It all began with a party dress. Martha Graham, the dancer whose movements and choreography blew a forceful gust of fresh air into 20th-century dance, was looking for something to wear to the 1975 Capezio Dance Awards. Her friend (and former Vogue contributor) Leo Lerman offered to ring up Halston—and the inquiry catalyzed a decades-long friendship that yielded several artistic collaborations. In her 1991 memoir, Blood Memory, Graham recounts the call: According to Lerman, “Halston said he never lent things like that, but for Martha Graham, he would be honored.”
Halston dressed Graham for the event (in an earth-colored cashmere poncho), and almost immediately after, was called upon to costume Martha Graham Dance Company, designing pieces that amplified her distinctive, fluid style. Excerpts from two of these collaborations, Lucifer (1975) and Conversation of Lovers from Acts of Light (1981), will be performed tonight at the Martha Graham Dance Company Studio in Tribeca as part of a one-night-only 100th-year celebration of the New York dance company and Halston’s significant contributions. It’s a legacy that’s alive and well, not least because the Martha Graham Dance Company, which was founded in 1926, is now helmed by artistic director Janet Eilber—a muse to both Graham and Halston.