Move's foray into the Graham persona began five years ago as an aside: Co-founder of a weekly cabaret at a club in Manhattan's meat-market district, Move instigated a dance-legend night on a lark, featuring parodies of great dancers, Graham included. "I thought, "Oh, God, no one will know who these people are," he recalls. But the idea took off, especially the Graham bit, which worked off her rightful berth as the iconic diva of her genre. With co-producer Janet Stapleton, Move turned it into a monthly series featuring short Martha monologues taken verbatim from Graham's writings and films, as well as guest artists presenting their own works. Part satire, part dance showcase and part Martha primer, the resulting creation had a life of its own, powered by the supernatural mind of La Graham.
"Simultaneously, I realized I was on to something so fabulous -- a career that spans a century," Move adds. "She's an amazing philosopher to quote from and read about. She had a huge body of work and a huge bunch of friends -- everybody from Halston to the Pope. There was no one else really worth pursuing in dance in this kind of way." La Graham has occupied his mind and body ever since, slowly evolving and dealing new revelations. Along the way, such dance luminaries as Mikhail Baryshnikov and Merce Cunningham have joined Move on stage, as have such unknown commodities as a street dancer who performs on a skateboard and crutches. (In Boulder, Move will host Kim Epifano, Tere O'Connor and Onye Ozuzu of the Colorado Ballet.)
How does Move keep his divine masquerade from dipping into the drag-show cellar? When asked about it, he won't even go there. Move clearly adores Graham, and his tribute is far more than a female impersonation. He's a scholar of the Graham canon -- a bottomless well of poetic wordage, dog-eared many times over in the course of his studies, that the actor shares enthusiastically with his audiences. "She was just the most eloquent and prolific writer and speaker," he maintains. "She lived in a constant state of hyper-reality, created this whole universe around her, and it was no act. She truly believed she was an acrobat of God, the divine normal. And everything that came out of her mouth was enchanting. She just completely wrecked you. I'm still floored by things she says -- I can't wait to say them."
Needless to say, there's a certain amount of humor involved, too, in his portrayal of a woman propelled so far by her own dynamic tension. "There's something dated about her," Move says. "In our time, the artist is meant to be clinical and cold, but Martha wore her heart right off of her Noguchi hairpin. She had this heightened theatricality that many people thought was pretentious, but she really just saw the world that way. And though she was dead serious about her opinions, she knew when she was being funny."
Graham had her dark side, too, but that's another area Move won't approach. "There's a simple, theatrical reason why not," he explains. "A raging drunk, arthritic Martha can't do dances. I don't want to focus on that. What she gave the world was so major and so beautiful."
