Martha Graham Dance Company Performs at Byham Theater (Wed., 1/28/26)

January 26, 2026/Mike Vargo

MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY. Centennial tour at the Byham. January 28 only, 7:30 p.m.

Strange but true: the oldest surviving dance company in this country is a modern dance company. Although ballet is quite old, for centuries it was based mainly in Europe. Thus the grandmother of all U.S. troupes is the vastly influential Martha Graham Dance Company, founded in New York in 1926. And when the current dancers visit town on the company’s 100th anniversary tour, they will bring Graham’s legacy back to where she began. Martha Graham was born in Allegheny (now Pittsburgh’s North Side) in 1894 and spent most of her childhood here, moving with the family to California at age 10.

New forms of artistic dance were emerging in those years, led by dancers tied neither to ballet nor to musical theater. Graham as a young adult learned from two now-legendary pioneers of the movement, Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, then set out to create on her own. She developed a visceral, sensual approach to dance, inspired by sources ranging from American Indian dance to honky-tonk rag. Graham lived long and fruitfully. She danced until she was 75 and choreographed until her death at 96, in 1991.

The company has kept on innovating under its present artistic director, Janet Eilber. Dances being performed on the anniversary tour include Graham classics such as “Appalachian Spring” and “Night Journey” (one of several drawn from Greek mythology), along with newer pieces—notably, one choreographed by Alvin Ailey alumna Hope Boykin. Good seats are going fast for Martha Graham Dance Company at the Byham Theater. 7:30 p.m. 101 6^th St., Cultural District. (M.V.)