For over twenty years, Lloyd Knight has been one of the defining artists of the Martha Graham Dance Company, embodying works that have shaped modern dance while continuously expanding beyond them. Since joining the company in 2005 and rising to principal dancer in 2014, Knight has become one of the foremost interpreters of the Graham repertory, while also creating new works with choreographers including Nacho Duato, Kyle Abraham, Doug Varone, Lar Lubovitch, Pam Tanowitz, and Mats Ek. Along the way, he has partnered with artists such as Wendy Whelan and Misty Copeland, appeared as a guest artist with Royal Ballet of Flanders and Twyla Tharp Dance, and earned recognition as one of Dance Magazine‘s “25 to Watch,” the magazine’s 2015 Best Performer, and a 2022 Bessie Award nominee. As the Martha Graham Dance Company celebrates its centennial season, Knight continues to balance the weight of history with a remarkable curiosity for new creation. Most recently, he premiered The Drama, a deeply personal solo work created with Jack Ferver and filmmaker Jeremy Jacob, exploring his artistic lineage through the intertwined influence of his mother and Martha Graham. Ahead of his performances in Andrew Skeels’ new work, Meanwhile, at Carvalho gallery’s Summer Performance Series, I sat down with Knight to talk about artistic evolution, collaboration, what it means to carry one of dance’s great legacies, and why, even after two decades with Graham, he’s still searching for what’s next. Interview is lightly edited below. Listen to the full conversation in the podcast above. Lloyd Knight in Andrew Skeels’ Meanwhile. Photo: Quinn Wharton Cynthia: It’s been over twenty years since you joined Martha Graham Dance Company. When you look back at the dancer who arrived from New World School of the Arts versus who you are now, what’s the biggest shift in how you understand your own artistry and the repertoire? Lloyd: Probably the ownership that I have within myself as an artist, a dancer, the way I approach the work. Coming into the company, I was just really fresh and green about so many things—even the ways to perform. You’re dropped in the middle of these iconic works. It’s a journey that you go on to find your groove in it, and luckily we have great coaches and past and present company members who can help you out along the way. I would say that’s been the biggest change in me, I don’t want to use the word comfortable, because I never want to be comfortable with what I’m doing. But I feel a little bit more ownership with my artistry. Cynthia: I know a lot of people in our audience are not necessarily dancers. Can you give me maybe an example of how that would change the experience of performing in a certain work? Lloyd: One thing about the Graham work is that I always call it a full experience. It’s not just coming into this black box, the lights come on, and you just do the steps. We have sets and these great costumes, and the way she designed her technique—the way you hold your neck and your back. You’re literally trying to catch the light on your body, on your cheekbones. It’s really full. That is along the lines of what I’ve learned the most about entering the Graham stage, entering as a full character and taking the audience on a ride, but also yourself. So at the end of the show, you walk away fully engulfed with what you did, and you feel like you accomplished that, or try to at least. Xin Ying and Lloyd Knight performing in Martha Graham's Acts of Light (1981). Photo Courtesy of Ballet Support Foundation. The Dance Lens with Cynthia Dragoni is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe below to join us for subscriber only live talks and interviews (like this one). Cynthia: Was there a turning point when you went from “This isn’t mine” to “This is mine”? Lloyd: Maybe around second, third year, I started learning soloist roles, and that’s the best, because you really take on a character. I always say to people who ask, my favorite ballets are the ones where you don’t leave the stage, you have to stay on the whole time. I started learning the Snake in Graham’s Embattled Garden, and we were rehearsing it, and rehearsal’s fine, you go through the ins and outs of all that rehearsal brings, but it was something about performing it, the curtain going down, and just being like, “Oh my God, what just happened?” You really lose yourself, and you go on that ride, and looking at the rest of the cast we’re like, “Whoa, we really lived that,” full body. I feel like that was a turning point—learning Embattled Garden—and that’s when I really understood the depth of a Graham work. Before that, I was learning corps roles, which is amazing, in Acts of Light and Diversion of Angels. But it was really taking on these iconic characters that’s I just loved. Cynthia: I think it’s so interesting how much vocabulary Graham shares still with