new language of movement that is being celebrated this month with LA Dances Graham100 at the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts in Northridge. Soloists from the Martha Graham Dance Company in New York; the Lula Washington Dance Theatre; USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance; CSUN Dance at California State University, Northridge; and Los Angeles County High School for the Arts dance groups will take the stage on April 26. The grande dame of dance lived to be 96 and performed until her last days. We asked four CSUN performers from the show about jumping, stretching, kinesiology and how movement affects every aspect of health and wellness.
Imani Foreman
Imani Foreman fell in love with dance as a child dancing in the aisles at her family's church in Pacoima before discovering what she calls the 'hidden gem' of a dance program at CSUN. 'In dance, I need stronger stamina. Ballet and modern dance focus on muscles that we don't use very often, even when we do work out.' She specifically cites training of the transversus abdominis and rectus abdominis muscles as key to maintaining back and core strength and stamina, and emphasizes taking care of your body when you're injured. 'Dance requires a lot of discipline,' she says. 'A lot of time. A lot of self-awareness and a lot of spatial awareness.'
Anastacia Lambert
The daughter of a Broadway dancer, Anastacia Lambert performed in The Sound of Music at age 5. 'My mom always jokes that I was born dancing from the womb,' she says. Lambert says that five-hour rehearsals are as much a workout for the brain as for the body. 'You have to be very well-conditioned physically,' she says. 'But there's a mental aspect, learning and remembering choreography, having to execute all of that in a very short amount of time while being really aware of the people you're dancing with.' Lambert credits her Pilates training (she teaches at a studio in Silver Lake) for her strong foundation and compares dance to marathon running, stressing the preparation and training required.
Madison Schneider
The science of movement intrigued Madison Schneider since high school, when she started studying anatomy and physiology — which led to her degree in kinesiology. 'Trained dancers have different motor patterns,' she says. 'We're doing something different with our hands and feet at the same time.' Schneider says that keeping the brain sharp can help the entire nervous system and developing healthy eating habits is essential. 'Learn how to fuel your body in a way that's going to nurture you for the dance you're doing,' she says. 'I try to be aware that what I'm putting in my body affects how quickly we go through energy.'
Samantha Longtin
Four generations of Samantha Longtin's family have been dancers and she was stretching and jumping as a toddler. 'Dance is a big stress relief,' she says. 'Once I get to the studio, the world shuts off.' Longtin shares how dance training can help across all disciplines. 'Even some football players take ballet,' she says. 'They learn flexibility and how to move their feet. It has so many benefits.' While Longtin's great grandmother studied Martha Graham's techniques in the 1950s, she is inspired by another midcentury master. 'Fosse jazz is very specific,' she says, 'It's the most unique style I've ever done.'