Conservatory of Dance

In 1926, celebrated modern dance choreographer Martha Graham presented her first evening of work at the 48th Street Theater in New York City, marking the beginning of the Martha Graham Dance Company and launching a glorious journey that would revolutionize the world of western concert dance.

From 1926 until her death in 1991, Ms. Graham choreographed 181 ballets and toured all over the world. She received the Key to the City of Paris, Japan’s imperial Order of the Precious Crown. She was the first dancer to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and she was named Time Magazine’s “Dancer of the Century,” and earned numerous other awards. Thousands of dancers trained through her school and company, with many becoming international leaders in dance, including Jane Dudley, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Elisa Monte, Pearl Lang, Yuriko, Robert Cohan, Twyla Tharp, and Ohad Naharin.

Ms. Graham’s influence extended globally through her partnerships in founding the London Contemporary Dance Theatre with Robert Cohan, the London Contemporary Dance School with Jane Dudley, and Batsheva (Tel Aviv, Israel), where she served as the first director, succeeded by Jane Dudley. She was also instrumental in the founding of Guillermina Bravo’s Ballet Nacional de Mexico (Querétaro, Mexico).

As the only college in the nation to do so, we will launch this fall a year-long Martha Graham Dance Company Centennial Celebration @Purchase featuring campus-wide monthly events. Highlights will include:

The Conservatory of Dance has since our inception been proud to offer instruction in the Graham technique at the highest level. We are one of the premier training grounds for the technique and we are dedicated to preservation of the Graham legacy as well as exploring its relevance in today’s ever-evolving landscape of dance. We have had the privilege to present Ms. Graham’s dances here on campus, and we performed Graham’s “Diversion of Angels” at the Joyce Theater, NYC (under the MGDC banner) in 2023. One of the Graham Company’s greatest stars of all time, Terese Capucilli, is a graduate of our program and at this time 3 of our alumni are members of the current Graham Company. Purchase College and the Conservatory of Dance is proud to celebrate and continue to be an integral part of the Graham legacy.

Please join in the celebration!

Find out more information and purchase your Graham100 Season Pass by clicking the link below:

Graham100 - The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College