“Reynolds’ captivating score — a multi-layered edgy gem of pre-recorded finesse — contrasted electronically ethereal sounds with blasting moments of percussive earthiness. A poignant romantic melody laced throughout, emerging with particularly heartfeltness in a string quartet midway through.”
In the early stages of his career, Graham’s work in the world of dance started with short experimental collaborations with the Ellen Bartel Dance Collective, which then grew into several projects with Andrea Ariel. He has since worked consistently with two key partners. With choreographer Stephen Mills of Ballet Austin, he has scored, through both recorded and live performance methods, six large scale works, including: Cult of Color, a collaboration with acclaimed visual artist Trenton Doyle Hancock, Belle Redux, which sold out its three day run in a 2,300 seat venue, and followed that up with an equally sold out remount, and Bounce, which toured through seventeen cities across China. His collaborations with Allison Orr of Forklift Danceworks started in 2009, with The Trash Project; the documentary directed by Andy Garrison following the project took the work national, while other projects, such as Play Ball Kyoto, have traveled internationally. Most recently, Graham provided live scoring for the MAP Award Winning and NEA funded My Park, My Pool, My City series as well as Served, each building on Orr’s socially-engaged practices. Music for dance is a realm of passion for Graham, resulting from the life-long influence of several of the Diaghilev commissioned ballets; works that lived beyond their initial intent but continue to tell a story.
A non-exhaustive list of Graham’s credits in the realm of dance:
2024 Poe: A Tale of Madness | Ballet Austin | Premiered March 22-24, 2024 at The Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin, TX
2022 Way of Water | Forklift Danceworks | Premiered November 17-19 at Waterloo Park, Austin, TX
2021 WesWorks | Forklift Danceworks | Premiered October 14-16 at Wesleyan University
2021 Horse | Cullberg Ballet | Premiered September 29 Stora Teatern, Gothenburg, Sweden | Choreography by Deborah Hay
2019 Grimm Tales | Ballet Austin | Premiered March 29-31, 2019 at The Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin, TX
2017 My Park, My Pool, My City | Forklift Danceworks
2016 The Graham Reynolds Project | Ballet Austin
2015 Belle Redux | Ballet Austin | Premiere February 13-15, 2015 at The Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin, TX; subsequently toured across China
2014 Playball | Forklift Danceworks & Japanese Women’s Professional Baseball League | Premiered on September 23, 2014 at Kyoto Arts Center, Kyoto, Japan
2013 PowerUP | Forklift Danceworks
2012 Solo Symphony | Forklift Danceworks
2012 Timepiece | Ballet Idaho
2012 The Geometry of Proximity | Ariel Dance Theater
2011 Though the Earth Gives Way | Ballet Austin
2010 T is for 200 Hundred Two-Steppers on the Steps of the Texas State Capitol | Forklift Danceworks
2010 Traffic Maven | Forklift Danceworks
2010 Truth and Beauty | Ballet Austin
2009 The Trash Project | Forklift Danceworks
2008 Cult of Color: Call to Color | Ballet Austin
2007 Gyre | Ariel Dance Theater
2005 Detour | Ariel Dance Theater
2004 Silence Erupted | Sharir-Bustamante Danceworks
2003 Shoulder to Shoulder | Ariel Dance Theater
2003 Sonambulo | Spank Dance Company
2003 Absent Body | Sharir-Bustamante Danceworks
2002 Boxheads | Ariel Dance Theater
2001 Pexo | Ariel Dance Theater
2001 The Silent Circle | Ariel Dance Theater
2000 In Concert | Spank Dance Company
2000 Seven Rooms to the Soul | Ariel Dance Theater
1999 Reflex | Ariel Dance Theater
1999 Not Just Shock | Undertown Dance Company & Spank Dance Company
1998 2 Time 2 is 1 | Spank Dance Company
1997 In Concert | Undertow Dance Company