Free Martha Graham night for dance novices

Hoping to create a new wave of dance lovers, UNC Charlotte will offer a free performance of the Martha Graham Dance Company to people who have never seen professional dance in Charlotte.

Online registration will open at 8 a.m. Monday for the performance, which will be Jan. 17 at the Knight Theater. The free night will precede the company’s originally announced performance Jan. 18, which includes an admission charge. 

The Jan 17 performance is sponsored by Wells Fargo Private Bank. The bank’s community affairs manager, Jay Everette, said the idea came from last winter’s free Opera Carolina performances of “Madama Butterfly,” sponsored by the Knight Foundation. The bank hopes people who sample the Graham company will go on to try Charlotte’s N.C. Dance Theatre. 

NCDT “is an impressive and entertaining company,” Everette said, “and we want more of our neighbors ... to attend their performances and be exposed to this performing arts treasure.” 
The Graham company – founded by the modern-dance pioneer in the 1920s – will make its first visit to Charlotte in 30 years. Both performances will “Appalachian Spring,” the work generally considered Graham’s masterpiece. A live, professional orchestra will perform Aaron Copland’s score.

For the free performance Jan. 17, registration will be on UNCC’s dance department website.Tickets will be given on a first-come, first-served basis, with a limit of 2 tickets per household. Registration will close at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Tickets for the Jan. 18 performance are $35-$45. They’re available from CarolinaTix.