The Martha Graham Dance Firm, one of the vital influential forces within the historical past of recent dance, was honored with the 2026 Capezio Dance Award on the firm’s 100th Anniversary Gala on the New York Public Library on April 17.
First awarded in 1952, the Capezio Dance Award acknowledges vital contributions to American dance by a person, firm, or establishment. It’s awarded to those that carry respect, stature, and distinction to bop and who exhibit qualities similar to innovation, creativity, and creativeness.
Based in 1926 by pioneering choreographer Martha Graham, who was honored with the Capezio Dance Award in 1960, the Martha Graham Dance Firm has formed the muse of latest motion vocabulary and continues to encourage generations of dancers, choreographers, and artists throughout disciplines. The Capezio Dance Award acknowledges the corporate’s extraordinary contributions to the evolution of dance and its enduring inventive influence worldwide.
For 100 years, the Martha Graham Dance Firm has stood on the forefront of inventive expression, redefining the boundaries of bodily storytelling and emotional reality in efficiency. Graham’s revolutionary approach remodeled trendy dance into a robust language of human expertise. Immediately, the corporate stays a residing archive of her imaginative and prescient, preserving and increasing her legacy by means of efficiency, schooling, and world collaboration.
Along side the centennial celebration, Capezio has partnered with the Martha Graham Dance Firm to create a commemorative dancewear assortment that Capezio will launch in fall 2026. The Salvatore Capezio x Martha Graham assortment attracts inspiration from the expressive energy and sculptural motion of Graham’s work, translating her aesthetic into up to date dancewear and studio to road items designed for efficiency, coaching, and trendy motion exploration. Rooted in Capezio’s almost 140-year historical past and founder Salvatore Capezio’s concentrate on craftsmanship and innovation, the collaboration bridges heritage and modernity, honoring the previous whereas supporting dancers of right now.
“For Martha Graham, the costume is an extension of the physique’s interior panorama,” stated Janet Eilber, Inventive Director of the Martha Graham Dance Firm. “It shapes a silhouette, heightens a gesture, and divulges the physique’s emotional structure. This collaboration between the Martha Graham Dance Firm and Capezio is rooted in a shared understanding of the dancer’s physique as a website of expression, design, and transformation. For the final hundred years, Martha’s approach and costuming philosophy have centered on the connection between cloth and type, making this partnership with Capezio’s enduring legacy of making for dancers particularly significant.”
“Because the Martha Graham Dance Firm celebrates its a centesimal yr, this twin recognition — the Capezio Dance Award and the Salvatore Capezio x Martha Graham assortment — marks a milestone second on the earth of dance and design,” stated Joyce Schnoedl, Chairman of the Board of Capezio and a lifelong dancer herself. “The award acknowledges not solely the dance firm’s historical past, however the residing, evolving spirit of Martha Graham’s imaginative and prescient. The brand new Capezio assortment will carry the long-lasting vogue of Martha Graham to dancers in every single place, within the studio, on stage, and on the road. We’re honored to companion with the dancers of Martha Graham to carry this assortment to life.”
Imagery and video of the gathering that includes Martha Graham dancers Lloyd Knight, Xin Ying, Leslie Andrea Williams and Anne Souder will be discovered at www.capezio.com/marthagraham.
