Zack and I saw the Martha Graham Dance Company outdoors at the Britt Festival last night with Caitlin. It was extraordinary. The precision, the angles, the emotion – the abstract costumes. The most spectacular number was TECHNIQUE, a take on a dancer’s stretch and warmup. Zach preferred the take on Fascism, with the militaristic numbers. I know her genius is universally recognized, as a choreographer, but I didn’t realize how much it would speak to me.

A moment of focusing on a dancer’s foot slowly lowering – and realizing the gesture refers to crushing people – breathtaking.

The artistic director addressed the audience before it began, to give some context, and said, “The critics weren’t always kind to Martha. One of them wrote, after seeing her, “When I see Martha Graham dance I think she’s going to give birth to a cube.” ”

Seems like a compliment to me, of someone who doesn’t know how good what he’s seeing is. And a reminder that none of us can control audience response.

The performances were only marred by the mind-numbing number of bows they took after each one. I love OSF’s ensemble bow policy.