Primitive Mysteries (1931): Yuriko and the Martha Graham Dance Company

"So it followed that the specific character of a walk for a new work, 'Primitive Mysteries', had to be found. The walk was to be the seed of the style. In quiet, unpressured rehearsals with her group, Martha meticulously analyzed the coordination of the body as she searched for the precise dramatic quality that would best communicate to the audience exactly what she had in mind. Her patience was inexhaustible. During countless hours of rehearsal, over a period of months, we walked side by side in groups of three or four, without holding hands but with the knuckles of our cupped hands pressed lightly against the knuckles of the person next to us. Once she placed a broom handle across the backs of our shoulders to hold them flat as we walked in groups of three as a unit. Martha decreed that no one should lead, and no one should follow. The walk Martha finally found had in it none of the ruthlessness of Heretic nor the laughter of Rustica. This hushed and silent walk, which permeated the fiber of everything we did, became the key to 'Primitive Mysteries'. Uncluttered by sets, props, and elaborate music, this enigmatic walk would not only introduce the cast of characters, it would also transport the audience in their imagination to a different time and place, where they would see something they had never encountered before. The walk was like a piece of cloth onto which the story would be embroidered." – Dorothy Bird

Photograph of Yuriko and the Martha Graham Dance Company in a 1964 performance of Primitive Mysteries (1931) at Connecticut College. The reconstruction and performance of "Primitive Mysteries" was part of a memorial program that honored Martha Graham's longtime mentor, musical director, and friend, Louis Horst who had died that January.

The cast included: Janet Aaron, Takako Asakawa, Jean Colonomos, Priscilla Frank, Carol Fried, Juliet Fisher, Diane Gray, Phyllis Gutelius, Kazako Hirabayashi, Noemi Lapzeson, Marcia Lerner, and Molly Moore. The rehearsal director was original cast member Sophie Maslow.

Premiere of Primitive Mysteries: February 2, 1931 – The Craig Theatre, New York City
Choreography by Martha Graham
Costumes by Martha Graham
Music by Louis Horst