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The rebellious spirit of Martha Graham has found a rebellious soul mate in another creative powerhouse. A classically trained dancer, she\u2019s known in the world as an acclaimed recording artist. She moves like water. Her pole dancing is pretty astounding<\/a>, too. This is FKA twigs.<\/p>\n On Thursday, she will make her debut<\/a> as a dancer with the Graham company in the solo \u201cSatyric Festival Song\u201d (1932). \u201cTo me, this is, honestly, like winning a Grammy,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m winning a Grammy.\u201d<\/p>\n At the company\u2019s gala performance, FKA twigs will slip into her costume, a bold and graphic striped dress designed by Graham. She will pop into the air as if the floor were on fire. She will twist and bend her body into jagged edges. And she will tease the audience with tilts of the head and dancing, expressive eyes. This is a solo inspired by rituals that Graham observed in the pueblos of the American Southwest, specifically, the kachina figures that served as comic relief at religious ceremonies. Graham was also poking fun at her serious, dramatic self.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n An artist of vast imagination whose music defies genre, FKA twigs is adventurous in all of her pursuits. Her shimmering, fluent physicality, displayed over the years in videos and performances, is equally fearless and lissome. \u201cMy values of success and achievement are maybe slightly different to other people\u2019s,\u201d FKA twigs said in an interview from London. Many of her colleagues will be at Coachella over the next two weeks, \u201cwhich is obviously such an honor,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I\u2019ve spent the whole of my life in the dance studio. I studied Martha Graham\u2019s technique at dance school. I took the class many times when I was a younger dancer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Graham company, though, didn\u2019t know she had studied the technique. So how did this solo happen? Through that unofficial dance network known as Instagram.<\/p>\n Last year, the company posted a pandemic-era video of Laurel Dalley Smith performing \u201cSatyric Festival Song\u201d<\/a> in different locations in London. Being the Graham fan that she is, FKA twigs reposted it. The company thanked her in a DM and proposed doing a project together. \u201cShe immediately sent us the contact information for her manager,\u201d said Janet Eilber, the group\u2019s artistic director. And as the conversation progressed, Eilber said, the company asked, \u201cWould she like to dance a Graham solo?\u201d<\/p>\n The solo is a good fit for FKA twigs. \u201cThe attitude in \u2018Satyric Festival Song\u2019 is so sort of flirtatious and comedic and quirky,\u201d Eilber said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s one of the few Graham solos where the fourth wall is down, so this little character is basically speaking to the audience and having her way with them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Dalley Smith taught FKA twigs the solo<\/a> and a series of Graham exercises in London (and FKA twigs will continue to work on it in Oh, New York at the Graham studios). \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just cut and paste, put it on, learn it, do it,\u201d Dalley Smith said about the process. \u201cIt\u2019s recognizing someone trying something new, recognizing someone wanting to not follow a certain path.\u201d<\/p>\n Her artistic bravery echoes some choice words of Graham\u2019s: More than 80 years ago, she told a despondent Agnes de Mille to \u201ckeep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.\u201d<\/p>\n For FKA twigs, the channel is wide<\/em>. She is committed to being \u201cbold and dynamic and to really make art,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I mean really<\/em> make art. I\u2019m not talking about, like, really look fab on a red carpet or really slay in my music video, or really be a queen in a radio interview.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s grateful for those opportunities, but artistic excellence is what matters to her. \u201cWhen I die and I take my last breath, these are the things I\u2019m going to be thinking about: What did I do with my life?\u201d she said. \u201cI want to say that I was kind, I worked hard, and I served my practice, and I made art. Next week I\u2019m going to serve my practice.\u201d<\/p>\n Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n What have you found challenging in the solo?<\/strong><\/p>\n The stamina. It starts with really big jumps. I have not jumped since I was probably 22. [Laughs] Even in the dancing I do now, whether it\u2019s pole or even with contemporary, if I was onstage, I wouldn\u2019t choose to do, like, nine jet\u00e9s in a row.