"I think the reason dance has held such an ageless magic
for the world is that it has been the symbol
of the performance of living. "

– Martha Graham

The Church is pleased to announce its first exhibition of 2026, Martha Graham: Collaborations, centered on the theme of collaboration. Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the founding of Martha Graham Dance Company – The Church’s first ever artists in residence – the exhibition examines the company’s history through the lens of its artistic partnerships. These collaborations generated groundbreaking innovations in dance, sculpture, stage design, lighting, and musical composition.

This multi-media exhibition will featuring original sets by Isamu Noguchi; costumes by Donna Karan, Halston, and Graham herself; audio and visual presentations highlighting the contributions of composer Aaron Copland and lighting designer Jean Rosenthal; and performance and interview footage with generations of dancers. Archival photographs, texts, and films further illuminate this distinguished history. The exhibition explores the “performance of living” embodied in Graham’s work through the stories, forms, and creative achievements that emerged from her tenacious vision and the remarkable artists who shaped it alongside her.

The exhibition is curated by Oliver Tobin, commissioned expressly for The Church  from a concept by Sheri L. Pasquarella. The exhibition design is itself a collaboration among Tobin, Pasquarella, and Joe Jagos, Exhibition Coordinator at The Church, with contributions from graphic designers Virginia Edwards and Maria Lavazzo.

"This exhibition celebrates Martha Graham’s legacy as a profoundly influential and collaborative force—an artist whose work was shaped and sustained by the dancers who embodied her ideas and the composers, designers, and thinkers who elevated and inspired her. Their shared authorship forged a modern language that remains vital across generations and continues to reverberate a century later.”

– Oliver Tobin

Tobin’s curation brings deep insights and experience that will take the form of a timeline and a series of essays presented as informational text throughout the exhibition. Oliver Tobin is a former dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company, where he performed in seminal works including Appalachian Spring, Clytemnestra, El Penitente, Embattled Garden and more.

In 2016, Oliver was appointed Director of Martha Graham Resources, where he led the preservation and stewardship of the Company’s extensive archive, spanning materials from 1894 to 2021—including costumes, production designs, photographs, ephemera, and personal items.

He facilitated the relocation of the archive to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center and implemented a digital archive to broaden access and support licensing for theaters, museums, academic institutions, and media. He has also curated and produced Graham-focused exhibitions for Google Arts & Culture, SFMOMA, and Museum Folkwang. As well, he has an extensive and impressive history as an actor, dancer, educator, and facilitator.

The Church would like to thank Janet Eibler, Artistc Director of Martha Graham Dance Company, for her collaboration and impact on this exhibition.

Artists to be featured:
Martha Graham, Isamu Noguchi, Aaron Copland, Jean Rosenthal, Donna Karan, Halston and over 100 dancers.

ABOUT MARTHA GRAHAM

Martha Graham is recognized as a primal artistic force of the 20th century. TIME magazine named Martha Graham “Dancer of the Century,” and People magazine named her among the female “Icons of the Century.” As a choreographer, she was as prolific as she was complex. Graham created 181 ballets and a dance technique that has been compared to ballet in its scope and magnitude. Her approach to dance and theater revolutionized the art form and her innovative physical vocabulary has irrevocably influenced dance worldwide.

Martha Graham’s extraordinary artistic legacy has often been compared to Stanislavsky’s Art Theatre in Moscow and the Grand Kabuki Theatre of Japan, for its diversity and breadth. Her legacy is perpetuated in performance by the Martha Graham Dance Company and Graham 2, and by the students of the Martha Graham School.

In 1926, Martha Graham founded her dance company and school, living and working out of a tiny Carnegie Hall studio in midtown Manhattan. In developing her technique, Martha Graham experimented endlessly with basic human movement, beginning with the most elemental movements of contraction and release.

Martha Graham’s ballets were inspired by a wide variety of sources, including modern painting, the American frontier, religious ceremonies of Native Americans, and Greek mythology. Many of her most important roles portray great women of history and mythology: Clytemnestra, Jocasta, Medea, Phaedra, Joan of Arc, and Emily Dickinson.

As an artist, Martha Graham conceived each new work in its entirety – dance, costumes, and music. During her 70 years of creating dances, Martha Graham collaborated with such artists as sculptor Isamu Noguchi; actor and director John Houseman; fashion designers Halston, Donna Karan and Calvin Klein; and renowned composers including Aaron Copland, Louis Horst (her mentor), Samuel Barber, William Schuman, Carlos Surinach, Norman Dello Joio, and Gian Carlo Menotti. Her company was the training ground for many future modern choreographers, including Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, and Twyla Tharp. She created roles for classical ballet stars such as Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, welcoming them as guests into her company. In charge of movement and dance at The Neighborhood Playhouse, she taught actors including Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Madonna, Liza Minnelli, Gregory Peck, Tony Randall, Anne Jackson, and Joanne Woodward how to use the body as an expressive instrument.

Martha Graham’s uniquely American vision and creative genius earned her numerous honors and awards, such as The Laurel Leaf of the American Composers Alliance in 1959 for her service to music. Her colleagues in theater, the members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local One, voted her the recipient of the 1986 Local One Centennial Award for Dance, not to be awarded for another 100 years. In 1976, President Gerald R. Ford bestowed upon Martha Graham the United States’ highest civilian honor, The Presidential Medal of Freedom, and declared her a “national treasure,” making her the first dancer and choreographer to receive this honor. Another Presidential honor was awarded Martha Graham in 1985 when President Ronald Reagan designated her among the first recipients of the United States National Medal of Arts.

ABOUT OLIVER TOBIN

Oliver Tobin is a former dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company, where he performed in landmark works including Appalachian Spring, Clytemnestra, Diversion of Angels, El Penitente, and Embattled Garden.  A certified Regisseur of Graham’s repertory, he has staged pieces such as Celebration, Episodes, Panorama, Maple Leaf Rag, and Diversion of Angels, and choreographed a reimagined version of Graham’s American Document in 2019.

In 2016, Tobin was appointed Director of Martha Graham Resources, overseeing the preservation and stewardship of the Company’s archive, spanning 1894 to 2021, and facilitating its relocation to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. He also developed the Company’s digital archive and has curated Graham-focused exhibitions for Google Arts & Culture, SFMOMA, and Museum Folkwang.

Tobin’s work in arts education and cultural diplomacy includes directing Teens@Graham, teaching at institutions such as Adelphi University, LaGuardia High School, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, and the Martha Graham School, and serving as a cultural ambassador with Battery Dance Company in Germany and Africa. He is based in Brooklyn, New York, and is the founder of HOMORGANIZED, a home and business organization company.