Lloyd Knight – The Drama
Westfield Insurance Theatre at Playhouse Square
Cleveland, OH
Sunday, February 16, 2025

By Steve Sucato

For his autobiographical solo dance theater piece, The Drama, Martha Graham Dance Company principal dancer Lloyd Knight created a love letter to the art form and the two most influential women in his life, his mother Yvonne and Martha Graham. While Knight shares a birthday with the latter, he never met Graham while she was alive. That being said, her influence on his life and career, and that of his mother, are firmly embedded in the hour-long show.

Co-commissioned by DANCECleveland and New York’s Works & Process, Knight performed the show this past Saturday and Sunday at Playhouse Square’s Westfield Insurance Theatre.

The Drama was a multi-media collaboration of three artists: Knight, who wrote and performed the work; Jack Ferver, who directed and choreographed it; and Jeremy Jacob, who provided the video, production design, and music. 

It opened on a Black and White video of Knight high atop a cliff in Montauk, New York, overlooking the waters that surround the Long Island peninsula. 

Costumed in a semi-sheer black top and floor-length skirt that the wind blew into motion, Knight stood still and stared distantly into the camera as he emerged live on the Westfield stage in the costume and began a series of poses a la Graham in many of her iconic dance works. Accompanying the movement was a repeated voiceover by Graham from the 1957 film A Dancer’s World, describing dance as “communication and the great desire to speak clearly and beautifully and with inevitability.” Also, there is the innate fear of the performer that “perhaps you have not done quite enough work. Perhaps you should have gone back to the studio and worked again because that which you don’t want to do is fail in either clarity or passion.”

Ferver’s choreography had Knight twisting and turning, and like a John Jasperse work, falling to the stage floor and standing back up repeatedly with increasing pace until the point of exhaustion. A metaphor for what it takes for performance perfection, Knight lets us see the effort, the heavy breathing, the sweat, and him on his stomach dragging his body from center stage to a side wing. There, still panting, Knight shouted into a microphone: “I’m a gay ass black man! One who calls himself an artist…this artist’s journey is real.”  

Seated center stage in spotlight, Knight delivered a monologue of his daily routine to illustrate the rigors of a professional dance career: “Wake up, meditate, stretch, eat breakfast, seven hours of rehearsal, a 30-minute lunch break to try to stay current on social media, dinner, cross-train, go to bed, repeat, repeat, repeat.” 

While other occupations have similar rigors to the body and mind, dance still seeks to maintain the illusion of effortless beauty and wonder. The world’s top dance companies don’t put out injury reports on their athletes as professional sports franchises do, and although the Internet has lifted the veil somewhat, you are unlikely to ever see studio footage of the moment a dancer collapses in the corner due to exhaustion, crumples to the ground from a stress fracture after landing a jump, or drops to the floor from on high after a failed partnered lift. That effort is a point The Drama seeks to drive home with a fervor. More so than his mention of the relationships he had, glamorous photoshoots, and the joy of being onstage performing.

“It’s all so dramatic, but you love the drama,” Lloyd announced. 

The remainder of the work followed a similar format: a video of Knight in nature, followed by him performing a dance solo, such as standing on one foot trying to find his balance as a metaphor for seeking a work-life balance. The format did a marvelous job of keeping the audience’s interest and moving the work along.

Ferver’s choreography for Knight also changed in style as the work progressed, leaving behind the early Graham technique for a contemporary look. 

Jacob’s video images and musical selections further enhanced the mood and intensity of Knight’s dancing. 

Humor also found its way into the work. Memorable moments of this came in a section where Knight, on video, held up to the camera a book on Graham with her photo as composer George Frideric Handel’s Zadok the Priest (God Save the Queen version) blared across the theater. It was followed by a segment of Knight going through his family photos and telling of life growing up, his predilection for wearing his mother’s clothes, having a crush on the local TV weatherman, and practicing kissing using his teddy bear. Knight also discussed his dance training journey, attending Miami Conservatory of Ballet and New World School of the Arts before joining the Graham company. 

After another live dance solo, Knight, on video, returned to channeling Graham in a scene inspired by her in A Dancer’s World, in her dressing room getting ready for a performance. In it, Knight, while applying makeup, talked about overcoming last-minute doubts about his readiness to perform and pumping himself up to do so.

The Drama concluded with Knight back in his opening costume, this time microphone in hand, delivering another personal monologue that ended with the words, “This life of an artist is special, and I wouldn’t give it up for the world!”

A well-crafted and passionately performed insight into Knight’s life and 20-year professional career, The Drama lived up to its name in the best possible ways.

Next on DANCECleveland’s 2024-2025 season is Twyla Tharp Dance in a program celebrating the company’s 60th anniversary. Saturday, March 08, 2025, at 7:30 p.m., at Playhouse Square’s KeyBank State Theatre. Info/tickets at https://www.playhousesquare.org/events/detail/twyla-tharp-dance.