Limelight · Ballet

Land Be Bright (1942)

Choreography by Martha Graham

Land Be Bright is a 1942 patriotic work made by Martha Graham for her own company, structured as five short 'sequences' — three solos and two ensemble numbers — framed around square-dance forms and explicitly tied in the program to the birthdays of Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson. It premiered at the height of wartime American nationalism in dance and theatre, and its interest for the catalogue lies less in lasting success than in its cast: Graham herself danced Betsy Ross, with Erick Hawkins and a young Merce Cunningham taking named solo roles.

What is danced

The piece is built from five named numbers rather than a continuous narrative: an ensemble 'Anthem' for the Chorus of Americans, a solo 'Hymn' for a figure called Betsy Ross (danced by Graham), a solo 'Greeting' for a figure called Chingachgook (danced by Erick Hawkins), a solo 'Oration' for a figure called Yankee (danced by Merce Cunningham), and a closing ensemble 'Square Dance'. The article states the whole structure is 'based on square dance forms', which suggests figures, patterning and group formation drawn from American vernacular square dance rather than a narrative pas de deux/pas d'action model.

Context

The article gives no detail on Graham's technique as applied here beyond authorship and the square-dance-derived structure, so any claim about specific Graham-technique vocabulary (contractions, spirals, floor work) is drawn from her known choreographic language rather than from anything the article describes.

How to watch it

Watch for the contrast Graham sets up between the three named solo 'portraits' (Betsy Ross, Chingachgook, Yankee) and the two group numbers built from square-dance figures; the piece is explicitly presentational and emblematic ('somewhat in the spirit of statehouse and courthouse... mural paintings', per the program's own Vachel Lindsay quotation) rather than dramatic. Pay attention to how folk-dance floor patterns are handled by dancers otherwise associated with Graham's more angular, contraction-based idiom.

Structure

  1. Anthem, Chorus of Americans
    Opening ensemble number for the company as a collective 'Chorus of Americans'.
  2. Hymn, Betsy Ross
    Solo danced by Martha Graham as an emblematic Betsy Ross figure.
  3. Greeting, Chingachgook
    Solo danced by Erick Hawkins as the figure Chingachgook.
  4. Oration, Yankee
    Solo danced by Merce Cunningham as a 'Yankee' figure.
  5. Square Dance
    Closing ensemble number drawing on square-dance forms.

Structure read from an encyclopaedia article, not from a libretto or score we hold. Confirm against a programme before treating the numbering as authoritative.

Questions

How was Land Be Bright received at its premiere?
Badly. Reviewers called it patriotic pageantry that didn't land: one Chicago critic wrote it had 'exactly nothing to say,' and Music News called it 'uninspired and infantile in conception.' Dance Magazine's Ann Barzel was more sympathetic, suggesting Graham might yet develop the piece into something stronger.
Who danced in the original cast?
Martha Graham herself danced the solo role of Betsy Ross; Erick Hawkins danced Chingachgook and Merce Cunningham danced Yankee, with an ensemble of company members including Jane Dudley, Sophie Maslow and Pearl Lang (billed as Pearl Lack) forming the Chorus of Americans.
What is the piece about?
It is a wartime patriotic 'celebrating' timed around the birthdays of Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson, built from emblematic figures (Betsy Ross, a Native American figure called Chingachgook, a generic 'Yankee') rather than a plotted story.
This entry was written from “Land Be Bright” on English Wikipedia (revision 1317010000), used under CC BY-SA 4.0. The link points at the exact revision this text was written from, so it shows the words we actually used rather than whatever the article says today. Credits and premiere data come from Wikidata (CC0), cited per field.
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