ballet. Even though she’s the mother of modern dance, a dance historian will be quick to point out all the people that came before her but she was so pivotal, and we still call her works ballets, and you still refer to the group as the corps de ballet. Lloyd: Yeah. Surprises people. Lloyd Knight in Halston’s costume for Martha Graham’s Lucifer. Photo: Jayme Thornton Cynthia: And you’ve said Graham technique is your first love. But you’ve since worked with an unusually wide range of choreographers, from Kyle Abraham to Mats Ek to Bob Fosse’s repertoire. How has moving between such different vocabularies changed the way you approach a brand-new piece? Lloyd: You do have to learn how to adapt to the choreographer you’re working with. I really try to do my homework ahead of time and see what they’re all about, and then once they’re in front of me, it’s really trying to strip myself of all my habits, or the way I want to move, and pick up what they’re giving us. Luckily in school at New World, we trained in a lot of different techniques, so I felt comfortable doing other things, they weren’t necessarily a mystery to me. But choreographers change, things evolve, and I remember Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui coming in to work with us, and I was like, “Whoa, what is this?” He’s very flexible, and the things he would do with his body, he would just show it to us as if it was nothing. He’s like, “Okay, and now it’s your turn.” And I’m like, “There’s no way.” He would break it down, and I was like, “Okay, I’m gonna get on this floor and try and do the work.” Little by little, I’ve learned you have to have patience and a sense of humor, and give yourself time—hopefully they give you time as well— to try and adapt to it. It’s so much fun to be a chameleon. Martha Graham and Bertram Ross in Alcestis, 1960. Photo by Martha Swope / © The New York Public Library. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Cynthia: Has there been anyone’s work that was particularly challenging to make the shift between styles? For anyone who doesn’t know, Graham is not just a style, it’s a technique, it’s a way of working—like ballet dancers will have trouble with certain kinds of other styles because it’s so different, you’ll see a parallel in that with the Graham technique. Lloyd: I would say the biggest push was Mats Ek, the detail he puts in the work. I match it to Graham because of all the detail, but it was just so different. The piece we were doing was called Axe, and I was literally chopping wood on stage. I had to learn how to chop wood. I had to learn how to pick up his movement style. We spent weeks in Stockholm learning this piece. By the way it was just me and his wife, Anna, and the other cast members. I was in a Mats Ek intensive for several weeks, all day, every day, and I loved it because he’s a genius, a visual and movement genius to me. I would say that was maybe the most challenging because of all the different elements that came into it. Cynthia: I’ve heard that about his work from other dancers before. A lot of choreographers will allow you to learn the steps and then add your character, the emotions, your personal interpretation. But I’ve heard that with Mats Ek, he wanted your interpretation immediately. Lloyd: Totally. He really wants all of you for every single step, and he’s very giving with his descriptions and whatnot. I remember even that first run-through we had, and I cried because I really went on that journey. He’s a spectacular artist in that way. Epic. Cynthia: Not all dancers have an interest or the opportunity to create their own work. And you’ve created The Drama, and you’ve spoken before about how Jack Ferver pushed you out of your comfort zone into new emotional territory. What do you need from a choreographer to feel like you can take risks? Lloyd: To feel acceptance of myself as an artist, and being allowed to really be myself, to explore. I had seen Jack’s work many times, and when I got the opportunity to put The Drama together, I immediately thought about them, because the way they construct their work was something I really wanted to go towards and explore. Being at that residency with them, I felt really comfortable to just let it all out. Sometimes it was very embarrassing, but I knew I was in good hands. You always want to feel like you’re in good hands whenever you’re working with these choreographers. Sometimes, honestly, you might not gel completely with every choreographer, but at least you know that they respect you for your artistry, and they’re allowing you to bring something to their work. Lloyd Knight and Jacquelin Harris performing Andrew Skeels’ Meanwhile. Photo: Quinn Wharton. Cynthia: Do you have plans of doing more of your own work in the future? Lloyd: Yes, hopefully. I always keep that door open. I got to do The Drama in Cleveland, thankfully, and most recen
