FKA twigs to Perform One-Off Dance Piece at Martha Graham Dance Company Gala

FKA twigs will perform Martha Graham’s 1932 solo dance piece Satyric Festival Song at this year’s Martha Graham Dance Company gala in New York. FKA twigs is one of the dance company’s three annual honorees, recognized for her “distinctive, interdisciplinary, and groundbreaking work in music and art.” The gala takes place on April 18 at New York City Center.

Janet Eilber, the dance company’s artistic director, said in a press release:

Twigs is someone I’ve long admired as a creative force and change-maker, so we were delighted to discover her personal interactions with our social media posts. We slid into her DMs to let her know that we wanted to honor her as one of today’s most engaging artistic innovators. That digital exchange inspired the idea of a performance by twigs IRL of Graham’s solo Satyric Festival Song. How appropriate that Martha’s quirky, sassy solo, which both mocked and celebrated her own artistic fearlessness, should be inhabited by one of today’s own multifaceted and charismatic trailblazers. We are thrilled to have twigs onstage for our annual Gala, April 18, which also happens to be the Company’s 98th birthday!

The gala will also feature performances of Graham’s 1984 dance The Rite of Spring and 1990’s Maple Leaf Rag, with music by Scott Joplin and costumes by Calvin Klein. This year’s other honorees are Dr. Donna E. Shalala and Adriene Holder.

Last month, FKA twigs featured on UK dance duo Two Shell’s single “Talk to Me.” She stars alongside Bill Skarsgård in Rupert Sanders’ remake of the 1994 movie The Crow, which got its first trailer earlier last month.