“Swan is a mythopoetic image that appears in many cultures over history,” said Young. “As an image, it came to me, and as an artist, I responded. I was able to see in my mind’s eye the breadth and depth of entering into engagement with the image and how it happens to resonate with this time of life for me as I approach my 59th birthday. I began investigating the image from many different points of view—from mythological sources, poets, painters, dancers and artists.”
read article... The glorious gift of being a human being is what Martina so exquisitely, reverently, and generously has to share. If you've not had the opportunity of experiencing one of her performances, next weekend will be an event you'll want to partake in and share with your loved ones. -Patricia Fenkell, Steiner Educator, 2013 “[Witnessing] the first rehearsal of L. Martina Young’s upcoming performance event, SWAN: a poetical inquiry in dance, text & memoir, I am compelled to share my experience.
I have been privy to Martina’s work for over 25 years and am familiar with her body of work. Swan, (her first full-length performance in 3 years since her bilateral hip replacements), reveals the further deepening and renewed creative imagining of a mature artist who now revels in her ongoing work. Her subtle and deceptively simple movement material gently suggests rebirth, renewal, and the continuing exploration that is essential to a fully lived life. Martina’s [work], so grounded in her own deep knowing, is profound in its ability to engage and fully translate a human depth, such that I was moved to tears. [It] is the universal sense of hope that is deeply rooted in our own notions of re-awakening and re-awakening that this dance so beautifully realizes. [With] an ability to make visible what is invisible, another invited viewer remarked: “It is magical.” - Diane Rugg, Dance Educator on SWAN (rehearsal), 2013 |