A journey into the stories, myths, and natural wonders that make the American Southwest and Great Basin so singularly compelling.
This concert launches RDT’s Living Landscapes — built alongside RDT’s well-loved Landscape Suite from the 1990s. This new multi-year creative initiative asks how Utah’s land has changed since those groundbreaking commissions and investigates what Utah’s landscapes look and feel like in 2026.
LEGEND & LORE will include Martha Graham’s Dark Meadow Suite (1946/2016), along with Margaret Jenkins’ and Ellie Klopp’s Liquid Interior (1994), last staged by RDT in 2001. A masterwork born from the Cunningham legacy, Liquid Interior renders the elemental creatures and forces of the Great Basin with technical precision and lyrical poetry. Anchoring the concert’s contemporary vision is a new commission by Penny Saunders, inspired by the urban legend of whales in the Great Salt Lake. A Princess Grace Choreographic Fellow and Resident Choreographer at Grand Rapids Ballet, Saunders brings a rare gift for translating place and myth into vivid, visceral movement. Her new work stands in direct dialogue with Liquid Interior, drawing parallels between 1994’s vision of the Great Basin and today’s urgent reality of the Great Salt Lake. Completing the program is Elizabeth Waters’ Castor and Pollux, adding a mythological dimension to an evening that explores the mythic spirit of the landscapes we call home.
