Horizons

Horizons was a modern dance work choreographed by Martha Graham to music by Louis Horst with a set designed by Alexander Calder. It premiered on February 23, 1936, at the Guild Theatre in New York City. Horizons was divided into four parts, two ensemble dances and two solos: Migration: New Trails (ensemble), Dominion: Sanctified Power (solo), Building Motif: Homesteading (solo) and Dance of Rejoycing (ensemble). The ballet was performed by Martha Graham and Group, the predecessor of the Martha Graham Dance Company. Theme, score and set The work was based on the theme of exploration and discovery. Program notes explained, the inspiration was "not specifically American, but abstracted from the American background." According to the Dance Observer, Horizons was "evidently based on the concept of the first migrations from Asia, west to the American continent, settlement and thanksgiving." Graham's receipt of a Guggenheim Fellowship, allowed her to commission composer Louis Horst for the music. However, Horst was unhappy with the score from the beginning.