test Η ΜΗΔΕΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΜΑΡΘΑ ΓΚΡΑΧΑΜ: ΣΕΞΟΥΑΛΙΚΗ ΖΗΛΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΤΑ ΟΡΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΙΝΗΣ ΦΥΣΗΣ [MARTHA GRAHAM’S MEDEA: SEXUAL JEALOUSY AND THE LIMITS OF HUMAN NATURE]|ΠΑΡΑΒΑΣΙΣ/PARABASIS

Η ΜΗΔΕΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΜΑΡΘΑ ΓΚΡΑΧΑΜ: ΣΕΞΟΥΑΛΙΚΗ ΖΗΛΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΤΑ ΟΡΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΙΝΗΣ ΦΥΣΗΣ [MARTHA GRAHAM’S MEDEA: SEXUAL JEALOUSY AND THE LIMITS OF HUMAN NATURE]

Εξώφυλλο Παράβασις Τόμ. 20 / Cover Parabasis Vol. 20
PDF20 (ελληνικά)
Published: Nov 24, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681//.43303
Nina Papathanasopoulou
Abstract

This paper explores the radical rendering of Medea by the revolutionary choreographer Martha Graham in her 1946 work Cave of the Heart. Graham creates a unique portrayal of Medea by focusing on Medea’s emotional experience and gives memorable expression to the timeless feeling of jealousy to which Medea is subjected. Drawing on her pioneering dance technique, Graham examines emotion through unfamiliar movements of the body, showcases the overwhelming power of jealousy, and celebrates its intensity and importance. Graham’s Medea is powerful yet pitiful, inviting the audience to acknowledge, understand, and accept a woman’s emotional experience. I first discuss the early years of Graham’s career and the factors that led to her fascination with Greek myth. I then draw out similarities between Graham’s dances and Greek tragedy and analyze Graham’s innovative decisions to situate Medea in a gynocentric world, not to include the children, and to make Medea’s sexual jealousy the central theme. I conclude by suggesting that Graham creates a triumphant Medea, who asserts her power through her various subhuman and superhuman features. Using animal and nature imagery, Graham focuses on Medea’s emotional experience and brings out both her destructive nature and her ability to elicit our sympathy.


 

Article Details
  • Section
  • Μελέτες / Studies
Author Biography
Nina Papathanasopoulou

Nina Papathanasopoulou is a Professor of Classical Studies at College Year in Athens (CYA). Her specialization is in Ancient Greek Mythology, Ancient Greek Drama, and their Reception. At CYA, she teaches Ancient Greek Mythology, Religion, and Literature courses to undergraduate students from US colleges and universities who study in Greece for one or two semesters, and she participates in educational field trips across Greece. She graduated from the Department of Classical Philology at the School of Philosophy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2003 and completed her Ph.D. in Classics at Columbia University, New York, in 2013. Following her graduate studies, she worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Classical and Theatre Studies at Connecticut College (2013-2019). At Connecticut College, she focused particularly on promoting and disseminating the value of Classics, not only within academic circles but also in the local community, by organizing a series of interdisciplinary events for this purpose. Her academic research initially focused on Aristophanes and the treatment of myth and space in his comedies. In recent years, her research examines the role played by myth in the work of the innovative 20th-century choreographer, Martha Graham. In 2022, Nina created a cross-disciplinary public-facing initiative titled Martha Graham & Greek Myth, which combines classical philology with modern dance. Since January 2019, she has also been working as the Public Engagement Coordinator for the Society for Classical Studies (SCS) in the USA. In this role, she is responsible for the Ancient Worlds, Modern Communities initiative, which supports programs that engage new audiences in the study of the ancient world, and encourages creative expression and interdisciplinary collaborations.