Emotions and Greek Heroes on the Dance Stage
Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Time: 6:30pm EST
Location: Center for Hellenic Studies, 3100 Whitehaven St. NW, Washington, DC 20008 and via Zoom
Speaker: Nina Papathanasopoulou (CYA Athens)
Inspired by Greek tragedy, the revolutionary American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham often turned to Greek myth to explore the workings of the inner self. Graham used mythical figures like Medea, Jocasta, and Clytemnestra to evoke the raw emotions of humans. In this talk, Nina Papathanasopoulou (CYA Athens) examines Graham’s engagement with Greek myth and with the ancient sources that served as her inspiration. She focuses especially on Night Journey (1947), Graham’s masterful retelling of the myth of Oedipus and Jocasta. Her lecture argues that Graham’s dance, while drawing deeply on Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannos, transforms Sophocles’ play by making women the focus of the narrative’s meditations on the nature of identity, moral responsibility, and human emotion.
Register
Seating is limited and will be granted on a first come first serve basis. To register for in person attendance, email Olivia Henderson at ohenderson@chs.harvard.edu.
Abstract
Inspired by Greek tragedy’s focus on understanding human emotion and on displaying its catastrophic consequences onstage, the revolutionary American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham used dance to give flesh to the workings of the inner self and to “illuminate the landscape of a man’s soul” (Graham 1991). Her success in communicating the emotional turmoil of humans was tremendous.
Graham turned to the archetypical figures of Greek myth to evoke the raw emotions of humans (Franko 2012, Bannerman 2010, Yaari 2003, Stodelle 1984). This talk will examine Graham’s approach to dance and the main sources of inspiration which influenced her work and led to her engagement with Greek myth. I will then provide a brief survey of her myth-based dances and point out shared interests between the dances, myth, and the ancient Greek literature and art that served as important sources of inspiration for her work. I will conclude by discussing Night Journey, Graham’s 1947 masterful retelling of the myth of Oedipus and Jocasta. Night Journey, I argue, captivates us by drawing deeply on Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannos and invites us to turn our focus to the last hours of Jocasta’s life, a moment to which Sophocles’ play gives comparatively little attention. I will show how Graham transforms Sophocles’ play and makes women the focus of the narrative’s meditations on the nature of identity, moral responsibility, and human emotion.
Bio
Nina Papathanasopoulou is a Professor of Classical Studies at the study abroad program College Year in Athens and specializes in Greek drama, mythology and their reception. Her current research focuses on Martha Graham’s deep engagement with Greek myth and she is completing a monograph titled Martha Graham & Greek Myth: The Ancient World in Modern Dance, which is under consideration by University of Michigan Press. Nina completed her BA in Classics at the University of Athens in 2003 and her PhD in Classics at Columbia University in 2013. From 2013 to 2019 she was Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics at Connecticut College, where she taught Greek, Latin, Classics and Theater courses and was deeply involved in outreach programming for Classics. Since January 2019 Nina also serves as the Public Engagement Coordinator for the Society for Classical Studies, where she oversees their outreach initiative Ancient Worlds, Modern Communities and has been planning public-facing events for the annual meeting since 2025. As part of her efforts to make the study of the ancient Greek world accessible and relevant, in 2022 Nina created “Martha Graham & Greek Myth,” an initiative combining classical philology, art, and dance to explore Martha Graham’s profound connection to the Greeks. The initiative includes the production of a series of public presentations which integrate live dance into an informative and engaging talk. More information can be found on Nina’s website.
Banner Photo
Martha Graham and Erick Hawkins in Night Journey. Courtesy of Martha Graham Resources.