Dance in Film · 1961
Night Journey (1961)
Alexander Hammid's 29-minute film preserves Martha Graham's complete Oedipus ballet from Jocasta's perspective, with Graham, Bertram Ross, and Paul Taylor carrying a psychologically explicit modern-dance tragedy into educational television.
Night Journey is a 1961 dance film centred on ballroom and social dance. For dancers, it's a chance to see the style performed on screen — the phrasing, partnering, and musicality that the same dances carry onto a real floor.
Jump to the 4 indexed dance sequences ↓
Where to watch: Streaming by subscription on the Criterion Channel and available in Criterion's restored Martha Graham: Dance on Film two-DVD edition; verified 2026-08-08. Criterion's collection history identifies the 1961 first broadcast, while the current standalone Channel page labels the production 1960.
The dance sequences in Night Journey
4 sequences — what is danced, by whom, and where to find it.
Daughters of the Night chorus
Graham TechniqueDanced by Martha Graham Dance Company ensemble · Choreography Martha Graham
The black-clad Daughters repeatedly cover their eyes, then cut across the foreground with fiercely synchronized shapes.
The chorus moves front and center in hard unison, jagged shapes, leaps, falls, and percussive attacks, functioning simultaneously as witness, warning, and the physical pressure of Jocasta's memories.
Not currently available to stream; timestamp is for reference. No edition-specific timestamp recorded. The opened institutional analysis describes the chorus entering before two minutes in the stage work, but that timing was not transferred to the film. Criterion's current subscription stream is outside the allowed availability enum.
Jocasta and Oedipus rope pas de deux
Graham TechniqueDanced by Martha Graham; Bertram Ross · Choreography Martha Graham
Ross's Oedipus wraps a leg around Graham's shoulder, then is cradled at her breast as the rope tangles them together.
The rigid seduction rite compresses lover, mother, and son into one duet: domination gives way to maternal cradling before the pair binds itself with the same rope that signifies marriage, umbilical connection, and death.
Not currently available to stream; timestamp is for reference. No edition-specific timestamp recorded. Criterion identifies Graham and Ross in the filmed roles and documents the work's domination, maternal/sexual imagery, and rope symbolism. Its current 29:48 subscription stream labels the production 1960; canonical 1961 first-broadcast identity retained.
Jocasta's interrupted suicide and Tiresias's summons
Graham TechniqueDanced by Martha Graham; Paul Taylor · Choreography Martha Graham
Graham holding the fatal rope as Taylor's cloaked seer pounds his staff and compels the flashback to begin.
Jocasta's rope-bound path toward suicide is stopped by Tiresias's forceful staff, converting a present-tense crisis into the memory structure that drives the entire dance film.
Not currently available to stream; timestamp is for reference. No edition-specific timestamp recorded. Criterion's current 29:48 subscription stream labels the production 1960, while its film essay identifies the first broadcast as 1961; the canonical 1961 identity is retained. Subscription streaming falls outside the allowed availability enum.
Revelation, blinding, and return to the rope
Graham TechniqueDanced by Martha Graham; Bertram Ross; Paul Taylor · Choreography Martha Graham
Ross's Oedipus blinds himself after Taylor's seer breaks the bond; Graham advances in robotic steps, sheds her queenly robes, and returns to the rope.
Tiresias tears mother from son; Oedipus answers realization with a full-bodied scream and self-blinding, while Jocasta strips away royal identity and deliberately restores the rope to its fatal purpose.
Not currently available to stream; timestamp is for reference. No edition-specific timestamp recorded. The opened institutional scene analysis supplies the finale's action; Criterion separately verifies Graham, Ross, and Taylor in the filmed roles. Current Criterion subscription access falls outside the allowed availability enum.
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