Primitive Mysteries

Modern dance in three sections with choreography, libretto, and costumes by Graham, and music by Horst. Premiered 2 Feb. 1931 by the Martha Graham company at the Craig Theater in New York. Graham's first major group work, it featured twelve women and Graham herself as the central figure through whom the Christ story is re-enacted. She based her ideas for a religious ritual on the Christian Native Americans in the US Southwest. The work's three sections were ‘Hymn to the Virgin’, ‘Crucifixus’, and ‘Hosannah’. One of Graham's signature works, its bold religious statement was unprecedented in modern dance at the time.