Celebrating the American Tapestry with Mark Morris Dance Group and Music Ensemble

When Mark Morris Dance Group and Music Ensemble (February 7) returns to the Center for the Arts this coming February, their program will highlight music by iconic American composers in a celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026, recognizing the diversity and vibrancy of the nation’s artistic heritage. 

The program will include a new work that premiered this summer: Northwest. Set to compositions by John Luther Adams, Northwest is a captivating contemporary exploration of Yup’ik and Athabascan rhythmic traditions of the southwestern Alaskan indigenous people. In this expressive piece, dancers swish, drop, and brandish folded paper fans. 

These “modest implements [are] inspired by more elaborate feathered fans used in ritual dances by the Athabascan and Yup’ik Native peoples of Alaska,” according to a review by Carla Escoda on bachtrach.com. “Did those yellow paper fans represent birds and butterflies and other fauna in danger of extinction? Did they symbolize a people’s wishes and dreams? Had the dancers scribbled secrets on notepaper before folding them into fans? These burning questions lingered, as did the haunting, ethereal sounds of harp and percussion – Adams’ interpretations of Yup’ik and Athabascan dance music and poetry… evoking Northwest as a mystical place rather than a region on a map.” 

We’re thrilled to have MMDG return to the Center for the Arts, and to highlight this particular work as part of the American tapestry—especially as we recognize Indigenous Peoples Day this October 13.