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n So to start a performance with nine really energetic jumps and just then carry on as normal in a very sort of controlled Martha Graham, heavily contracted way? You know that\u2019s something that I\u2019ll have to work on.<\/p>\n What has come most naturally?<\/strong><\/p>\n The playfulness of the solo and the expression. It\u2019s really cute and funny. You turn your head and it\u2019s kind of like: Are you watching me? Don\u2019t look at me. I\u2019m going to demand your attention. OK, now look away.<\/p>\n What is your dance training?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m trained as a ballet dancer. I was, like, a complete bunhead as a kid. I used to do my homework in the car on the way to dance practice, and I trained for four hours after school, Monday to Saturday. I did that from when I was 8 to when I was 16. I then gave up for a couple of years and moved to London to go to dance college. My journey as a music artist was actually moving to London to go to dance college.<\/p>\n If I\u2019m honest with you, I have like a really strange dance history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n How so?<\/strong><\/p>\n I basically started dancing professionally when I was 12 or 13, I was in a dance company called ZooNation, which was a street dance or hip-hop-based dance company \u2014 although it was contemporary as well. I did that and then I was training in dance.<\/p>\n And then I moved to London to come to dance school, and I just kept on dropping out. By the time I got to about 19, 20 \u2014 do you know what the problem was? I just peaked a little bit too soon at dance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n You dance when you sing. How is this different?<\/strong><\/p>\n For the last couple years, I\u2019ve really been trying to hone in on the type of artist that I am. Within my industry, there\u2019s a big push to seek certain accolades, whether that\u2019s streaming a certain amount or winning certain awards. With the Martha Graham company \u2014 performing a routine \u2014 you can\u2019t rig that.<\/p>\n This is pure craft. It\u2019s pure practice and it\u2019s expression. This is art in its truest form, which in this day and age is so rare. Honestly, this is one of the greatest things I\u2019ve done in my career.<\/p>\n Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n You can\u2019t fake an extended leg, you can\u2019t fake a turn, you can\u2019t fake performance or holding an audience. And that to me is so exciting. This is just purely in my hands. Whatever happens, it will be the truth.<\/p>\n How do you see the Graham repertoire in terms of what you usually dance?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve always engaged in classical and contemporary dance. This is different, I guess, because it\u2019s a work that is very well known and is revered. And it\u2019s very sacred. It\u2019s something that\u2019s really important to remember and to be passed on. It\u2019s like a secret or a folk song. I\u2019m a half-Jamaican girl from Gloucestershire, and I\u2019m going to New York to learn a Martha Graham piece. Like, if anything, that\u2019s not testament to me. That\u2019s a testament to her.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n And this is an example of art in its truest form?<\/strong><\/p>\n Exactly. We have such extremes in society when it comes to dance, when it comes to music, when it comes to expression \u2014 as we should. But there is<\/em> a holy grail. And that is Martha Graham, it\u2019s [Lester] Horton<\/a>, it\u2019s Alvin Ailey. This is the purest form of dance, of expression, a practice. It\u2019s not just Martha Graham, it\u2019s Martha Graham technique<\/em>. It\u2019s not Horton. It\u2019s Horton technique.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s something in your toolbox that once you\u2019ve studied that form, it\u2019s going to stay with you across everything you ever do. I could apply Martha Graham to pole dance. I could apply Horton to pole dance. It\u2019s a way of thinking.<\/p>\n What is so critical about this performance?<\/strong><\/p>\n This is really important for my spirit. There\u2019s a 12-year-old inside me that didn\u2019t go and play with her friends at the park. She went to the dance studio instead. My friends were going out, playing in the park, drinking cider behind the bike sheds \u2014 I wanted to do all of those things but I was in the studio. That young girl! I feel like in performing with Martha Graham company, in some ways, I\u2019m giving her a hug. I\u2019m letting her know that it was worth it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n